What is the indicated device under the tail of this B-29? Was lucky enough to have the B-29 &quot;Doc&quot; 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.


(Personal photograph)
Its a &quot;tail bumper&quot;:

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 &quot;FiFi&quot;:

Source: Airport-data.com