Books on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Detail & Scale "B-29 Superfortress Derivatives"

    Arms & Armour Press Ltd's "Detail and Scale" series Volume 25: "B-29 Superfortress - Part 2 - Derivatives" by Alwyn T. Lloyd. ISBN 0-85368-839-7.  Published in 1987 this is a book far ahead of its time. 72 pages of black and white pictures with a scattering of line drawings and illustrations. There are also 8 pages of colour photo's. At the back you get a roundup as to how to model a whole range of the derivatives covered in the book including the F-13A, RB-29A, TB-29 target tug, Tarzon Bomb Carrier, Mother Ships for Goblin, X-1 & Skyrocket, WB-29, KB-29P and KC-97 tankers. There is even a list of Decals available. It is hard to believe this book was printed 20 years ago! If you need a book on some unusual B-29 derivations then this is the one. Recommended.

David A. Anderton "B-29 Superfortress at War"

     Published by Ian Allan in 1978. The book is 176 pages long and anyone who has one of Ian Allan's "At War" Series will know what they are getting: a 1970's 'look-and-feel', large book, full of service history and black and white photo's. How does this compare? No surprises, that is exactly what you get however there is a four page center section of colour photo's. It is a shame these repeat colour photo's already printed on the front and rear covers.. What was the point? With a couple of exceptions there are almost no interior airframe photo's. Disappointing.

John Pimlott "B-29 Superfortress" Warplanes in Col

     Published by Arms and Armour Press in 1980. Despite the claim to be "Warplanes in Colour" this is no such thing. There are just eleven colour photo's in the entire book! You get sixty-four pages with a sprinkling of diagrams. Several black and photo's are colour tinted but not in colour. It is almost as if the book is in colour but they couldn't find many colour photo's. However it does boast that nice colour cutaway diagram that may of some use to superdetailers. Apart from that there is no walkaround or scale plans. Also you will find no colour artworks. The text covers development, manufacture and some service history, but it is brief. There are some technical tables at the back.

Frederick A Johnsen "The B-29 Book"

     Frederick A. Johnsen's "The B-29 Book" published by Bomber Books in the USA in 1978. Hardly a 'book' - more of a pamphlet!! A highly dated presentation style with all the text looking as if it was photocopied from the output of a typewriter. It is that kind of font! You get 28 pages and colour front and back covers. Honestly, most magazines manage more than that. Pathetic. However, all is not lost. The limited colour is quite interesting. I quite like the unusual photo's of the green/grey camo B-29's. An oddity only.

Squadron/Signal "B-29 Superfortress In Action"

     By Steve Birdsall, illustrated by Don Greer in his usual style. Published in 1977 and shows it. Although boasting a UK Distributor this is an American impression due to the original price in Dollars and Cents on the cover. Obviously from a time when everyone felt confident enough to print the price of $3.95 - roughly £2.50 in real money. There are 49 pages packed with black and white photo's. Only the center pages and the covers offer any colour. There are a scattering of line drawings through the book but no scale plans although there is a simple layout of unknown scale. Run-of-the-mill stuff from Squadron/Signal in the late 1970's.

Chester Marshall "Big Bombers of WWII" (B-29)

     Published by Lowe and B. Hould (I assume that is a joke) in 1998. This looks like a book that brings together three separate books into one package. However I see no evidence that the three works were ever published separately. The three focus on the B-17, B-24 and B-29 although only the B-29 features on the front cover shown here. Chester Marshall was an actual wartime B-29 pilot and has written several books on the type. The B-29 takes up the final third of the book with pages 289 through 427 making this a 138 page long book. All the photo's are crisp and beautifully printed. The black and white works are lovely but the book boasts a lot of colour. Colour photo's appear on roughly a third of all the pages. However, this is no walkaround and there are few detectible pictures of the interior or any airframe features. There are no scale plans of diagrams. It isn't that sort of book as it does focus on development and service history only. There is one colour artwork showing a nice cutaway but it is a little small. The text does dominate throughout but the history does carry on through to Korea if that is your thing.