Battle of Kansas
The Battle of Kansas (also known as the "Battle of Wichita") was the nickname given to a project to build, modify, and deliver large quantities of the world's most advanced bomber to the front-lines, originally in Europe and also in the Pacific, although because of delays in production, it was used only in the Pacific. The battle began as the first B-29 Superfortresses rolled off the production lines of the massive new Boeing factory on the prairies near Wichita, Kansas. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a significant advance in aviation technology, which came with a multitude of problems to be resolved before it was suitable for combat operations. When the B-29 was ordered into production, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had not yet taken place and the first flight of the XB-29 prototype was still over a year away. On 6 September 1941 the US Army Air Forces placed its initial production contract for 250 B-29s, built mainly in Wichita, KS. Background In early 1941 the Boeing Wichita factory (which was intended to become one of the main assembly plants for "Project 345") was building PT-13D & N2S-5 "Kaydet" biplane trainers for the USAAF and the USN respectively, as well as B-17 control surfaces. The plant needed massive expansion to build the new bomber so on June 24, 1941, new ground was broken for what was to become "Plant II", which was to be completed in January 1943. New equipment was already being installed by Boeing six months before final completion. Also needed was a whole army of factory workers: people were recruited from all over Kansas and neighboring states. Accommodation for all of them needed to be found. Few of them had any experience in aircraft assembly and a large scale training program was required: they were expected to build a new type of aircraft. At the same time as the new factory was being built the USAAF started forming the foundations of four "Bombardment Groups" (the 40th, 444th, 462nd, and 468th BGs.) Together they made up the 58th Bombardment Wing (58th BW), which was the first operational unit to take the B-29 into combat from as yet un-built bases in China. A fifth BG, the 472nd was also formed as an operational training unit: this Group stayed in the U.S. and was disbanded in April 1944. With its new wing design, new type of remote controlled armament, pressurized crew stations, and powerful new Wright R-3350 radial engines (with new, 16 ft (4.88 m) diameter, slow-turning Hamilton Standard propellers), the B-29 project was unprecedented in the history of aviation: from inception, to drawing board and mass production took three years, at a time when such a design should have taken five years just to become a prototype. Instead the engineering design, production, and testing were being undertaken simultaneously, with all of the expected and unexpected problems, starting from the time the first XB-29 (41-1002) took to the air on 21 September 1942. The USAAF under General Hap Arnold