Big Day For Airplane Geeks – Restored B-29 Rolls Out in Kansas

Yesterday was a big day, if you're an airplane geek like me. A World War II era B-29 named "Doc" rolled out of the hangar in Wichita, Kansas where it's lived, while being restored to flying condition. Once "Doc" is flying, this will be only the second airworthy B-29 in the world. The other one, named "Fifi", is in Texas with the Commemorative - formerly "Confederate" Air Force. (I had a chance to fly aboard "Fifi" years ago and was then honored to fly in formation with her over Pittsburgh, during an air show press event. You'd be surprised how tight the crew quarters are in such a big plane. But most of the space on a B-29 was for gas and bombs).

According to the Wichita Eagle, it's taken volunteers 15 years and 300,000 hours to restore "Doc" to (almost) flying condition. The plan is to run Doc's engines very soon and have it flying sometime before summer. Hopefully, "Doc" will visit Michigan in the not too distant future, so we can all get a look at him.

Here's the full story.

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