B-29 Engineering Flight book

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes I did forget them and there are many more worh mentioning also.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well they did have allot of experience with engines, trying to get the most power as possible out of them, i'd imagine most of these car companies that had been using other company's engines in their cars for years had always wanted to make their own engines as they could design them to be just right for their cars, but it was too risky to try, but if the military asks that gives you an excuse!

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I agree. I know why they built engines it is just kind of neat.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i'd never really given it much thought before i wrote that

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Same here actually.

[syscom3]

I think the reason the car makers could build engines so fast, is they knew how to do it. Consider they had to make as many car engines in a week as the aircraft engine makers could expect to build in a year.

Ok, heres the next part of Chrysler/Dodge effort for the B29

B-29 Combat Deployment Begins

On their way to initial deployment in India/China, the B-29s were subjected to ground temperatures in the sun that were regularly well over 120 degrees F. Temperatures reached nearly 200 degrees inside planes--with some engines only about 20 degrees from overheating even before firing up. Detonation was a severe problem directly affecting valve life. Parts change kits were rushed out to numerous locations to speed the planes to their destination. Teams fanned out to wherever B-29s were in the pipeline--to make the necessary alterations and keep the program momentum alive!

Conditions in China were so primitive that fuel had to be flown in over the Himalayas, slowly building up enough gasoline and bombs to eventually launch the first group of strikes. These missions were flown at high altitudes, dropping high-explosive bombs. A number of the trips were actually regarded as training of the most serious kind. The professionalism of the Americans dedicated to those early moves is awesome to contemplate. Moreover, all airfields in China were constructed by thousands of Chinese people using hand labor and tools of the most rudimentary kind.

Dodge-built B-29 Engines Enter Combat

Perhaps the greatest compliment to Dodge-Chicago performance was that, at the outset, their engines were used interchangeably with Wright's production. As the program progressed, Dodge provided the vast majority of the engines: 18,413 for 3,628 B- 29s, or just over five engines per plane!

After General LeMay took command in January, 1945, he re-structured the maintenance program, based on his European experience. Soon, flying reached a tremendous 120 hours per plane per month and mission action swung into high gear. During their 1944 and 1945 service against Japan, they dropped 169,676 tons of bombs, adding another 167,000 tons during the three years of the Korean War (by which time they normally required a heavy fighter escort due to the advent of jet fighters). Actual bombing runs after arrival at the target were carried out at 210 mph (LeMay and Yenne, p. 150).

Dodge Achieves Amazing Cost Savings Of Fifty Percent

On a per unit basis, Dodge-Chicago was able to reduce the cost of producing each engine from $25,314 plus a fee of $1,519 to $11,537 (fee, $580) and $12,954 for the fuel-injected version, all while incorporating 6,427 engineering changes! Overall, Dodge brought to completion 18,413 engines at about half of the estimated program costs, very much the same pattern achieved by Chrysler Corporation in all its war efforts. Seldom have the economic benefits of complete tooling, accurate drawings, dedicated leadership, well-trained employees, and a clear set of goals done as well. For perspective, consider that a brand-new Dodge 1942 D22 Custom four-door sedan delivered for $1,048 (Lee, p. 262).

[V-1710]

The Allison V-3420 powered version of the B-29 was known as the XB-39. One was built, and although the turbocharger system for the V-3420 was not installed, it was decided to test the XB-39 against a standard B-29 with it's turbochargers disabled. The XB-39 attained a speed to 405 m.p.h. @ 25,000', while the best the B-29 could manage at that altitude was 365 m.p.h.. A significant reduction in fuel consumption as also noted in the XB-39. For those interested in the Allison V-1710, its design, its use, and different versions, I recommend the book 'Vee's For Victory', by Daniel D Whitney, published by Schiffer Military History. This is 'the' Allison history. It has a chapter on the V-3420, and quite a bit of information on the XB-39 project.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Originally Posted by syscom3

I think the reason the car makers could build engines so fast, is they knew how to do it. Consider they had to make as many car engines in a week as the aircraft engine makers could expect to build in a year.

Agreed

[Gnomey]

I agree too, good stuff syscom.

[evangilder]

It's been an interesting read.

[syscom3]

Originally Posted by V-1710

The Allison V-3420 powered version of the B-29 was known as the XB-39. One was built, and although the turbocharger system for the V-3420 was not installed, it was decided to test the XB-39 against a standard B-29 with it's turbochargers disabled. The XB-39 attained a speed to 405 m.p.h. @ 25,000', while the best the B-29 could manage at that altitude was 365 m.p.h.. A significant reduction in fuel consumption as also noted in the XB-39. For those interested in the Allison V-1710, its design, its use, and different versions, I recommend the book 'Vee's For Victory', by Daniel D Whitney, published by Schiffer Military History. This is 'the' Allison history. It has a chapter on the V-3420, and quite a bit of information on the XB-39 project.

That would have been something to see in action. Unfortunatly for this idea, the B29 production delays were so serious, Gen Arnold had no inclination to stop the worklines for this modification. Plus they proably knew about the R4430 that was going to be available in the near future and saw it as a better idea than the Allison.

