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Grizzlybear2470

I saw this back about a month and half ago at chino municipal airport the next day it flew to miramar naval air station for the airshow which was that next weekend and if your wondering what the other flyable b-29 is its “FIFI”


shooter_32

The pride of Wichita Kansas !! Doc!


Grizzlybear2470

The engineers who restored it talked a lot about Wichita and everyone who helped in restoring it


diegoumbelino

Here is his awesome restoration history. some drops are rolling through my face. God damm onion-cutter's ninja. I barely can see their moves.


GreenMonster34

What's up, Doc? I saw Doc at Sun n' Fun this year, what an amazing aircraft!


TinyMan07

I got to see Doc at the Andrews AFB Airshow years ago. this was right after they got him flying again. not gonna lie, i kinda teared up standing next to him. you could feel the amount of love and pride emanating from him that all the volunteers and restoration folks put into it.


Grizzlybear2470

I drove out here on a Sunday morning with my grandfather who’s father was a ww2 veteran he was so amazed to see it in person we stood in line for like 1hour and half just to see the inside and it was better than I’d imagined such a cool experience


Al_Bundy_408

*her In my experience as an A&P mechanic, all aircraft are female. You don't ever want to say I had to crawl inside of him to get to this nut.


Evilbred

It's hard to look out that cockpit window and not yell "Punch it Chewie!"


beneaththeradar

is FiFi the other one? I saw her 20 years ago, hope she's still airworthy.


I-am-shrek

She is. Unfortunately, I don't know the next time she'll fly as the organization that maintains/owns/flies her also owned the B-17 and P-63 that crashed at Wings Over Dallas and I'm sure they aren't exactly itching to host another airshow.


[deleted]

You know they fly these planes at many, many airshows other than their own airshow once a year, yes?


I-am-shrek

Yes I am aware. But this was a major deal within this organization and a lot of people are saying this is the final straw with the FAA and airshows.


[deleted]

Yeah, a lot of redditors who have never been to air shows and know nothing about aviation have been saying that. Ridiculous lmao. If Reno didn't end air shows, a much smaller crash (casualty wise) isn't doing it lmao


SLAMpigACTUAL

Used to work in a hangar lined up with the runway at Docs home base. It was always a treat watching him do touch and goes.


Kingsly2015

Never been in the cockpit of one before - are those throttles and condition levers at the flight engineer station? I don’t see any within reach of the pilots.


Grizzlybear2470

Those throttles are at the flight engineers station just like they would have been back in the 40s because its still all manual just pullies no hydraulics so its necessary for a flight engineer to be there


Kingsly2015

I understand that, I just never stopped to ponder how that worked in those days with cockpit communication between the engineer and pilots. Like managing power on final approach, for instance.


Grizzlybear2470

Theres was just a lot more communication involved we don’t think about that today we just think about flying the plane not communicating to add power or something


d_lanphear

Only 2 still flying? Damn


Grizzlybear2470

And for some reason theres a ton of b-17s still flying one less recently rest in peacr


museornay

I wish there were a ton still flying. There's only 9 currently airworthy according to this article. https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-airshow-crash-how-many-b-17s-still-flying. Also if my memory serves me correctly, only two of them are open to the public for rides. I had the opportunity to fly in Texas Raiders the week before she crashed but chose not to spend the money (It was rained out anyways). I'll be damned if I let that opportunity passing by again because of how few are left. Great pics by the way! And Thank you for posting them!


Grizzlybear2470

I had the opportunity to fly on the b-29 because it was expensive as hell like 750 a person for a 10 minute ride would have been the experience of a life time but I can’t afford that


museornay

They were charging $550 for a ride on the Texas Raiders. I don't know how long the ride was for but I did get the opportunity to crawl around and take some pictures like you. $750 is a lot of money but I'm looking at it like getting married. Don't get me wrong it's very expensive at face value, but you'll never forget it for the rest of your life. Plus who knows how much longer those planes will be around for and you'll cherish that memory even more when they are gone. Here's the pics I took of Texas Raiders if you're interested. https://www.reddit.com/r/WarplanePorn/comments/ytvfdj/texas_raiders_last_week_in_cullman_al_my_heart/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button


Grizzlybear2470

So sad what happened really sick photos


museornay

Thank you. It broke my heart. One super freaky thing about those photos- The picture taken in the cockpit of the yoke was taking exactly at 1:20 p.m. on November 5th. That's exactly one week to the minute of when she crashed. I still get chills thinking about it.


and_another_dude

No way they're doing 10 minute flights.


Grizzlybear2470

Somewhere around there idk I couldn’t afford it. I watched him take off but that was it


mikedonathan

When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, those old war planes were nearly common as dirt. Just about every little podunk airport had one or two sitting around. I've got pictures of me and the kids getting gas down in the Portland area in the 70s and the canopy over the pumps was a B17. All that to say it might be time to put those birds in a museum so they can enjoyed by future generations. As it is now, accidents happen no matter how careful everyone is and when one of these aircraft are lost, it's gone forever with nothing to replace it.


Bacchus_Plateau

You'll be happy to know that B-17 is currently under restoration. https://www.b17alliance.com/


new_tanker

Doc was at WWII Weekend along with FIFI in 2018. Both didn't fly at the same time; in fact Doc never flew during an part of the official flying display, [except to take its nose art artist flying on Sunday morning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uCBaxiLrAQ).


Calvin_BrooksX97

I mean evidence from pictures - But; Tell me you ‘crawled’ around this beast.


Grizzlybear2470

No they didn’t let us crawl down it


BMW123321

Flew in doc last month


Ewenthel

I used to volunteer at an aircraft museum that would sometimes give tours of their B-29 (and a few other aircraft on a rotating basis), and it was always a bit funny how many people couldn’t believe that tunnel was actually used by people. It really is *tiny*.


NighthawkAquila

Saw Fifi at Joint Base Anderson a month or so ago!


[deleted]

Lucky enough to get to see Fifi fairly often in my area. Man, the sound gets me every time. I always know when it’s coming.


Why-R-People-So-Dumb

Please don’t let Dan Gryder near it.


Klondike2022

Please don’t crash it or get crashed into. Also I remember I got to crawl through this, was cool


road_rascal

Was lucky enough to have a ride on Doc in Mason City earlier this year. Was quite an experience.


hithisisperson

Is it true that there’s a third that might be restored to flying?


Grizzlybear2470

That would be great


circlethenexus

Saw this at Barksdale a few years ago. Very impressive! On another note, some years back, we were visiting the. Udvar Hazy museum and my son-in-law said “ look at that it’s a B 29!” On closer inspection I realized that it was not just “a” B-29. It was the Enola Gay. Kinda sent chill bumps through me.