I've been down to the Downtown Airport in KC to see the CAF "Connie" there.I'd love to see the B29(and fly it over Tokyo).
Awesome post and pics. Warbirds and hotrods. Joined at the hip. Just got back from Tucson. Fantastic Air Museum there and the boneyard. Amazing collection.
Glacier Girl stopped here at Deer Valley for a brief (15 min.) fuel stop afew months ago. I saw her land but alas, by the time I could break away from work to get a close look, she was gone. Rats!
I was told FIFI would be coming to Chicago this summer as well, hopefully with Ol' 927 too. I miss "my" girl. It's been almost 4 years since I've seen her in person. Hard to believe. I'm really happy for the CAF to have her back in the air. A lot of people put in alot of time and money to make the new engine hybrid work. As for Doc, they were invited to get in on the conversion process to do the same for their aircraft, but they declined. I too will recommend taking a flight. It's like going back in time if you have any kind of sentimentality in you. The flights aren't cheap, but neither are operating the aircraft. Worth every penny. I've got 2 other nose art projects in the works. I would be leaving tomorrow to start painting on one if the weather wasn't going to suck so bad there. Inside FIFI... Ol' 927 (B-24) Me, BTB_Mikey and Olemuleskinner who helped paint the nose art (as did my Dad)...
I was at Oshkosh when Glacier Girl was un-iced and it's crushed hull was laid out at Whittman Field after it's recovery and I donated towards it's restoration right on the spot! Now all I got to do is find the photo's! Well I found the after shot... on it's first trip to Oshkosh shortly after completion... still looking for the before shots!
Speaking of tires, FIFI had a tire problem in Lakeland. Kermit hooked them up with a spare and earned the right to fly her to Tallahassee. His own B-29's need work but he's getting ready to open a backshop 'Golden Hill' tour to share the projects too.
Was Down in Laughlin last year about this time and I believe Fi Fi was supposed to be flown up there for an airshow in Bull head city Az. Couldn't make it due to crappy weather but a bunch of other old war birds were on hand and it was so cool to sit in a restraunt in Laughlin looking over the river as they flew up and down with smoke trailing out the back and such. My Uncle flew a b-29 in Europe I believe. I remember as a kid he had photos of him in his flight jacket and such and a b-29 model replica on his dresser. Never talk to much about it when we were kids visiting but later in life and towards the end of his life he opened up more to me and said that they had bombed the shit out of the Germans. My uncle was a pretty cool dude.RIP Uncle Bob.
I got to tour Fifi when I was a kid, and that was AWESOME! I will never forget it as long as I live. When you walk around the corner and see it for the first time, it is just breathtaking because of its enormous size.
My mom was the secretary for the Confederate Air Force in Harlingen, TX in the 70's when I was a kid. We hung out there frequently....got to crawl around inside FiFi more than once. When they had the big CAF Airshow once a year, we always got to meet the big names like Pappy Boyington, etc. Tennessee Ernie Ford was usually the announcer and I got to meet him a few times too. It was pretty heady stuff for a kid around 8 to 10 years old....especially a kid being raised in the garage of a drag racer. I remember being in the CAF office one afternoon right before the big show and a bunch of B-17 veterans were in the building. They all signed a fairly large B17 model and gave it to me and my brother. I also remember my mom not letting me go into the nose-art section because some of it was too racy for a little kid.
I've got a photo in my stash of an old WW2 bomber fuselage that they had stored up against a building there at the CAF in Harlingen. I'll dig it out and post it on here.
It's a funny coincidence that this thread popped back up now. Yesterday after noon we had a P-51B and B-17 arrive here at Deer Valley Airport. They are both parked in front of Cutter Aviation.
Looked online and that should be Collings Foundation planes. They aught to have a B-24 with them as well?
I haven't seen the B-24 yet, maybe she's on her way here. The B-24 was here with the other two last year. I've been too busy actually working to get over to Cutter and get the full scoop.
Hey Mercchev; the S.O.B. part; I resemble that remark!! LOL!! But seriously, I worked with several WWII vets, Cecil was a ball-turret gunner and John was a'17 pilot, flew all 25 missions. He would tell some stories after he had a drink or two, but like most vets who have seen combat, it was limited what he talked about. John did relate on one of his last missions they had an encounter with two ME 262 jets! In about 90 seconds they lost 4 bombers, and everybody was very nervous if more would start showing up. They didn't, the German jets were too few too late!
I haven't seen them yet. They are supposed to arrive here at Deer Valley Airport sometime this afternoon. Deer Valley Airport is located at 7th ave @ Deer Valley Rd. Anyone who can should come out and kick the tires on these incredible machines.
They're Here! B-29 Superfortress B-17 Flying Fortress P-51 Mustang Military version of a Beech 18 Radials and Merlins, Whoa Nelly!
saw these planes at mesa/gateway last friday am as we were going past to taxi, wish I had known they were there before I boarded the plane home as I would have loved to have seen them closer. We have a yankee air force group at my local airport and have seen 17s and all the small fighters for years, love it everytime. They restored a p-40 there years ago and I heard it 2 miles away at my house the saturday morning they first fired the engine. What a sound. They had found a crate engine in England and then blueprinted it before installation per faa regs. The owner had almost 400K just in the engine when done. Almost got a ride in that one as I know the certified mech on the the build but was out of town the week they test flew for the last time then the guy took it home to Chicago.
A magnificent airplane. I saw it maybe ten years ago at Van Nuys. A super high tech machine in it's day ( WW2), yet it was obsolete just a few years later in Korea against the Mig 15. Can you imagine hundreds of them overhead dropping incendiaries on you? WW2 was terrible.
3 flights all together on FiFi. 2 that I took, and one for my (at the time) 12 yearold son!! Have pics, if I can find, will post.
For many many years the B-17 Fuddy Duddy was owned and flown out of Geneseo N.Y. Right next door to my home town. I was about 12 when I stood at the airfield and it flew in over the village and dropped down to land at the airfield. Remember it like yesterday. That was about 30 years ago. They flew that plane every chance they got and it was always cool to see it flying overhead. It looked so slow. I always wondered how it stayed aloft. Would love to see that B-29 fly into Rochester N.Y.
Never had a problem there. Was invalved with some of the larger airshows from 1999-2009. While knowing most of the people invalved, it never really came up. Having trouble finding the B-29 FiFi pics, I found the B-17 "Liberty Belle" pics, and the B-17 "Texas Raider" pics. Still looking!!!
The Jalopy Journal
