Air Force inventory.' The Battle of Kansas “It laid the groundwork for all future strategic aircraft in the U.S. “Quite simply, the B-29 was the gateway aircraft to the modern United States Air Force,” Bohannon says. The race for the bomber of the future was on, and its legacy would be lasting. government had already placed an order for 1,500 of the new bombers, but when Roosevelt made that promise, fewer than 15 were airworthy. Roosevelt still pledged to base at least 175 B-29s in China, within striking distance of Japan, in a year’s time. But despite the tragic test flight and ongoing production struggles-blame resource shortages and an unskilled workforce-President Franklin D. The crash was a massive setback for a program that could not afford to fail. “Even once the aircraft was rolled out, there was still a level of secrecy involved with its different components.” Air Force Global Strike Command tells Popular Mechanics. “The B-29 was a groundbreaking program, and like any such program, you want to try to hide the design and development stage as much as possible from your adversaries,” Shawn M.
