On 6 Jan 2004 14:36:31 -0800, (Rick Durden)
wrote:

John,

Don't forget that the B-29 was pressurized. Those bombers took lots
of bullets through the pressure vessel during WWII and Korea. A
bullet does NOT cause explosive decompression, it just adds another
leak to an already very leaky fuselage/pressure vessel and generally
won't even cause a loss of pressurization. The outflow valves are
nearly a foot in diameter, so a dozen bullet holes aren't going to
change things very much.

The tests were run over 50 years ago, but everyone has forgotten the
results.

All the best,
Rick

That's true Rick, they were. However I thought I read somewhere that
as the airplanes approached the Japanese coast, they depressurized and
donned oxygen masks in case they got hit by AA or fighter attack.

The pressurization allowed the crew to fly in relative comfort
(without needing bulky flightsuits or oxygen masks) given that the
flights often lasted up to 14 hours, for the majority of the flight.

Corky Scott