It was striking to see Doc's wings so clean before the engines were mounted. That part, the weight of the engines cantilevered _way_ out on those wings, gets me too. Fantastic engineering on a plane that was designed, built and flown a scant forty years or so after the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Thanks for having us out to Wichita. These volunteers did a great job restoring Doc. It was great to fly with you and we can't wait to share this story soon on Behind the Wings!
I can't believe that this restoration took less than 5 years using only volunteer labor (surely there must have been some paid engine work that was done?).
As a Wichitan, who has roamed the world and lived a large part of my life in Colorado, I have immense pride in Wichita. Not only did Wichita produce these bombers back in the 1940's, but Wichita still has an entrepreneur spirit that in it's early days created such aviation companies as Cessna, Beech, and Learjet, but also Coleman outdoor equipment, Pizza Hut, White Castle and others. Spirit Aero systems still builds for Boeing here. Wichita has a lot of 'can do' attitude.
Wichitan here, Doc has a dedicated home but it's seldom home anymore now. Doc is very often away from home at air shows. As a native Wichitan, I find it very awesome to see it in our skies because it's away from home so much on tours or at air shows!
I was eight years old and saw my first B-29 while waiting at a bus stop in Nob Hill in Albuquerque,NM in 1944. It was on final approach to Kirtland AFB about three miles away. Never forgot crawling through the tunnel of a B-29 at an open house around 1948/50.I saw a lot of different airplanes coming and going out of Kirtland in the war years as the Army Air Corp trained bombardiers at the base.Many B-29s were built at the Martin Bomber Plant in Bellevue,Nebraska, including the Enola Gay and Bockscar. That plant site is now part of Offutt Air Force Base.
They really need to start on a *third* one... They say the only "mostly intact", when there are several intact around the country at museums... With today's technology a third one from scratch is also a possibility.
:09 - I'll bet those ladies lost their hearing pretty quickly. I've been a structures guy for a while & sometimes even muffs AND plugs aren't enough in tight, closed spaces like that.
she made her first flight on the 17 of july 2016,can't wait to ride on her like I did with FIFI,and contribute to keep her in the air as a flying museum
DON'T just stop at Doc... I think at a minimum there should be a 3rd one operational. Try to restore at least one more. If they hadn't screwed up with Kee Bird it would have been done.
The only one I know of left is 44-62134, it’s out at China Lake still, the end of it’s left wing, and it’s tail are gone, and the very front of the cockpit has some damage but other than that it’s in very good shape.
This is it on google earth earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.google.earth&ibi=com.google.b612&isi=293622097&ius=googleearth&link=https%3a%2f%2fearth.google.com%2fweb%2f%4035.52445664,-117.17033547,706.60412643a,65.42646916d,35y,37.22583512h,0t,0r#googleearth
It burned when during an attempt to taxi, a fuel container for the auxiliary power unit tipped over from being inadequately restrained, spilling fuel onto the hot power unit and catching fire. There was no stopping it...:(.. .
