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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.

enter image description here

  • (Personal photograph)
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1 Answer 1

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Its a "tail bumper":

enter image description here Source: Fiddlersgreen.net

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":

enter image description here Source: Airport-data.com

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    $\begingroup$ Great pictures, thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    May 10, 2021 at 2:05
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    $\begingroup$ The OP might be interested to know that Concorde also had one, for the same reason. Details of Concorde's landing gear. $\endgroup$
    – Graham
    May 10, 2021 at 10:54
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    $\begingroup$ 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) $\endgroup$
    – UnrecognizedFallingObject
    May 10, 2021 at 11:44
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    $\begingroup$ @Graham thanks! I'll be lost in that website for a while. Wow. $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    May 10, 2021 at 13:54
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    $\begingroup$ I believe the B-25 has a fixed one. $\endgroup$
    – Davidw
    May 10, 2021 at 16:40

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