What is the indicated device under the tail of this B-29?

Question

Was lucky enough to have the B-29 "Doc" flying over the house this weekend.

What's the mechanism under the tail indicated by the red arrow? Tail-strike preventer?

I did some searching and found it in other pictures, but never a labeled diagram.

Ron Beyer · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-10T01:31:21.833

32

Its a "tail bumper":

Because the B-29 is so long, it helps prevent tail scrapes when taking off/landing.

Here is a close-up picture of the one on "FiFi":

edited May 10 '21 at 01:31

answered May 10 '21 at 01:22

Ron Beyer

3

Great pictures, thanks. – Organic Marble May 10 '21 at 02:05
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The OP might be interested to know that Concorde also had one, for the same reason. Details of Concorde's landing gear. – Graham May 10 '21 at 10:54
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Tail skids/bumpers (albeit not nearly as prominent as the ones depicted here) are common on long-bodied airliners (everything from Dash 8-Q400s to B787-10s) – UnrecognizedFallingObject May 10 '21 at 11:44
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@Graham thanks! I'll be lost in that website for a while. Wow. – Organic Marble May 10 '21 at 13:54
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I believe the B-25 has a fixed one. – Davidw May 10 '21 at 16:40
Huh. I would have assumed it was an antenna. TIL, I guess. – nick012000 May 11 '21 at 07:54
Is there a wheel or something that attaches? It looks to me just like it scrapes along the ground. – BruceWayne May 11 '21 at 14:41
1

@BruceWayne that's correct, it's a skid, not a wheel. If you hit it, your take off technique needs work. – Ron Beyer May 11 '21 at 16:12
@RonBeyer aha! Thanks for that simple clarification. I am (obviously) not a pilot and thought since the planes were so long it typically skids just enough to need a "tail bumper" for the last touch before taking off. Now I get it - you never want to use it, but it's there just in case. – BruceWayne May 11 '21 at 16:16

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