Birth of the B-29

This clip is about how the B-29 came to be. It was made before the United States had acquired Tinian Island and Iwo Jima since it refers to B-29 attacks on Japan using Chinese-built runways.

Title material

Japan was born from volcanic eruptions. 'Land of the little people who believed who grew to believe in blood and iron lay the short-cut to greatness.'

It talks briefly about bushido and then mentions the idea of 'the four corners of the world under Japanese rule.'

It says that silk helped finance Japan's plans for world control.

'Made in Japan became a sentence of death.'

It talks briefly about the Dolittle raid. The emphasis in the film has been on Japan and its militarism, and that the 'answer would come from the sky,' which leads into the B-29.

One of the assembly plants.

The poster in the plant for the B-29.

Aluminum sheets.

There were also women workers.

Making the plane's wings.

Working on the front of the plane.

Working on the part of the plane where the wings will be attached and where the bomb bay will be located.

The wing is attached to the plane.

The planes are put together like jigsaw puzzles.

The film says the 20th Air Force was built around the bomber. Then it goes into how the Chinese built airstrips for the B-29's.

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