Boeing KB-29 Superfortress

The Boeing KB-29 was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress modified as an air refuelling tanker for the United States Air Force. Two main versions were produced, the KB-29M and the KB-29P. The KB-29M first used a looped hose method, in which the tanker and receiver snagged cables and hauled a hose into the receiver, and later a probe and drogue system fitted by Flight Refuelling Ltd in the United Kingdom; it was used to refuel the Lucky Lady II on her 1949 circumnavigation. The KB-29P carried a rigid flying boom at the rear with V-tail control surfaces, the system Strategic Air Command preferred and the ancestor of the booms on the KC-97, KC-135 and KC-46. The 509th and 43d Air Refueling Squadrons were created in 1948 to operate the KB-29M, and the KB-29P flew with the 420th and 407th squadrons in the 1950s. It had four Wright R-3350 radial engines.