XB-44 Superfortress
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The Boeing XB-44 was a B-29 Superfortress upgraded with Pratt & Whitney R-4360-33 Wasp Major supercharged radial engines.
First flying in May 1945, the XB-44 proved 50 mph faster than the B-29. Production was planned as the B-29D, but became the B-50 in December 1945. Officially, the aircraft's new designation was justified by the changes separating the B-29D from its predecessors. However, according to Peter M. Bowers, a well-known authority on Boeing aircraft, "the redesignation was an outright military ruse to win appropriations for the procurement of an aeroplane that by its designation appeared to be merely a later version of an existing model that was being canceled wholesale, with many existing examples being put into dead storage."
Source
- Knaack, Marcelle Size, "Post-World War II Bombers", Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1988, ISBN 0-912799-59-5, page 163
[edit] Related content
Related development<h3>
<h3>Comparable aircraft<h3> <h3>Designation sequence<h3> Military: XB-41 - XB-42 - XB-43 - XB-44 - B-45 - XB-46 - B-47| Boeing: 307 - 314 - 316 - 341 - 344 - | 345 (B-29) | - 367 - 377 - 400 |
| 345 (B-39) | ||
| 345 (B-44) | ||
| 345 (B-50) |
<h3>Related lists<h3>
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