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Interestingly by the time it came into service the Me-262 could reach it.

B-29 service ceiling was 9710 m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress#Spec...

For the Me-262 the service ceiling: 11,450 m

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262#Specifica...

The B-29 was an absolutely insane technical achievement. But it's also completely crazy to think that as soon as it was in service the Me-262 had made it obsolete. Also the German development of guided surface to air missiles. The US immediately had to build a pressurized jet bomber that would operate in a considerably tougher environment.

The US had began working on what would wind up as the B-52 that would fly 6 years later in 1951.

By that point you'd think that everything would keep changing.

Yet here we are almost 75 years later and the B-52 is still a US combat aircraft that is expected to stay in service until the 2050s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress

The pace of technological development is so crazy.


B-52 age is my favorite "yes, but" series:

Yes, but the B-52H still in use are very different from the ones built in 1951.

Yes, but the youngest B-52H was built in 1962.

So much closer to the days of the Wright Flyer than to the present day.

Could be the reason that the B-29 was never used over Germany.
The ME109 could also reach the service ceiling of the B-29

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