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B-29 Doc.... yeah baby

bunk said:
Awesome pic !
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Man I wish I had words as to how cool that experience was… my great uncle was a Norden bomb site tech on them and I knew an old man back in college that was a navigator on one. Getting to do that with my old man was a bucket list item. Pops sat at Navigators table.
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Rear upper gunners station
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While in flight a P51 flew up beside us. How many folks since 1945 can say they’ve had that experience?
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Doc is awesome, especially with the upgraded powerplants. Couldn't pull the trigger myself the last time it was local and giving rides, they wanted $2k to sit in the bombardier seat. One day.
 
Side note, while the bombardier seat is absolutely awesome, once you're seated you can't get up and move from station to station in flight like you can on the other seats.
 
Curbkrawler said:
Man I wish I had words as to how cool that experience was… my great uncle was a Norden bomb site tech on them and I knew an old man back in college that was a navigator on one. Getting to do that with my old man was a bucket list item. Pops sat at Navigators table.
IMG_8742.jpeg


Rear upper gunners station
IMG_8773.jpeg



While in flight a P51 flew up beside us. How many folks since 1945 can say they’ve had that experience?
IMG_8755.jpeg
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Its not often when the word awesome fits correctly. Thats some awesome life moments right there.
 
Joez said:
Doc is awesome, especially with the upgraded powerplants. Couldn't pull the trigger myself the last time it was local and giving rides, they wanted $2k to sit in the bombardier seat. One day.
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I justified it as one day those two airframes will not be able to continue flying and you’ll never get the opportunity to do it again. I’m sure they can reproduce parts to keep them in the air but that’s how I justified it to my wife :grinpimp:
 
Curbkrawler said:
I justified it as one day those two airframes will not be able to continue flying and you’ll never get the opportunity to do it again. I’m sure they can reproduce parts to keep them in the air but that’s how I justified it to my wife :grinpimp:
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they can't.

the B29's are on the FAA's radar for spar fatigue, and the tooling to make new spar extrusions doesn't exist anymore.
so one day they will be grounded.
FAA is looking to take vintage birds out of the air.
 
Fucking cool! :smokin::usa:

Pyleit said:
After the flight my son and I each took dripping engine oil and made our "fingerprints" on our passes. 1 print from each engine.
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Wish I would have thought to do something like this. Took a ride on a B-17 (Yankee Lady) Saturday. Get to sit everywhere except the belly and tail gun. B-25 (Rosie's Reply), C-47 (Hairless Joe), and a Huey (Greyhound) are next in line.
 
Tooheysmax said:
Does your wife know you spent 3k for an hour of historical fun. Don’t get me wrong I would if I could. That is a once in a lifetime adventure still cheaper then a sub tour to the titanic.
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My wife asked for a B-25 ride for her, and her parents for her birthday last year. We ended up renting the whole plane because it was cheaper and took one of our Irate4x4 buddies flying.

From there she has been hooked and has done aerobatic in a ww2 T6 Texan, and flew in Doc a when it came into town. This was right before the only other flying B-29 crashed.
 
Tooheysmax said:
Does your wife know you spent 3k for an hour of historical fun. Don’t get me wrong I would if I could. That is a once in a lifetime adventure still cheaper then a sub tour to the titanic.
Click to expand...


My wife asked for a B-25 ride for her, and her parents for her birthday last year. We ended up renting the whole plane because it was cheaper and took one of our Irate4x4 buddies flying.

From there she has been hooked and has done aerobatic in a ww2 T6 Texan, and flew in Doc a when it came into town. This was right before the only other flying B-29 crashed.
 
Doc is Amazing. local to me and flies over the house fairly often.

I actually got to assist the restoration team years back when they were re-wiring it. tough to find connectors and accessories etc. great team of really passionate aviators and crew. this was just before they had to pause the restoration waiting on $$$ for the power plants.

would love to take a ride, but those seats are spendy!
 
Talon2006 said:
This was right before the only other flying B-29 crashed.
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I dont think any other B29 crashed, unless you are thinking of the B17 that crashed after the midair collision. Fifi is still flying, and until Doc took to the air was the only airworthy for a long time. There was almost a third, but it burned to the ground while the engines were warming up before its first flight.
 
Not sure how many successful missions he had, but my buddy in middle school's grandfather had 3 successful bailouts through the bomb bay in those. He was a pilot in WWII.

He never did any POW time and was always first in line to go up in the next set of missions.

Funny story about him, in 1993 or so some kids stole his Cadillac from a gas station and took it on a joyride. He knew who the kids were. He drove to the kids house and spoke with the parents. They brought it back to his house and washed it in his driveway.
 
Joez said:
I dont think any other B29 crashed, unless you are thinking of the B17 that crashed after the midair collision. Fifi is still flying, and until Doc took to the air was the only airworthy for a long time. There was almost a third, but it burned to the ground while the engines were warming up before its first flight.
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The third one you are talking about was Kee Bird. Made an emergency landing on a glacier on Greenland and they just abandoned it there for close to 40 years. Group of enthusiasts found it, brought in equipment, made a runway, got it running and the freaking “putt putt” (gas generator used for aux power) caught fire and burned her to the ground while they were taxiing it for take off. Just sickening… there was a documentary on it years ago.
 
Curbkrawler said:
The third one you are talking about was Kee Bird. Made an emergency landing on a glacier on Greenland and they just abandoned it there for close to 40 years. Group of enthusiasts found it, brought in equipment, made a runway, got it running and the freaking “putt putt” (gas generator used for aux power) caught fire and burned her to the ground while they were taxiing it for take off. Just sickening… there was a documentary on it years ago.
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Fun fact. The same Reverse Current Relay used on the putt putt was used on C-130s at least up through the 90s.
 
Damm your lucky... I kept hearing that plane fly overhead for the last couple of days. Nothing like the sound of radial engines. I was lucky to comute to work for almost five years in a de Havilland C-7A Caribou.. P&W R2000 engins (radial with two rows of 7 cylinders). What a sweet soud they made!

Nordan bomb sights; I would love to have one. But; I would give my left testical for a search light AA computer! :smokin::smokin::smokin::smokin::smokin:
 
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looking at a flight tracker and just noticed DOC is over in Ontario CA right now.

DOC72, Boeing TB-29 Superfortress, tail number N69972​

 
While not a b29, if you like books/audio books and history, Stephen Ambrose wrote "The Wild Blue" about the men and boys who flew the b-24's. It's fascinating and a good read or listen.. I did audio book on scribd.

If you like history in general, his books are amazing.
 
pennsylvaniaboy said:
While not a b29, if you like books/audio books and history, Stephen Ambrose wrote "The Wild Blue" about the men and boys who flew the b-24's. It's fascinating and a good read or listen.. I did audio book on scribd.

If you like history in general, his books are amazing.
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I’ve read all his WWII books. They are great. If you want to read one that will make your blood boil, read Flyboys by James Bradley. It shows the atrocities our downed airmen in the Pacific had to deal with.
 
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Still fighting amazon for the rest of the pics.
B17 sentimental journey
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Figured it would be a bit dicey on the catwalk with zero under yer azz.


Its not doc, but still awesome.
I took a bunch of pics back in 18 that amazon holds hostage.
My F.I.L. had a buddy who was a bellygunner shot down over Germany.
Such a cool dude.
 
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