421st ARS Boeing YKB-29T-90-BW Superfortress 1954

The Boeing KB-29 was a modified

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

B-29 Superfortress for

air refueling Aerial refueling (American English, en-us), or aerial refuelling (British English, en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from ...

needs by the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. Two primary versions were developed and produced: KB-29M and KB-29P. The 509th and 43d Air Refueling Squadrons ( Walker AFB, NM and Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ respectively) were created in 1948 to operate the KB-29M tankers. The 303d Bombardment Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB flew B-29s and KB-29s from 1951 to 1953 that provided training for

strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...

bombardment A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or cities and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended obje ...

and air refueling operations to meet SAC's global commitments.Strategic-Air-Command.com's 303d BW
Davis-Monthan AFB Deployed at

Sidi Slimane AB Sidi Slimane Air Base was a military air base in Sidi Slimane, Morocco, Sidi Slimane, a city in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra regions of Morocco, region in Morocco. It is also known as the Fifth Royal Air Force Base, operated by the Royal Moroccan Air ...

French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco, also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco that lasted from 1912 to 1956. The protectorate was officially established 30 March 1912, when Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the ...

, 5 Oct – 6 November 1952.

Variants

KB-29M

: ''Section source: Baugher and National'' The B-29 played an important role in developing the effective use of

aerial refueling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to an ...

during the late 1940s. The first aircraft involved in this programme were the KB-29M tanker and B-29MR receiver. At first, a grappling system, known as the looped hose method, was used; the tanker would enter formation flight behind, above and to the left of the receiver. It would then unreel a hauling cable attached to a weight to make it dangle near vertically. The receiver would trail a hauling cable ending in a drag cone (to make this trail near horizontally) and a grapnel. With both cables trailed, the tanker would cross to the right of the receiver so the two cables snagged each other. With cables snagged, the tanker hauled both into its fuselage where the receiver's cable was connected to the tanker's hose. This was then hauled into the receiver. After connecting with internal fuel compartments pumping would begin. When the receiver was full the process was reversed allowing the tanker to recover its hose and the receiver its hauling cable. While this system was clumsy, it was often used in the late 1940s before a better system was developed. It was most notably used to refuel the ''

Lucky Lady II ''Lucky Lady II'' is a United States Air Force Boeing B-50 Superfortress that became the first airplane to circumnavigate, circle the world nonstop. Its 1949 journey, assisted by in-flight refueling, lasted 94 hours and 1 minute. 1949: First cir ...

'' during her famous

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnaviga ...

of the globe in 1949. This helped sway the argument as to whether the USAF or US Navy should provide the US's nuclear delivery capability. The USAF won with the consequential massive expansion of the USAF's Strategic Air Command and cancellation of the US Navy's super carriers. The looped hose method was only of use with large multi-crew planes since crew members were required to assist in the hauling in. A modified method known as the probe and drogue system was developed to allow single seat aircraft to be refuelled in the air. With jet fighters suffering from short range there was a need for these to be refuelled in the air and several KB-29Ms were modified to use ' probe-and-drogue' systems, in which the refueling hose has a torus-shaped ''para-drogue'' attached to the end, and the receiving aircraft has a probe on its nose or wing, which the pilot manoeuvers into the drogue to link the hose. One KB-29M, redesignated YKB-29T, was modified to have another two refueling hoses on its wingtip. It served as the prototype for the KB-50D. The refuelling systems were developed and installed by Flight Refuelling Ltd, at Tarrant Rushton in the United Kingdom.

KB-29P

: ''Section source: Baugher and NationalNational Museum Fact Sheet on KB-29P variant
Official Site'' 420th Air Refueling Squadron Bell-Atlanta KB-29P-45-BA Superfortress 44-83906

In an effort to improve on the probe-and-drogue system, Boeing developed a rigid flying boom system, which was first used on the KB-29P. The boom was mounted on the aftmost end of the KB-29P, and used a

V-tail The V-tail or ''vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraf ...

-like set of control surfaces for stabilization at its far end. With the V-tail-style surfaces, still used on most USAF tanker aircraft in the 21st century, the boom could be manoeuvered by the operator. The flying boom system was selected by SAC as the preferred method for refuelling their bombers and, because of the massive size attained by SAC, it became the most common method for

in-flight refueling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to an ...

in the USAF and was used on KC-97s and also on modern tankers such as the

KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave ...

, the

KC-10 Extender The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an American tanker and cargo aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1981 to 2024. A military version of the three-engine DC-10 airliner, the KC-10 was developed from the A ...

, and the

KC-46 Pegasus The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus is an American military aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft developed by Boeing from its 767 jet airliner. In February 2011, the tanker was selected by the United States Air Force (USAF) as the ...

. The KB-29P was operated by 420th Air Refueling Squadron based at RAF Sculthorpe

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

during the mid-1950s. From 1954 to 1957, the

407th Air Refueling Squadron The 407th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 42nd Bombardment Wing at Loring Air Force Base, Maine, where it was inactivated on 1 October 1990. The first predecessor of the squadro ...

was based at Great Falls Air Force Base. Later the base name was changed to Malmstrom Air Force Base.

Specifications (KB-29P)

References

External links

Baugher's Encyclopedia of Bombers
B-29 Index Page {{DEFAULTSORT:Boeing Kb-29 1940s United States special-purpose aircraft 1940s United States military tanker aircraft

KB-29 The Boeing KB-29 was a modified Boeing B-29 Superfortress for air refueling needs by the USAF. Two primary versions were developed and produced: KB-29M and KB-29P. The 509th and 43d Air Refueling Squadrons ( Walker AFB, NM and Davis-Mon ...

United States military tanker aircraft Air refueling Four-engined tractor aircraft