B-29 DOC Overcoming Obstacles

[ZRX61]

An enormous number of homebuilt accidents--most of them fatal--occur on the new airplane's first flight. Part of this is due to the fact that the homebuilder may very well have flown zero hours during the years of building his airplane, but part of it is also due to the fact that you can be an excellent homebuilder but a lousy test pilot.

When I finished my Falco, I let a very experienced, current and capable pilot make the first flight, despite the fact that I had several thousand hours and over 100 types logged, including corporate jets and four-engine pistons. Several of my condescending homebuilder acquaintances said my cowardice was equivalent to letting somebody else have sex with my wife, but never mind. The first flight went well and I made the second flight.

Obviously, the challenges of making a first flight in a sophisticated warbird are orders of magnitude greater.

I remember a well know warbird pilot/collector turning down the chance to fly one of those smaller P51 replica things many years ago with the words "No thanks, it smells of coffin"

[flightsimer]

An enormous number of homebuilt accidents--most of them fatal--occur on the new airplane's first flight. Part of this is due to the fact that the homebuilder may very well have flown zero hours during the years of building his airplane, but part of it is also due to the fact that you can be an excellent homebuilder but a lousy test pilot.

When I finished my Falco, I let a very experienced, current and capable pilot make the first flight, despite the fact that I had several thousand hours and over 100 types logged, including corporate jets and four-engine pistons. Several of my condescending homebuilder acquaintances said my cowardice was equivalent to letting somebody else have sex with my wife, but never mind. The first flight went well and I made the second flight.

Obviously, the challenges of making a first flight in a sophisticated warbird are orders of magnitude greater.

I remember a well know warbird pilot/collector turning down the chance to fly one of those smaller P51 replica things many years ago with the words "No thanks, it smells of coffin"

We had a 1/2 scale P-51 donated to our museum. Thankfully, it had never flown. The guy who built it spent a good amount of money on it... But in some places he spend no money on it.

The landing gear were straight tubes that had wheel barrel tires on it and these little rinky dink brakes. All of the controls were held on by Cabernet hinges...

[p51]

Reminds me of my first P-51 hop. The pilot told me that the owner could fly it but had described a 'white knuckle experience' with landing every time, so the owner gave up and handed it over to an experienced (real life) fighter pilot who knew how to wrestle with a Mustang in the air easily.
After my flight, I realized the owner chose very wisely.
We all talk about how cool it'd be to own something like that, but I think many of us would be like that P-51 owner who knew better in the end if we were smart. How many times have we all read of someone that had what my Mom always called, "more money than sense" who smeared himself and his newly-purchased warbird all over a field because it was more plane than he could confidently handle?
Though I'm not a huge fan of all the people on the CAFs B-29 crew, I have to concede that they're simply the only game in town when it comes to getting a B-29 off the ground the first few times and the best option for getting it into the air and back down without a crackup before DOC can be flown by its own dedicated crew.
Does this mean that people from the DOC crew will eventually be getting type-rated by whatever check pilot the CAF must have? Who else could sign off on someone for that type, if not the CAF?