WB-29 44-62214 "Lady of the Lake"
Comments
Album info
Boeing WB-29 44-62214 "Lady of the Lake" Eielson AFB, Alaska.
History:
B-29 Superfortress 44-62214 entered service with the United States Army Air Force in 1944, one of almost 4,000 of Boeing’s state of the art World War Two heavy bombers to roll off the production line. The Superfortress was later converted to a long-range weather reconnaissance aircraft, redesignated WB-29. Secretly she flew between Alaska and Japan, detecting evidence of Soviet nuclear testing in 1949. Lady of the Lake was the aircraft that detected the first evidence of Soviet atomic testing in 1949 – despite the US belief at the time that the Red Army was decades behind in nuclear weapons technology. But after she was damaged beyond economical repair in a ground accident 1954, 44-62214 became a hangar queen and was cannibalised for parts.
There’s no known record of the aircraft being towed from storage at Eielson AFB to its watery grave nearby, but it’s likely that the move took place in 1955 or 1956. Of course, the result is the same:
