AIR POWER ON TOUR

摘要

Sun glints off the extensively glazed nose of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress universally known as FIFI, and the crew chief standing in front of the bomber raises his arm to indicate engine start. Slowly the massive four-bladed prop begins to turn, and smoke bellows out of the starboard inner engine exhausts. The outer starboard is next, followed by the port inner and then finally the port outer. The roar from the four Wright R-3350 Cyclones being run up is deafening and surely catches the attention of everyone on the large airfield. The sleek, gleaming B-29 eases forward onto the main runway and full power is applied - the bomber is soon gliding majestically down the runway and into the cloudless sky. Although it was only May, the midday sun over Long Island, New York, was incredibly strong and seemed to bleach the colour out of the landscape - and at least for me, standing by the side of the runway, it brought to mind photos of B-29s on the Pacific islands in World War Two. The brutal battle for the Japanese homeland and her string of islands was where the Superfortress cut its teeth, culminating with the dropping of the 'Little Boy' atomic bomb by the Enola Gay on Hiroshima and the 'Fat Man' plutonium bomb on Nagasaki by B-29 Bockscar.