A "brand new" B-29 named "Doc"

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67Dart273

67Dart273

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In the past few years I've watched with interest the restoration of "Doc." I'm gonna guess this girl will be just spectacular. Earlier, May this year, she was issued an air worthiness cert. and did some engine tests and taxi





Dynamic prop balancing

 
nice, maybe we are serious about fighting ISIS afterall
I seem to remember a certain B-29 ending a war for us before
 
Wow, quad 50's in the same mount! Thats some lead down range. There was a documentary on the one they found up north in the snow. They rebuilt it and were doing a taxi test and a fire broke out with no extinguishers. Burned to the ground on camera. Heartbreaking.
 
pishta said:
Wow, quad 50's in the same mount! Thats some lead down range. There was a documentary on the one they found up north in the snow. They rebuilt it and were doing a taxi test and a fire broke out with no extinguishers. Burned to the ground on camera. Heartbreaking.
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That was "Kee Bird". Cost one of the crew his life. I have very mixed emotions about that "project." I realize there is only so much money, but that particular plane was a genuine time capsule. It deserved much more careful handling than it got......and now it's gone, at least practically speaking

Kee Bird - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 
diymirage said:
nice, maybe we are serious about fighting ISIS afterall
I seem to remember a certain B-29 ending a war for us before
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For quite a few years, "Bockscar" the plane that dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki, was a "walk-through" fuselage display at the Air Force Museum about 3 miles from my house (less as the crow flies) in Dayton OH.

I've looked through the bomb sight and had my finger on "the button" Probably when I was 12-14 Years old.

It was a long walk, but me and some friends would usually do it several times each summer.
 
YY1 said:
For quite a few years, "Bockscar" the plane that dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki, was a "walk-through" fuselage display at the Air Force Museum about 3 miles from my house (less as the crow flies) in Dayton OH.

I've looked through the bomb sight and had my finger on "the button" Probably when I was 12-14 Years old.

It was a long walk, but me and some friends would usually do it several times each summer.
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That museum was fantastic. I pushed that same button in Bockscar.
 
YY1 said:
For quite a few years, "Bockscar" the plane that dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki, was a "walk-through" fuselage display at the Air Force Museum about 3 miles from my house (less as the crow flies) in Dayton OH.

I've looked through the bomb sight and had my finger on "the button" Probably when I was 12-14 Years old.

It was a long walk, but me and some friends would usually do it several times each summer.
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cool story

somehow I don't see kids walking to a museum these days

(though last time I went to Europe I brought my nephew and one of his friends, both 18 at the time. I made sure we stopped by one of the world war 2 cemeteries in Belgium...that made quite and impact on them)
 
YY1 said:
For quite a few years, "Bockscar" the plane that dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki, was a "walk-through" fuselage display at the Air Force Museum
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And of course not long ago the Smithsonian tried to re-write history concerning the Enola Gay. There was a fair amount of controversy about that.
 
krazykuda said:
I always loved that front windshield on the B-29...
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The Russians liked them so much they copied it .......exactly

Tupelov TU-4 "Bull"

Tupolev-Tu-4-Bull-PCropper-1S.jpg


monino-tupolev-tu-4-bull-01.jpg


From Wiki:

The U.S. twice refused to supply the Soviet Union with B-29s under Lend Lease.[1][2] However, on four occasions during 1944, individual B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory and one crashed after the crew bailed out.[3] In accordance with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviets were neutral in the Pacific War and the bombers were therefore interned and kept by the Soviets. Despite Soviet neutrality, America demanded the return of the bombers, but the Soviets refused.[4] Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to the Tupolev OKB. One B-29 was dismantled, the second was used for flight tests and training, and the third one was left as a standard for cross-reference.





There were variants....some Chinese.....some different engines and ASW equipment

KJ-1_(Tupolev_Tu-4).jpg
 
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IIRC they had a passenger version as well.

Are those Yak engines?
 
YY1 said:
IIRC they had a passenger version as well.

Are those Yak engines?
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No idea. I scanned past something on one of the pages, told what they used for engines. Here's another little "bit." When Wright radials were first "getting going" those were sold to and LICENSED to quite a few countries, including the Germans and Russians. So some other radials around the world owe their heritage to Wright

Here's a direct example, the Russian version of our DC-3 built UNDER LICENSE at the time, by the Russians, including the engines......the Lisunov Li-2

Lisunov Li-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Used direct copies of a Wright Radial. The Russian Shvetsov radial was either a direct or developmental variant.
 
pishta said:
Wow, quad 50's in the same mount! Thats some lead down range. There was a documentary on the one they found up north in the snow. They rebuilt it and were doing a taxi test and a fire broke out with no extinguishers. Burned to the ground on camera. Heartbreaking.
Click to expand...
Yeah, saw that also. Absolutely heartbreaking to see it melt down to puddle of aluminum.
 
67Dart273 said:
The Russians liked them so much they copied it .......exactly

Tupelov TU-4 "Bull"

Tupolev-Tu-4-Bull-PCropper-1S.jpg


monino-tupolev-tu-4-bull-01.jpg


From Wiki:

The U.S. twice refused to supply the Soviet Union with B-29s under Lend Lease.[1][2] However, on four occasions during 1944, individual B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory and one crashed after the crew bailed out.[3] In accordance with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviets were neutral in the Pacific War and the bombers were therefore interned and kept by the Soviets. Despite Soviet neutrality, America demanded the return of the bombers, but the Soviets refused.[4] Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to the Tupolev OKB. One B-29 was dismantled, the second was used for flight tests and training, and the third one was left as a standard for cross-reference.





There were variants....some Chinese.....some different engines and ASW equipment

KJ-1_(Tupolev_Tu-4).jpg
Click to expand...

Yep, copied it down even to the bad rivets......
 
Harley copied the '38 BMW R71 and called it the XA (experimantal Army) I read it was a straight redesign with SAE fasteners instead of Metric. Lots of sharing back then pre-war and all. Packard did the same thing when they built the Merlin under license from RR, they had to retool with SAE fasteners, and ended up making a better copy with much closer tolerances. Packard Engineers were suprised when they saw the tolerances they were supposed to be building into the motor. "...uh, we cant build this motor like this, its too sloppy!" Gotta love industrial Espionage...Jap capacitor formula leaks out and everyone copies it, except it was a bad formula and now everyone's capacitors are bad.
 
Some of this stuff was "made under license," like the Packard / Rolls. So at least some of this was not espionage. And so too, were some of the engine stuff from pre- WWII.

Far worse is what the U.S. has "let go" in technology in the last 40 years.
 
Jay Leno's garage just had a P51 and a car with the same Merlin engine.
 
I think Leno's car was a 20's or 30's Duesy or Packard with it's original engine.
 
That would not have been a Merlin, then............EDIT.......found it.......that car is FAR from original, LOL

Says Jay, "Allison transmission and modern fuel injection" Interesting under chassis "baseboard heaters" for auxiliary radiator---electric power steering"

 
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UPDATE FIRST FLIGHT!!!! FLEW YESTERDAY!!!

LLLLLoooooooonnnnnngggg:



"On board" shorter:







 
That's just awesome.

I looked at that Key Bird story. Tragic loss for sure, but there's enough of that plane left to save. I mean, 4 new engines......the tail section, the wings, entire front of the fuselage. PLENTY enough to save, IMO.
 
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