B-29 Formations

[Jim Oxley]

Two of my favourite books on the B-29 campaign against Japan are:

Birds From Hell, by Wilbur Morrison
Blankets Of Fire, by Kenneth Werrell.

Morrison served with the 58th Bomb Wing from April '44 to October '45. It's a personal account of his war and as such is one of the very few that deals with the B-29 campaign. Fascinating reading. 'Blankets' is more the historical analysis of the development of the B-29, the decisions and actions of the Bomb Wings involved in the campaign and the adjustments that had to be made by the USAAF for waging strategic war in the Pacific. So between both books one gets an excellent picture of the aerial offensive.

For all it's advanced technology the B-29 was pretty much a nightmare to fly, always the risk of engine fire or crashing on takeoff due to the mission overload. Units didn't fly in the strict wing box formation of Europe, but rather in the old flight formation of three, four vic's making a diamond shape, each vic slightly higher or lower than the others. This allowed for greater fuel economy and lowere pilot strain on such long haul missions. As the formation approached Japan the formation would tighten up into a loose box. Given the B-29's greater firepower and gun area coverage this was considered a good balance.