Naval History Forums

Gentlemen,
Just finished watching the first part of the jet age based around the first British jets in the late 40's/early 50's. one very quick shot shows various jets -
Meteors etc, on the tarmac of an airfield and in the background were what looked like some Boeing B29 Strato Fortress's (if I've got he name right!) with RAF roundels on the side. Did the RAF buy or borrow some from the US?
Also, an interesting point came up from an ex instructor on the U2spy plane, although the UK Government will still not admit it, apparently some of the pilots were in fact British and were used in case they got shot down and Russia started a war with the US over the use of spy planes and the Brits could claim they were only observing weather conditions. (Not sure the Ruskies would buy that one!). but an interesting program, part 2 next Sunday.

I would not be surprised that the RAF had B-29s in the early Cold War as the Iron Curtain was falling over eastern Europe. The B-29 was the only long range delivery system of nuclear weapons during that time period. The British would need B-29s to present a nuclear deterrence in Europe against the USSR. The Russians reverse engineered their own B-29s during this time period as well.

The RAF was supplied with ~100 B-29s which were named 'Washingtons' in RAF service. They operated in the early 1950s to close the gap between the development of UK nuclear weapons and the jet powered V-bombers.

Gentlemen,
As always, many thanks for your replies and information, a B29 must have seemed a hell of a big aircraft after Lancaster's and Halifax's!

Better fate than being bulldozed flat and turned into beer cans.