Boeing B-29 Superfortress Flight Engineer -1944 

My dad was a flight engineer on the B-29. Now I understand why he qualified after having been a mechanic in Ft Sumner on the tow planes training glider pilots for D-day; it would be a natural transition considering that he would also have duties maintaining engines. He never talked about the panel much, except for a story about during training when the pilot suddenly dived down to avoid a head-on encounter. My dad was not belted in and found himself bounced up and then came down right on the engine controls. He said it was fortunate they were in lock position, otherwise it would have shut them all down. He also mentioned that the B-29 was designed to fly 340 mph, faster than Japanese fighters, when "war power" was called for (it could only be maintained for about 20 minutes). He talked about doing training runs from a base in Puerto Rico to Omaha and back. Once the plane's engines were performing poorly and over the ocean were consuming so much fuel he eventually ran out on paper and informed the captain who called ahead for a straight in approach. As they were close to the runway the outside starboard engine cut out and at touchdown the port outside quit. halfway down the runway the inside engines quit and the captain nosed off the runway and they walked in. He said that was how close I came to not being conceived (which happened between training and being deployed to Saipan).

My Dad was a Flight Engineer on '29's and I still have all of his log books and manuals. It was very cool to see the same documents I have being shown in this video and in use. It gives me a new appreciation for what he did.

Ron Reagan is the narrator, Robert Mitchum is the engineer, voiced by Mel Blanc. All of them participated in the film division of the War Dept. during the war. Very cool history!

It’s really incredible the amount of technical know- how was required to operate these airplanes!

My dad was a flight engineer on a B29. This video makes me feel proud. I am awed by the tremendous responsibility involved.

I had no idea it was so complicated to fly these bombers! Thanks for uploading.

I had no idea of the complicated procedure that was required to fly the B-29. Thanks for the lesson.

My Cousins Husband was shot down over Germany in 1944 , being in British Bomber Command , and he parachuted and survived , finishing up in a Prisoner of war camp . .HE died in 2019 in Edinburgh his home town , which is my place of birth also.

couldnt stop watching this one. my father in law was a b29 pilot.he liked this plane. i was able to meet his flight engineer at dad's burial at arlington. talked with his radio operator, who's still alive, this summer. dad said it wasnt unusual to experience an engine failure on each mission. good thing there were 4 engines.

My did was in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific as a crew member. He was there when the A-bombs came through his area. His remains rest in Arlington. RIP Dad.

My great grandfather was a pilot of a B-29, he was shot down and killed on Oct. 21 1944. RIP. Very cool to see what he went through in his life on the B-29.

I was a flight engineer on a B-727, and I used to complain that it was complicated! LOL! This was unbelievable. I could never have run one of these jewels. Of course I was hired as a pilot and in those days the entry position was FE, then you moved up to First Officer. I had two electrical failures with manual gear extension and fuel dumping during my first six months. But no one was shooting at us! I give these guys a ton of credit for the hard work and training they put in saving the US in WWII.

My father was a flight engineer on the C-97 - a B-29 derivative built after war. They were stationed at Travis AFB and regularly made flights across the Pacific during the 1950s. At the time I was too young to appreciate and understand what he did, this was a great opportunity.

Excellent footage indeed. No wonder she is called SUPER-fortress! What a beautiful bomber bird. ...And the crew that flew it. And the ground crews that kept it ship shape! Thanks for posting this video.

Has any other country made tireless excellence seem so fun? That was intense!

Great video! So many more interlocks and safety features in today's engineering. Amazing to see how far we've progressed.

Handing the flight engineer task onto the co-pilot was brilliant. It transforms viewer interest from "routine rigmarole" to "trial by fire". Very clever and effective. I watched the switches, gauges & procedures with great intensity. Training film at it's best.

So cool to learn about all the steps required just to start the engines. Never saw so many guys pulling the huge props before. Wow!!

My branch manager started as a B-29 flight engineer, got accepted to OCS and flight school. Flew F-86 in Korea and was Col. Francis "Gabby"Gabreski's wingman when Gabreski shot down his 5th MIG. BTW reporting to Jim was Jim (Swede) Malmstrom, son of Col Malmstrom, for whom the base is named.

As an aircraft mechanic, I cant stop watching this video, brought tears to my eyes seeing that real airplane fly. Magnificent. My grandfather was a aviator and pear harbor survivor.

My grandmas brother n law was a flight engineer instructor. Pretty cool to watch this video..he discribed everything in this video..he even told me a story on how the no. 4 engine caught fire during one of his training classes..

Thanks so much! This such cool stuff. We would have never gotten a chance to see without these videos. Thanks again.

As a current flight engineer for the Boeing E-3 Sentry, it amazes me on how many similarities there are between the B-29 and a "newer" aircraft with more sophisticated systems. Engineers back then were a whole different breed.

I was a tail gunner on the B-29 in 1945.

Its amazing to see how much has changed and sometimes, how some things havent. This was so great! Thanks for posting this.

Great program, on the flight engineer's duty, and task , responsible, on his part in maintaining, and operating and flying, the Boeing B- 29 Superfortress Bomber Thank you for this great product. Tony Rocchietti.

