[ARC5] Enola Gay Junction Boxes

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 24 Aug 2011 at 10:32, David Ross wrote:

> B-29s that had gone through the 'special mod program' were called
> "Silverplate" B-29s.  Many of the Silverplate mods also showed up in
> the B-50.
> 
> Some interesting Silverplate info shows up in Wikipedia:
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverplate>

Thanks for that, David.

BTW, the Curtis-Wright R-3350s in the B-29 were horribly unreliable. 
A recent issue of War Birds magazine details the problems with them.

For one thing, the exhaust pipes from the front bank of cylinders all 
pointed FORWARD into a collector, so the first thing the cooling air 
hit was a white-hot manifold. Not good.

Better than 1/3 of all B-29 losses were caused by engine problems: 
failures, in-flight fires, etc.

Yet, after WWII, when those involved had finally been forced to get  
their act together, and had redesigned and rebuilt them properly, 
they became one of the best, most fuel-efficient, large "round" 
engines in service. The military got 3700 HP out of them reliably. 
The "Spad" (A-1) used one.

Ken W7EKB