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    Inside

    Boeing B-29A      

 Hawg Wild      

 

 
The following photographs were taken inside Duxford's B-29, "Hawg Wild", mainly at Friends of Duxford evening photographic sessions.   The restoration, so far, involves the front crew area and the bomb bays.  We were able to explore back as far as the rear bulkhead of the forward crew area (behind the dorsal turret housing). The tunnel linking front and rear crew areas through the top of the bomb bay is in place, but needs a lot of TLC to restore it to original condition.  (See the adjacent Enola Gay tunnel picture to see how it once looked!) One curiosity: The astrodome opens into the forward end of the tunnel......must have made taking star shots an interesting task for the navigator!  Some additional photos below were taken with flash through the rear gunner's side blisters and open bomb bay doors. As can be seen, there are many further opportunities for restoration in the rear compartment. Finally some outside shots show the tail gunner's position in the extreme rear of the aircraft.

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Forward Fuselage Crew Positions

 

 

Bombardier / front gunner

Beginning at the nose:

 

On the right above the bomb sight is the nose gun-sight, hinged to the right when not in use.

 

The Bombardier's station

Norden Bomb Sight

 

Nose Gun Sight

 

Lower front turret

Pilot and co-pilot

The pilot/aircraft commander is on the left and the co-pilot is on the right.

 

Pilot's station

 

Co-pilot's station

Pilot's instrument panel

 

Co-pilot's instrument panel

 

Flight Engineer

Behind the co-pilot is the flight engineers station, Immaculately restored

 

 

On the extreme right hand side of these pictures is the housing below the front dorsal gun turret. This dominates the rear of the compartment and makes the radio operator and navigator stations, on either side of it, very claustrophobic.

 

Navigator

  Its a tight squeeze to reach the navigator's station, which is beside the dorsal turret housing on the pilot's side.  The gent behind the access door (with red handle) in the photo on the left above, is returning from the Navigator's position. A folding chart table is used, to permit access beside the dorsal turret housing.

 

Navigator's seat

Radio Navigation Receiver display

Radio Operator

The radio operator sits on the co-pilot's side between the dorsal turret housing and the bomb bay pressure bulkhead. In the top centre of the pressure bulkhead is the crew tunnel leading over the bomb bays to the rear pressurised gunners compartment. Below this is the pressure door giving access to the forward bomb bay at low altitude.

 

Tunnel Vision

Its Hawg Wild Tunnel & astrodome

 

The Navigator sits by the window below the dorsal turret

 

 Corresponding image inside Enola Gay

Photo by kind permission of  Scott Willey, NASM.

Note the safety belt to prevent the navigator from being propelled at lethal speed through the tunnel in the event of an explosive decompression in the rear crew area.

The front and rear crew compartments are connected by a tunnel approximately 3 feet in diameter that runs through the top of the the bomb bays over the wing spar.  Surprisingly, the navigators astrodome is accessed via the tunnel.  It can be seen at the top of the tunnel opening and is ringed in the reference photo on the Left (above).  Hawg Wild is in need of some serious restoration in this area, but thanks to Scott Willey of the NASM at Dulles,  Washington DC, we can see how Hawg Wild may look after restoration.

 

Crew entry door

On the floor centre line, beside the flight engineer's seat, is the entrance hatch door.  Access to the aircraft is via the nose wheel bay.  ( The door is in green in the top of the wheel bay.)

 

 

The Bomb Bays

 
The forward bomb bay can be seen through the small window in the pressure door in the  centre of the rear bulkhead of the forward crew compartment, under the tunnel entrance. (The tunnel is barely visible above the centre of the main spar at the top of this photo.)

The wing spars divide the bomb accommodation into two bays.

Forward Bomb Bay:

Forward Bomb Bay, looking aft
 

With the bomb bay doors open, looking aft with a clear view of the crew tunnel above.

 

Forward Bomb Bay, looking forward (with the bomb doors open). The pressure door in the centre of the the bulkhead has been removed, showing the forward dorsal gun turret housing within the front crew compartment. The front ventral gun turret can also be seen below the door opening and closing rams.

Aft Bomb Bay:

  
The view, looking forward in the aft bomb bay (doors are open). The crew tunnel and the rear of the wing  spars can be seen below. 

  Looking aft in the rear bomb bay. The bulkhead to the rear crew compartment has the central pressure door removed. (The temporary cardboard and plastic boxes contain cleaning materials.)

 

The Rear Crew Compartments

 

Side & Master Gunners

View through the Starboard gunner's blister. (We were not given access to the rear crew compartments.)
On the left is the view facing forward. the tunnel opening can be seen in the centre of the frame. On the right is the view facing aft. The green cylinder just left of centre is the underside of the rear dorsal turret.

 
View through the port gunner's blister
On the left is the view facing forward. The back rest of the port gunner's seat is on the extreme left. Just left of center in the roof is the master gunner's top blister. The master gunner sat on a raised swivel-chair and in addition to his own sighting responsibilities, he allocated the gun turrets  to individual gunners. Either to himself or to the side gunners or nose gunner, dependent on the position of attacking fighters.

 

 On the right is the view facing aft. The green cylinder just right of centre is the underside of the rear dorsal turret.....      Below is the rear lower turret.

 

Rear Gunner

Early B-29s were provided with a 20mm cannon in addition to the twin .50s.  However, the ballistic characteristics of the cannon and machine gun projectiles are quite different and this made aiming more an art than a science.  In later aircraft (including Hawg Wild), the 20mm cannon was therefore removed to save weight.

The rear gunner could move between his sighting position and the main rear crew compartment via doors in the pressure sealing bulkheads at low altitude.