Excellent video! Thank you for posting this!

What really strikes me about this video, is how much of that stuff could not be automated, since computers and automation as we think of it today were in their infancy. The flight engineer was very much like "the computer" of that aircraft. Quite the responsibility, me thinks.

Fantastic video; thanks for your work in this area its much appreciated.

I love seeing a brand new B-29 in detail...great video.

I lovethese old vids, I find it amazing that this stuff is almost 70-80 years ago and was so scientific, its easy to feel that avionics is a modern thing

An excellent video really gives a good understanding what it takes to run 4 engine B 29 !

My dad served on LSTs in the Pacific I know that over1074 lsts were built during ww2 .It boggles my mind how many planes and ships were built for the war effort.Especially given the complexity of the B29.

The flight engineer’s got his work cut out for him. He’s just as busy and involved as the pilot ! 🇺🇸👍

You really earned your pay as the flight engineer. Having to go through the pre-flight checks, all of those gauges you had to monitor during the flight. Then after you were back on the ground you still had work to do. Got tired just looking at him do all of this stuff.😓I would have lost my mind🤯😉

Incredible complicated procedures.. very good video...

Other actors: Don Castle and James Seay, pilot. The B-29 was a major design success of WW2, developed entirely out of America's resolve to win the war against Japan....which it did, with solid support from the air and sea and ground forces.........the sleeping giant awoke!

My daddy was a FLIGHT ENGINEER ON THE B 29 DURING WWII. I NEVER REALIZED HOW MUCH HE REALLY WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PLANE OF EVERYTHING IN FLIGHT. BRGORE AND AFTER. I KNEW HE WORKED ON THE ENGINES TOO. HE WAS ABOUT 10+ YRS OLDER THAN AVERAGE ENLISTED. HE LIVED TO BE 89 AND WENT HOME IN 1993. I AM HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER. I AM 76. IT IS NOW MAY 29, 2022. MAY GOD ALWAYS BLESS AMERICA AND OUR MILITARY. HIS PLANE WAD ED "SUTTLE BABY".

This is my job in 2019 and I love, love, love everything about it! ❤

I was a Flight Engineer on C-141A/B . Things had changed a lot from when this was done to when I flew.

Actor John Payne portraying the flight engineer. Ronald Reagan is doing the main voice over.

What a fantastic piece of machinery!

My dad was a flight engineer during WWII over Japan. 315th Wing, on the 'Last Mission' out of Northwest Field on Guam. It was good to see this.

My dad was a pilot on the B-24 and the B-29. He liked the -29 better it had more room. I was a Flight Engineer on the C-141B. Jet engines seem to be much easier to handle. Also the comment below about the Russian version, A B-29 made an emergency landing in Russia. They gave it back to us in boxes. Less than a year later they had their version.

That was actually extremely interesting.

Complicated plane,thought today's planes be ,but these just about the same. Brave men they are,God bless them.

The preflight checklist according to my opinion was EXTREMELY complicated ! ! So easy to miss many vital parameters and then on top of that constant monitoring of the engines and aerodynamics there was an ENEMY to get at or dodge being shot down. I am full of admiration and thankful for the jobs that the crews had to perform to control such a complicated machine and our generation would regain peace and freedom. They where a true heroes fully dedicated to our country . Nowdays computers do 90+% of all that monitoring and aircrafts are almost autonomous making crews minds able to focused on the combat situation. Pasanger aircrafts preflight checklist should be able to be controlled more by computers as human beings can make too many mistakes and forget about many vitally important parameters. After seeing the carnage of road accidents I'm looking forward to autonomous driven cars .

I was fortunate enough to have assisted various groups who still fly WW2 era aircraft and able to fly on many. Only in my late 20s at the time, I recall bringing on 6 former 29 crew well into their 70s and sitting there listening as they told stories. Greasing up control cables hoping it would make a bullet slide off. Each knew dozens who didn't make it and the avg age iirc was 20. Lots of tears that day.

My father in law was a navigator on B-29s in 1953-4 stationed outside of Tokyo. The crew flew "weather" missions sometimes with un-introduced crew members carrying their own gear on. On one mission the odd guests took over the airplane and few them into a new direction constantly monitoring the equipment they brought on board. After the mission the entire crew was washed off with soap, water and brushes while still in their flight gear.

I grew up with my father talking about every American bomber and fighter aircraft in WWII. He had most of the manuals. He finished the war in England as a ground crew chief for P38s. Later in the late 50s he learned to fly and bought a single engine Comanche single engine plane our family flew for 15 years. After all those years I never knew how they started any bombers.

I don't think I would of wanted to be the Flight Engineer. Tremendous responsibility.

What a glorious bird !

Wow, that's surely a lot of work!

My late mother in law was a B mechanic in a team of two women who installed the cables that controlled the rudder and elevators. She loved to talk about those times at Bell Bomber. During the late ‘50s I would watch ‘rassling on tv and the announcer would mention matches at Larry Bell Auditorium. I used to wonder who Larry Bell was. That looey was the lawyer on Miracle on 34th Street, wasn’t he?

