I flew in a B-29 today.

[Tom K]

Saturday morning Connie and I were watching the news, keeping up to date on the weather and flooding that's been going on in the Tulsa area. Otherwise we wouldn't have heard them say that the second flying B-29, "Doc" was going to be at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and that flight seats were available. So I went on the TASM to look. Connie convinced me that if I was going to do this that I should go for the gusto, and get the bombardier's seat - right in the nose, ahead of the pilots even. So I did and signed up for the first flight Sunday morning, at 9:30.

For decades, there had been only one B-29 still flying, "Fifi" owned and operated by the Commemorative Air Force. Fifi's story is here: https://commemorativeairforce.org/aircraft/10


Around 2000, restoration work on Doc began in Wichita where it had originally been built. Doc's story is here: B-29 Doc | Doc's Friends | B-29 Superfortress | Restoring History

We received a very casual flight briefing at the nose of the aircraft. The pilot asked who would be in the bombardier's seat and I raised my hand. He explained that at all the other positions, people could switch off and move around but that I would need to remain seated as they couldn't have people going back and forth between the pilot and co-pilot. Awwwww.

I did not monkey with the bombsight, or salvo the bomb load.

 

[Tom K]

Takeoff was very smooth, as was the entire flight. It was not as loud as I expected, but then again we were loafing low and slow. All seats had headphones so that we could hear the pilot and crew which was very cool, and also muffled the sound of the engines. I did take them off a few times to savor the experience.

The plane headed out towards Sand Springs and Lake Keystone. The high water of the Arkansas was evident.

 

[muddocktor]

I bet that was one cool flight!!!

 

[bigwheelzip]

That sounds like an awesome ride. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tom K]

One of the passengers had flown B-29s in Korea, having joined the military in 1947. He was pretty deaf but I'll bet he could still handle the plane if he had to.

 

[Tom K]

Flight time was about 30 minutes so we didn't go far before heading back to the airport. The pilot had to put in 45 degrees of flap to get the plane down - it wanted to keep flying. A very cool experience. Happy to have done it without people shooting at me.

 

[sheepdawg]

Were you looking for a T shaped bridge?

 

[Chuck24]

Got to go in a B 17, and I reflect on what it must have been like to look to the sky and see several hundred in flight.

 

[hoc9sw]

A good friend of mine - retired AF, worked at the Academy across the street from the hospital where I did over 120 days of treatment. I hung out at the store while I was waiting for pre meds to kick in.

He worked for years on the "Doc" project, but passed before having the opportunity to see it fly. He would be proud!

Thank you, this brings back good memories lost in the chemo fog.

 

[Glashaus]

Very nice! It is an awesome experience! I sat in the bombadier's seat on the B17G , Texas Raider, for a ride a couple of years ago, I would do it again in a minute!

 

[PALADIN85020]

I'm so envious I can hardly stand it! Great pictures; many thanks for sharing.

For years, "Fifi" was the only flying B-29. A number of years ago, I snapped this picture of it at an airshow near Phoenix.

John

 

[LVSteve]

Just color me jealous.

 

[Watchdog]

The lenses of my glasses just turned a bright shade of green with envy! How wonderful that must have been for you. Love all the photographs. What an experience to remember.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and photographs with us.

 

[shouldazagged]

I can't begin to tell you how envious I am.

I've walked around Fifi when she was here for an air show thirty years or so ago.

Some years ago there was a B-17G, the model with the chin turret, that flew here into the private airport that was Louisville's primary from 1927 to the early '50's. I toured the plane and wanted desperately to take a flight, but the cost was out of the question.

 

[vt_shooter]

Well done, Tom K., that was a flight of a lifetime. Nice photos too, thanks for posting.

 

[Sistema1927]

I had the opportunity to take a short flight in a B17 about 20 years ago. It was payback for ferrying the crew mechanic to a neighboring airport to pick up a part in my C172.

Great thrill.

 

[Tom K]

I'm so envious I can hardly stand it! Great pictures; many thanks for sharing.

For years, "Fifi" was the only flying B-29. A number of years ago, I snapped this picture of it at an airshow near Phoenix.

John

Fifi has been to Tulsa a number of times including a flight event at the TASM last year. Connie tried to talk me into a flight then, but honestly I felt more comfortable with the newly refurbished Doc. I really don't want to be on Fifi's last flight.

Fifi also came into Tulsa in 2000 and had an extended stay after an engine fire. Volunteers from the American Airlines maintenance facility here built a new engine mount for it, but it took several months. Unfortunately there was no place to put it indoors so it had to withstand the elements. On the plus side, I was able to look inside and around it thoroughly.

 

[Watchdog]

Fifi also came into Tulsa in 2000 and had an extended stay after an engine fire. On the plus side, I was able to look inside and around it thoroughly.

Well, you just keep outdoing yourself with the photographs, don't you?
Some guys have all the luck.

 

[Tom K]

Well, you just keep outdoing yourself with the photographs, don't you?
Some guys have all the luck.

Some pics of Fifi from last year's visit, September 2018.

 

[islandguy]

Many years ago I had the privilege of touring the inside of a parked restored B17 visiting YVR. I was awestruck then. I cannot imagine how you must have felt to actually take flight in a B29. BTW, your's is the seat I would have chosen had I been given the chance. Lucky you!