When you think of the massive, silver birds that brought the Pacific War to a close, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress usually hogs the spotlight. It’s the celebrity. It’s the high-altitude, pressurized hero of the history books. But there was another one. A backup. A "just in case" plane that actually holds some of the most bittersweet records in American military history. Honestly, if you haven’t heard much about the Consolidated B-32 Dominator, you aren't alone. It was basically the B-29’s awkward sibling that showed up to the party right as the lights were being turned off.
The B-32 was never supposed to be the star. In 1940, the US Army Air Corps was nervous. The B-29 program was incredibly ambitious—maybe too ambitious. It was expensive and technically terrifying. So, they called up Consolidated Aircraft and said, "Hey, build us a fallback. Something a bit more conventional."
What they got was the Consolidated B-32 Dominator. It was a beast of a machine that, in some ways, was actually simpler and more rugged than the Superfortress. But it was also plagued by such a messy development cycle that it almost didn't make it into the air before the surrender was signed.
Why the Consolidated B-32 Dominator was a Technical Mess
The plan was simple: take the best parts of the B-24 Liberator and scale them up. Consolidated used the famous Davis wing—that long, skinny wing that gave the B-24 its range—and slapped it onto a massive, cigar-shaped fuselage.
It didn't go smoothly.
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Originally, the B-32 was supposed to have a twin-tail design, much like the Liberator. When they finally got the prototype in the air in September 1942, it was a nightmare to handle. The thing was unstable. They tried different tail configurations, even borrowing a tail from a B-29 at one point to see if it helped. They eventually settled on a massive, 19-foot vertical stabilizer that made the plane look like a B-24 on serious steroids.
The Pressurization Problem
One of the big selling points for these new "super bombers" was crew comfort. High altitude meant you needed a pressurized cabin. Boeing figured it out. Consolidated? Not so much. The B-32 leaked like a sieve.
Every time they tried to fix the pressurization, the weight of the aircraft ballooned. Eventually, the Army Air Forces got fed up. They told Consolidated to just scrap the pressurization entirely. This meant the Consolidated B-32 Dominator was relegated to low-to-medium altitude missions. It was a massive blow to the plane's "strategic" potential, but it simplified production.
Remote Control Failure
The prototype also featured fancy remote-controlled turrets, similar to what the B-29 used. These systems were supposed to let gunners sit in a central station and aim guns elsewhere on the plane. They never worked right on the B-32. On the production models, they went back to old-school, manually operated turrets. It felt like a step backward, but it was the only way to get the planes out of the factory.
The Mission That History Forgot
By the time the B-32 actually reached the Pacific in May 1945, the war was basically over. The B-29 had already proven it could do the job. Only a handful of B-32s—assigned to the 386th Bombardment Squadron—ever saw combat.
They flew missions over the Philippines and Formosa (modern-day Taiwan), mostly hitting supply depots and sugar mills. Not exactly the world-changing strategic strikes they were designed for. But then came August 18, 1945.
The war had technically ended three days earlier when Japan announced its surrender. However, the situation on the ground was chaotic. Some Japanese units hadn't gotten the memo, or they just weren't ready to stop fighting. Two B-32s, including one named Hobo Queen II, were flying a photo-reconnaissance mission over Tokyo to make sure the Japanese were actually sticking to the ceasefire.
Suddenly, Japanese fighters—Zeros and "Georges"—swarmed them.
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It was a brutal, two-hour dogfight. During the engagement, a 20-year-old photographer named Sergeant Anthony Marchione was hit by cannon fire. He died in the back of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator while his crewmates tried to save him.
He is recognized as the last American to die in air combat in World War II.
B-32 vs. B-29: A Quick Look at the Numbers
| Feature | B-32 Dominator | B-29 Superfortress |
|---|---|---|
| Max Speed | 357 mph | 357 mph |
| Bomb Load | 20,000 lbs | 20,000 lbs |
| Engines | 4x Wright R-3350 | 4x Wright R-3350 |
| Pressurized? | No (Production models) | Yes |
| Range | 3,800 miles | 3,250 miles |
The irony here is that the B-32 actually had a slightly better range and a higher cruising speed (290 mph vs 230 mph) than the B-29. Pilots who flew it generally liked it. They called it "stable" and "rugged." It could take a beating. But being "pretty good" wasn't enough when your competitor was already winning the war.
What Happened to All the B-32s?
If you're a museum buff, don't bother looking for a Consolidated B-32 Dominator. You won't find one.
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Unlike the B-29s, which stayed in service through the Korean War, the B-32 was scrapped almost immediately. As soon as the war ended, the government canceled the orders for over 1,500 more planes. The ones that were already built were flown to "boneyards" in places like Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and Kingman, Arizona.
By 1949, every single one of the 118 airframes had been cut up for scrap metal.
No one thought to save one. It was seen as an obsolete backup to a more successful plane. It’s a bit of a tragedy for aviation nerds, honestly. We have dozens of B-17s and B-24s, and a handful of B-29s, but this massive piece of late-war tech is just... gone.
Practical Takeaways from the B-32 Story
If you're a history enthusiast or just someone who likes looking at how big projects succeed or fail, the B-32 offers a few lessons that still ring true today:
- Redundancy is expensive but necessary. The US spent millions on the B-32 as a "Plan B." While the plane itself didn't win the war, having that backup gave leadership the confidence to push the B-29 program to its limits.
- The "Good Enough" trap. The B-32 suffered because it tried to be as advanced as the B-29 but couldn't execute. When it finally reverted to simpler tech (no pressurization, manual guns), it became a reliable aircraft—but by then, it was too late.
- Timing is everything in tech. You can have a superior cruising speed and range, but if you arrive six months after the "standard" has been set, you’re just scrap metal.
If you want to see what the B-32 looked like in motion, your best bet is hunting down archival footage from the 386th Bombardment Squadron. There are some incredible clips of the massive single-tail Dominators taxiing on Okinawa that really show the scale of these "forgotten" giants.
Next time someone mentions the B-29, you can be that person who says, "Yeah, but have you heard about the Dominator?" It’s a story of what happens when you’re the perfect backup for a hero that never failed.
Actionable Next Steps:
To see the B-32's legacy today, look up the Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer. It's the Navy's version of the B-24 that used the same massive single-tail design as the B-32. A few of those actually survived and can be seen in museums, giving you the best physical sense of what the Dominator's scale felt like.