Dont know for sure, but the AAF "bomber mafia" seemed to have an aversion to liquid cooled engines on bombers.

[V-1710]

That is exacly correct, even though the V-3420 looked like it would improve the performance of the B-29, the benefit was not worth slowing the production lines. The XB-39 from what I understand was in a sense a backup plan if the R-3350's problems proved insurmountable. Hard work on Wright's and Chrysler's part got the R-3350 to an acceptable level of reliability.

[syscom3]

Overwhelming Victory

Taken in total, the B-29 program was the most expensive of the war, yet proved decisive against the Japanese home islands. Concurrently, that successful result was achieved only by means of the nation's total war effort, including clear goals, intelligent leadership, and a strong industrial base (one hopes that the national leaders of the present day recognize the continuing importance of such a base). America's industrial accomplishment exceeded anything ever done in history, given the whole of what was accomplished by the array of companies that participated. Without torrents of equipment produced by millions of "Home Front" men and women for use by the 11+% of the population in the uniforms of the Armed Forces, the results would have been quite different.

While this article has concentrated on just one of the many contributions by Chrysler Corporation's Dodge Division during WW II, other company divisions supported Dodge-Chicago in important ways, as well as producing a long list of other equipment and materials that were aircraft-related. A portion of the items furnished included:
By DeSoto:

* 568 pressurized B-29 nose sections
* 559 sets of B-29 wing leading edges
* Nearly 5,000 sets of B-29 engine cowlings
* Martin B-26 medium bomber noses (1,593)
* B-26 center sections (1,585)
* B-26 wing flaps (1,895 sets)
* Helldiver wings, 11,000 by joint Chrysler and DeSoto efforts

By Plymouth and Dodge

* Corsair landing gears and arresters for deck landings, 10,000 sets (Plymouth
* Dodge produced 12,000,000 pounds of aluminum forgings for Chrysler aircraft contracts plus 13 other airplane builders.

Chrysler Corporation's achievements were enormous and vital to victory. The leadership and people of the Chrysler Corporation of that generation proved essential and critical to the energy applied to thwarting fanatical aggressors at a terribly dangerous time in world history. Let us not forget.

Afterword: the Dodge Chicago plant

Mike Sealey wrote: The WWII Dodge-Chicago plant went on to become an auto assembly plant...but Chrysler never built cars or trucks there. Preston Tucker purchased it as a war surplus property after the war with the intent of building Tuckers there, and indeed all prototypes after the original "Tin Goose" were assembled there. After Tucker folded, Ford bought the Dodge-Chicago plant for vehicle production. Had Henry I been a little less senile, or Henry II up to speed a little earlier, they might have held on to their own enormous Willow Run aircraft assembly plant... which was instead sold to Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, who operated it as their home plant until late 1953 or so when Kaiser moved production to the old Willys-Overland plant in Toledo, Ohio. The Willow Run plant was purchased by GM, who had lost their Hydra-Matic plant in Livonia to fire and desperately needed a new plant. Willow Run went on to build not only millions of Hydra-Matics, but was the assembly plant for the Corvair as well.



I dont know if the following was true, but it makes for a good story.

Not-quite-related B29 Plymouth ad

They came smashing through the Japanese lines and there it was -- a 1941 Plymouth DeLuxe sedan in the heart of the New Guinea jungle!

On its side was painted the enemy's rising sun insignia. American bullets had drilled the machine so full of holes that the entire top had to be removed. But the motor, according to Staff Sgt. Kenneth B. Schooley, who described the incident, was "in excellent condition, despite having a few, large caliber bullets bounced off it."

After the usual rough jungle travel, he writes, "it's like riding on air." At last report, the sedan was no longer "De Luxe" but it was doing a real job on New Guinea. The medical detachment requisitioned it, took out the back seat, put in a floor, and was using the Plymouth to transport wounded troops from the front.

Plymouth records show that this historic car went from the factory to a dealer on Guam. Probably the Japanese seized it there and took it with them to New Guinea. The full story won't be known until after the war - if then.

[syscom3]

I found this little blurb in my B29 production sourcebook

Besides the Dodge plant, R3350 engines were also produced at the Wright factory in Woodbridge New Jersey. As an aid to help workers morale (which was really bad at this factory), MUZAK "music" was piped into the plant.

This opens up a whole set of questions. What music did this company produce in the war years and what did it sound like. This was before tape was in widespread use, so how did they supply it. Lots of records?

Since this plant was quite productive in the final part of the war, I wonder if the key to productivity was to use this music to turn the workers into an army of drooling zombies.

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by syscom3

I found this little blurb in my B29 production sourcebook

Besides the Dodge plant, R3350 engines were also produced at the Wright factory in Woodbridge New Jersey. As an aid to help workers morale (which was really bad at this factory), MUZAK "music" was piped into the plant.

This opens up a whole set of questions. What music did this company produce in the war years and what did it sound like. This was before tape was in widespread use, so how did they supply it. Lots of records?

Since this plant was quite productive in the final part of the war, I wonder if the key to productivity was to use this music to turn the workers into an army of drooling zombies.

Actually the plant was the "Curtiss-Wright" plant.... It's still there...