Boeing B-29 Superfortress Variants - WB-29

Section source: National Museum

The WB-29s were production aircraft modified to perform weather monitoring missions. An observation position was fitted above the central fuselage section. They conducted standard data-gathering flights, including from the UK over the Atlantic, but were also ordered to fly into the eye of a hurricane or typhoon to gather information. Following nuclear weapons tests, some WB-29s would use air sampling scoops to test radiation levels. On 3 September 1949, a WB-29 returning from Yokota AB, Japan, to Eielson AFB, Alaska, recovered radioactive debris in air sampling scoops from the cloud generated by the first atomic bomb test by the Soviet Union on 29 August.