World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
12 Dec 2013 05:31:34 PM

The B-29 was armed with twelve .50 caliber machine guns. top turret four .50's, the aft top turret two .50's, turret underneath the fuselage two .50's, and aft rear turret two .50's the tail position two .50's and one 20mm cannon.
The B-29 carried 11,500 rounds of fifty caliber ammo and 100 rounds of 20mm cannon ammo.

Weapons were remotely controlled with an array of computers the weight of the ammo, .50 caliber machine guns, 20mm cannon, feed systems, sighting equipment added five tons to the B-29.
Gunners were positioned in scanning blisters the gunner could sight the target, that was computed by onboard firing computers except for the hand operated tail position.
All this equipment added five tons to the B-29
at peak production, American workers turned out 100 B-29s per month in March 1945 working 55 to 60 hours shifts.

War production workers, were the unsung heroes of WWII did you know that 300,000 of those workers producing the weapons and supplies for the war effort were killed or injured during the war...
My late father worked in war production he tested
the machinery and balanced the contra-rotating propellers for navy torpedoes. I love you Dad, Rest in peace 1919 to 2007. My late father told me that many of the people working in the defense plants felt that once the Allies landed in Normandy, WWII would be over by the summer of 1945.