LeMay had been sent from the European theater to the Mariana Islands in the Pacific to take command of a new fleet of the army air forces’ B-29s. These new aircraft were the biggest, most destructive weapons systems ever devised. Four 2,200-horsepower Wright engines could power the airplane to 357 miles per hour. The Superfortress had a wingspan nearly as long as half a football field, and could carry ten tons of bombs. Boeing had designed the aircraft to attack at high altitudes to avoid flak, and thus it was the first American military aircraft with a pressurized cabin. It was also the first
...more
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
