Your favorite WWII Aircraft

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

It would've saved them some money if they'd known that th B-29 was only going to be used against the Japanese.

The B-29 was used against the Japanese because it was the best tool available for the job.Do not forget that the B-29 was very complex for its time and had many issues when it first entered service these factors made the USAAF decide to deploy them to the the PTO and not Europe.Remember the strategy was Europe first and then Japan.

They knew that the B-29 had issues and might take time to become truly combat effective but that it had the range to reach mainland Japan from bases in China(missions from China had mediocre results and the B-29s got sent to the Mariana Islands where they where a little closer to Japan) .

The logic was in the PTO we can afford to wait 6 months for the B-29 to become effective on the other hand we need a bomber that is effective right now in Europe.Therefore keep the B-24 and B-17s in Europe and send the B-29 to the PTO where in time it will get the job done.At this point the atomic bomb was not a sure thing yet it was all theory until the test at Trinity in 1945.The war against Japan was expected to possibly last well into 1946.

The B-29 took longer to develop than originally planned had it have been ready in 1943 it would have flown over Germany most likely.