An excellent book about the development and evolution of the B 29 Superfortress as the first truly long range aerial weapon. By the end of WW2 it was a devastating instrument of mass destruction even before it was capable of carrying atomic weapons. It was capable of high level precision attacks on critical military or industrial targets as well as destroying entire cities with incendiary weapons. Hurried into combat by Hap Arnold; losses from accidents and less than adequate training resulted in aircraft and crew losses that matched actual combat casualties. It finally fulfilled the long promised but rarely delivered strategic bombing mission of the WW2 "airpower uber alles" advocates like Britain's bomber Harris and the U.S. generals Hansell and Arnold. Citations from Arnold's WW2 messages give the impression that establishing the then Army Air Force as an independent service was more important than reducing casualties or winning the war. His subversive activities were almost a match for the ever present British campaign to restore and preserve the Empire. ( )

A very readable history of the B-29, its development, it first use in Chine and its subsequent use to bomb Japan to its knees. The author, who flew with the 20th Air Force, believes that the war would have ended in late 1945 without dropping the atomic bomb or invading with soldiers. The cutting off of Japan's access to resources from her Empire by submarines and air power would have forced her to surrender. ( )