Very cool video!

@2:54 The vivid expression of SHTF from the copilot after the bomb drops on him is priceless!

The simple life. If only they made this style video for today's planes.

Love the sight of factory new riveted aluminium sheets.

"This is the sound of 8,800 horsepower..." *plane does flyover* Me: *drool*

OMG Old analog engineering requires so many proceedures & protocols to operate. Now computer programming does it all. It was brilliant stuff to design and it won the war!

Incredibly involved and complicated! How many steps and things to watch are there? 20? 30?... And this is just to start the engine!!! Makes you understand how complex this thing really is and how far engineering has progressed since.

Another fine ZenosWarbirds video with no sound.

If the guy that tried to recover "Kee Bird" had watched this we'd have another B29 flying, instead of a smouldering pile on the tundra

The pilot is actor James Seay. He played small parts in numerous films for many years.

Excellent!

Complicated flight system. With engineer using throttles and reading instruments. I guess it was cutting edge at the time and the pilot would be overloaded with chores. Amazing film with Ronnie Regan reading the script!

went thru FE school in 1951, volunteered for B-29 combat crew training but the wise Training Command I was in sent me to Mather AFB on a TB-50 assignment. I was a A1C at the time. Got 50 hours of training and was turned loose as a instructor FE teaching BOAPES. Most of them were second Johns but did have a Lt Col from Sac as a student. He was a recalled B-29 FE and at the present was a pencil pusher but wanted to get in the B-36 program. He was required to take a refresher course. SUREE sat the the nose gear hatch for the most of the flight

I noticed they didn't go into pressurizing and depressurizing the cabin. And I'm wondering if this is because it remained classified at that time that the plane could actually fly at such a high altitude.

If you ever got confused who was in charge just look for the senior most prominent cleft chin.

excellent training video,I remember my military school days,

My father was a flight engineer on a B-29 during WWII.

My Dad was an FE on '29's. I still have his logbooks and manuals. Almost as much time was spent doing paperwork as it was in flight time.

Regarding the tons of maintenance and pre-flight checks: it's the same thing for fighters as well. It's just that since fighters are more often on alert than bombers (except nuclear bombers, but that's another show), they're always kept in a ready-to-go state, especially since the ground crew would do most of the pre-flighting. And I'm sure 5-minute alert isn't particularly easy on a fighter, either. Plus, only one or two engines, one pilot, etc... With a bomber that has 4 engines, lots of equipment, and 10 guys to work it all, it WOULD be a bit complicated.

Full Authority Human Engine Control (FAHEC), the predecessor of the FADEC ;-) Very interesting, thank you!

Preparatory to release of parking-brake, the order for removal of chocks was not shown being given to ground-crew. Obviously it was. I wonder if it always has been? Interesting review of the B-29s flight-engineers duties. Thanx~ !

what a technology...a miracle that these things were flying

I never knew so many actors were in the USAF. :)

incredibly complicated machine!

Not such an easy job but a very necessary one. We unfortunately lost a lot of those crew's. The whole lot of them were Hero's.

Respect to you sir.

Nice landing with the nose gear nice and high. So many WWll video’s show guys landing hot and on the nose gear first. Oh well, still my hero’s.

Great video and it became even better once I realized Ronald Reagan was one of the narrators. I knew he worked on military training films but this is the first time I've heard him narrate. Awesome!

Right around the 9:00 mark, the narrator sounds a lot like Ronaldus Magnus!

This thing is a battleship, and only 41 years after the first airplane flight!

I was a flight engineer on a KB-50. A B-29 with two J-47 Jet engines, four R-4360 cu. in. Wasp engines, and three refueling pods. The side panel, overhead jet controls, and two refueling panels on the right made operating the old B-29 look like child's play. They retired the last of the KB-50s the year I was discharged. A piece of junk. Overheated and many engine failures. I had eleven engine fires in the two years I operating the things.

My dad would be proud that I watched this... Siapan and Tinnian.

Were all the experts allways this chill and calm in 1940:es?

The "Flight Engineer" is John Payne, he starred in the Columbo episode " The Forgotten Lady"

I used to know a flight engineer on jets, he had these sort of layout panels at home so even when not in a "cockpit" he could go through the routines to engineer the variants he flew on, going through the carboard layouts. This was about 20 years ago. Fast forward to 2019 and we've dickheads at Boeing putting in buggy software, no flight engineers, computer knows best, then they crash and everyone dies....

The harnesses they're wearing look pretty much identical to the one I wear when I'm working at height on steel.

God there is more to it than I thought

Look how clean the aircraft is.

At 35:32 I thought the guy was pushing snot out of his nose when he was just shouting to the crew chief or someone else.

they sure relaxed the flight suits after this film was made.

In case you have not noticed, RONALD REAGAN is the narrator.

holly crap the engineer had a lot to remember.

It sounds badass

... I'm now a fully qualified B-29 flight engineer

Of course, this is 'by-the-book' procedures. Im curious how many shortcuts the guys out in combat made to these :P

I'm suppose to be studying for a calculus exam. What the hell am I doing here?