Posted on 07/11/2015 4:31:43 PM PDT by smokingfrog
See the inside of Fifi, the only B-29 Superfortress currently flying. It's part of the Aviation Museum of Kentucky's 20-year anniversary celebration.
(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...
Military air museums are The Bomb, man!
The fire control system was pretty amazing for its’ time!
“Military air museums are The Bomb, man!”
CORRECTION!...U.S. military air museums are The Bomb, man!
Hi there SmokingFrog:
I am a member of the B29/B24 Squadron, based in Dallas. Our squadron is part of the Commemorative Air Force (the old Confederate Air Force). I am the volunteer coordinator for the squadron. We are always looking for new members and also volunteers. Members can train to fly as crew on our planes and go on tour with the planes. I have spent three weeks on tour so far this year.
FIFI is one of two bombers in the squadron, the other being the B-24 Diamond Lil. FIFI is in Lexington, KY for a few more days for maintenance, then she resumes touring the Eastern and Central US until November 2.
If you are interested, check out our site at: www.cafb29b24.org. And if you are going to be in the DFW area, let me know and I can get you in the hangar with the airplanes.
An amazing piece of engineering. First pressurized bomber and those guns are wild with their radio controlled fire system. I’ve never seen fifi but I want to. Hopefully one day it will find its way to houston.
Anyone interested in WWII aviation should check out the Dogfights shows reposted on youtube. There’s a mammoth amount of content for aviation on that site including historical training videos. Want to lean the startup procedure for a P47? It’s there.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LIE_ev_L-CY
Had a chance to see her a few years ago on LI- very impressive.
I would do this in a heart beat if I had the time off work. Wish you were in Houston area. I’d clean your toilets just to be able to touch those war birds. There is nothing, nothing on earth better than the sound of radials. I have such an immense respect for what the pilots went through, both bombers and fighters, but the bomber crews had balls of steel. I can’t imagine what it was like to be in those planes with bullets and cannon shells exploding and tearing through the airframe you’re flying in.
Are the inside spaces any larger than a B-17? I toured a B-17 interior with my youngest son a couple of years ago at Paine Field, Washington.
I am tall and *ahem*...stout. I was able to scrape through the length of the plane, but with full gear, I could never have served aboard one. Most comfortable spot was the waist gunner area.
Smallest cockpit I’ve ever seen was in Tillamook Air Museum’s original Japanese Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar).
I guess there was always the infantry for the large ones.
I would do this in a heart beat if I had the time off work. Wish you were in Houston area. I’d clean your toilets just to be able to touch those war birds. There is nothing, nothing on earth better than the sound of radials. I have such an immense respect for what the pilots went through, both bombers and fighters, but the bomber crews had balls of steel. I can’t imagine what it was like to be in those planes with bullets and cannon shells exploding and tearing through the airframe you’re flying in.
FIFI’s tour schedule can be found here:
http://www.cafb29b24.org/#!airpower/c1yws
We have a pretty good website. When I get a chance to fly on either of our bombers, I’m thinking “I’m one of only 10 people in the world doing this today.”
Spent hundreds of hours working on those ole birds here. Loved them but the CAF can KMA.
I can tell you because I have been in all four major bombers from WWII: B-17, B-24, B-25, and B-29.
The B-17 and B-25: tight and very tight.
The B-24 and B-29: relatively spacious, compared to the 17 and 25.
However, all of them were designed for 19-year old kids with zero body fat. The B-29 has a 40-foot long tunnel that goes from the forward pressurized section to the aft pressurized section. Part of crew training is to crawl through the tunnel.
“Loved them but the CAF can KMA.”
There’s got to be a good story behind that.
Re: WW II Warbirds - I was fortunate to visit Stinson Field here in San Antonio where the Central Texas Wing of the Commemorative Air Force made an appearance over the July 4th weekend. I went up in their Yellow Rose, a beautifully restored B-25. An added pleasure was meeting Dick Cole who was Doolittle’s co-pilot in the Tokyo Raid in 1942. While up I took a couple of short videos, one from the front and one from the top turret. What a thrill!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdYdjGoKu_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTlMzOTiapo
How can anyone hate the CAF?
Sorry you have a negative impression of the CAF. My exposure to the squadron I am part of has been very positive.
There are about 60 CAF squadrons scattered around the US, comprising about (at last count) 160 aircraft.
We just acquired a C-47 named “That’s All, Brother!” It was the lead C-47 in the parachute drop on D-Day. Saved in the nick of time!
Believe I have a pic of FIFI, taken in July, 1982 at Islip MacArthur airport in NY. The B 29 was the first BIG plane, to my eye.
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