B-29 aircraft remains return to RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre

The American B-29 Superfortress crashed near Wisbech in July 1949 when en route to its temporary base, RAF Sculthorpe, near Fakenham.

Its wreckage was recovered in the early 1990s by the Fenland Aviation Museum in Wisbech, which closed last year.

The aeroplane's remains have now been offered to the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre at the former airbase.

The B-29 at RAF Sculthorpe (Image: RSHC)

Curator Ian Brown was delighted to see the aircraft's legacy return to its former home, 74 years after it crashed.

He said: "It's fantastic to bring the wreckage of such an important aircraft back home.

“It may only be wreckage, but it's the UK's only substantial B-29 wreckage on public display.

"The only B-29 in the UK is at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford."

Curator of RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre, Ian Brown (Image: RAF Sculthorpe heritage centre)

After the aircraft - with the serial number 44-62191, encountered problems - all 12 of its crew bailed out and survived.

The plane was on a 90-day deployment to Sculthorpe and had been part of the US Air Force's 98th Bomb Group.  

With a wingspan of 43 metres, the Superfortress was the largest bomber of the Second World War.

Other Superfortresses dropped two atomic bombs on Japan at the end of the war.

A newspaper clipping recounting the discovery of the aircraft's wreckage (Image: RSHC)

RAF Sculthorpe was converted in 1946, into a 'very heavy bomber' base.

This meant it could accommodate B-29s, even those carrying Mark III nuclear bombs, also known as the Fatman, which destroyed the city of Nagasaki.

Recognisable parts of the crashed B-29 include the remains of a Wright Cyclone 3350 engine, propeller blades, five 50-calibre machine guns and a two-inch thick rear gunner's window.

Wreckage from the B-29 on display (Image: RSHC)

The museum is soon to move to a new building - a former chapel at the airbase - which is due to open its doors in April next year.

Luke Page of Economy Plant Hire and Mitchell Plumb of Plumbs Plant Hire and Transport helped transport the B-29's remains. 

Wreckage from the B-29 on display (Image: RSHC)

Photo was taken after the B-29 crashed in Norfolk (Image: RSHC)

Parts of the B-29 being moved into the RAF Sculthorpe Heritage Centre (Image: RSHC)