1:1 Scale Boeing B-29 FIFI
The Commemorative Air Force dropped into Lunken Airport to sell some rides on FIFI, one of two B-29's still flying today. The other newly flying B-29 is DOC, named for the Disney character, and is based out of Wichita, Kansas. Was told by one of the crew that DOC along with FIFI will be at Oshkosh this summer. And yes they plan on flying together in formation, and that my friends would be quite a sight to see.
Quite an interesting day, was fun to take a tour of the cockpit and check out the radio operator, navigator and flight engineer positions.The major modification to this B-29 was to remove the superchargers since they don't fly her at high altitudes any more. The bombs are fiberglass reproductions, and you can see the tunnel that was used by the crew to travel fore and aft without venturing into the bomb bay. Highly recommend taking the time to check her out if FIFI comes to an airport near you.
Great pics, Tom!
How come YOU can see pics..? I can't see any. π
Pictures happily fixed this time around, and I have also moved the article to the top of the Headlines for everyone to enjoy in its proper form. Thanks /m
Tom,
It would seem that our auto-picture rotation function got broken in the uploader. While we're looking at it, feel free to upload the pics as they are, I will rotate them in the back-end and re-post the article for you.
Ready to rock and roll. I'm certain you can figure out which ones need rotation. Thanks for your help.
Aha...! "I can see clearly now...", thanks, Martin - and Tom. I had the pleasure of seeing Fifi a few years ago when she was here (didn't get to go inside, though).
I did get a chance to crawl around inside her when she was here in Tulsa a few years back. Amazing to see up close and personal. Huge airplane - she seemed to dwarf the B-24 parked beside her.
Great photos, thanks for sharing
It was in Daytona Beach a while back. Sadly I didn't get to go see it. I did happen to catch it in the air just after take off. It's an impressive sight to see, I can only imaging how TWO of them will be... π
My power mechanics / shop high school teacher was a flight engineer in B-29's in the PTO during WW2. Thanks for sharing these with us Tom.
Great pictures, Tom, you obviously had a very enjoyable day.
Saw Doc and FIFI together on Tuesday afternoon. The sound was incredible! FIFI was missing yesterday from the show grounds as she's in Appleton giving rides but a few more formation flights are planned.
Hello Tom,
Great airplane and in pristine condition.
Regards, Dirk / The Netherlands.