Warbird Information Exchange

This weekend "FIFI" will be at Randolph AFB for their open house and airshow before she returns to Addison for winter maintenance.





Chris

CAF
B-29/B-24 squadron
Public Information Officer
http://www.cafb29b24.org[/quote]

Will Fifi be open for tours while at Addison? I'm gonna be there next weekend for the NASCAR races.

She should be on Saturday at least if not both days...though you are probably busy on Sunday. If you come out Saturday afternoon you will also see the Liberator fly!

CAF
B-29/B-24 squadron
Public Information Officer
http://www.cafb29b24.org

are the two big girls going to be able to be housed indoors where it's warm for the winter. i just hate to see them out in the cold. GREAT season. CONGRATS to all!

They are inside. The hangar heat is not great, but they are in from the elements. The girls arrived home from Randolph yesterday afternoon. Once I get the OK from the crew chiefs I will post the plans for maintenance this year. As you can expect with two seventy year old machines there is plenty to do!

Fly safe,

Chris

CAF
B-29/B-24 Squadron

My brother said he was on line for almost two hours just to get on base.., then parked on the far end of the base., to wait in another ridiculous line for a shuttle bus to the flightline.., he said they gave up at over 3 hours and just parked along Pat Booker Rd.

_________________
S.

"FIFI" is now in winter maintenance. We flew approximately 125-150 hours this year, and had very few mechanical challenges for a 65 year old airplane. The maintenance staff have removed the #3 engine to have it sent to Anderson for a good inspection. The decision was made to remove this engine NOT because of any mechanical issues, but as a proactive step to see how it is wearing. This was the first engine built by Anderson, thus has the most time on it.

At this point we are planning on having "FIFI" return to the air the first part of February, before departing to warmer climates for the rest of the winter. When we solidify the dates and locations for our 2012 tour they will be posted on our website. www.cafb29b24.org

"FIFI" flew over 100 passenger historic flight experiences this year. We would estimate that this means roughly 850 passengers (or more) flew with us over the summer; including many WIXers! The entire squadron is proud of what we were able to accomplish this year and look forward to 2012.

Remember both our ladies are available for tours at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum throughout the maintenance schedule.

Chris

Commemorative Air Force
B-29 / B-24 Squadron
Public Information Officer
www.commemorativeairforce.org
www.cafb29b24.org
FACEBOOK Johnny Liberator
TWITTER CAFB2924SqdPIO

Honoring American Military Aviation through flight, exhibition and remembrance

Congratulations for the great success on 2011!!

I just saw "FiFi" in Houston and 2 weeks later in San Antonio. Amazing... out of words.

Looking forward to see her again.

_________________
- Gerardo
http://www.facebook.com/paperjerry
http://paperjerry.blogspot.com

Any chance she'll be coming to the west coast at any point? I asked my wife if I could pay for a ride on Fifi when/if she ever gets to Seattle (which will be my first-ever paid warbird ride even though I'd flown in many different WW2 types) and amazingly she said yes. Now all I need is the chance to pay for said ride!

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Winter maintenance has been completed on "FIFI" and test flight and flight training is complete.

Winter maintenance was routine (for a 65 year old bomber) included an engine removal (and inspection) resealing of fuel cells and the normal work on a 65 year old woman.

We head to Alabama and then on to Florida in a little over a week. On the Florida tour we will be accompanied by Chuck Gardner (of the Cavanaugh Flight Museum) and The Brat III, which will be offering flight experiences.

Our tour schedule (full details at www.rideb29.com is:
February 2012
24-26 Mobile, Alabama
27-28 Gainesville, Florida

March 2012
1-4 Daytona, Florida
7-11 TICO Warbird AirShow - Titusville, FL
14-18 Fort Lauderdale, Florida
21-25 Florida International Airshow - Punta Gorda, Florida
27-31 Sun N Fun - Lakeland, Florida

April 2012
3-5 Tallahassee, Florida
6 Return to Addison

We will be announcing the next tour as soon as we finalize negotiations with a couple of venues.

Now the work turns to Ol' 927

Chris

Commemorative Air Force
B-29/B-24 Squadron
Public Information Officer
www.cafb29b24.org

Looks like Fifi needs a new engine.

http://www.keepfififlying.org/

Good luck to the B-24/B-29 squadron. I hope the fundraising goes well.

_________________
Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Put 4 R-2800's in the plane and they would not have to worry about engines anymore.

_________________
"I love the smell of racing gas in the morning"
www.timadamsphotography.com

Use of R-2800s was considered in the early stages of trying to resolve FIFI's engine issues. I don't know the details of why it was not done but can imagine some very major nacelle, exhaust and prop modifications that may have been a factor at that stage. Sorry I can't provide more info.

Randy

Using R-3350s is a relatively minor mod, while the R-2800 is a major mod. The R-2800 would not be able to supply the power necessary for takeoff with the gear reduction we needed to keep the same props. The R-3350s that we have are relatively "bullet proof", meaning very reliable. I would fly behind an R-3350 before I would an R-2800 any day.

You guys obviously know much more than I ever will, but there is a reason that the Sanders are now offering R-2800's in their Sea Fury rebuilds, the 3350's just are not as reliable.

_________________
"I love the smell of racing gas in the morning"
www.timadamsphotography.com

Fifi has the only 3350's in the world with that configuration. Making broad comments by comparing all R2800's agains all R3350's just isn't a helpful comparison. This could be a fluke failure or a problem endemic to Fifi's engines, but it'll take a much longer service history to prove the point either way.