Warbird Information Exchange

A fantastic restoration effort going on with the B-29. Just wish they wouldn't paint the exterior...

http://www.b-29restoration2.blogspot.com/

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Did they paint it because of the condition of the metal? It maybe a preservation thing at that point. They've done a great job with it.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Awesome pictures. It's good to see another Warbird has survived.

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

That was my understanding. When I saw it back almost 11 years ago (wow... it's been that long? Yep, pics say Mar. 2001) there was a lot of surface corrosion on the aircraft. My guess is it had progressed to the point that they couldn't polish it out and there's really no funding to reskin any of the aircraft, so paint is the only solution. I think they're planning on using a "metalized" paint, so it may come out looking pretty good even though it'll be paint. It's amazing to think that that aircraft has technically been under restoration since 2001. It looks like the final product will be worth it though.

Here's the only pic I have out of the ones I took at the SAC museum in 2001. If you look at the B-29, you can see how oxidized the upper surfaces were compared to the KC-97 next to it.

I got to visit the SAC Museum last summer, and was most impressed. Id' been there once before, in 1986..when everything was parked outside at Offutt AFB. Even then, I could see considerable corrosion on the B-36 (several holes eaten through the underside wing skins) and the many of the aircraft were looking pretty worn. The B-17 was missing its nose, and just had a piece of plywood covering the opening. I've got a few pics I could scan if anyone's interested....

The "new" facility is magnificent, but after so many years exposed the elements, they've got literally decades of work ahead of them bringing the collection up to snuff. And of course, being mostly large (some VERY large) bombers, it's a Herculean effort. I was part of a special "after hours" tour, and they let us crawl through the forward section of the B-36.

SN

Looks great! I am jealous - it would be great to have a B-29 in any condition here at Wendover.

Tom P.

Steve, I would love to see those pics!

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Great work taking place there!

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!