Warbird Information Exchange

From AvWeb:

B-29 To Be Left Out In Cold
"Doc" -- the B-29 Super-Fortress that sat in the desert of Mojave for 42 years, was used for missile target practice (but never hit) and has now nearly been rebuilt and restored from the ground up by a team of devoted volunteers -- will face new adversity when it is pushed out of its current home, unfinished and into the winter elements of Wichita, Kan., by week's end. "Boeing has been great, but they need the facility," project spokesman John Shark told AVweb Monday. The Wichita forecast calls for sleet, turning later to snow this week -- not the warmest greeting for a 60-percent restored aircraft if it is, as expected, rolled onto the open-air facility of the Kansas Aviation Museum on Friday. "This is the last B-29 in the world that can be saved and restored to flight," Shark said, which makes it living competition, in both attention and charity, with the only other (sometimes) flying B-29, Fifi. Like Fifi, Doc's primary obstacle is money, but unlike Fifi, Doc doesn't have the recent flight experience to inspire donations. What it does have is new parts, though. " We're going to have a brand-new aircraft," said project manager Cliff Gaston, "It wasn't patched or repaired; it was done new." But for the dream to survive it will need new help, and soon, and two funds are now open to the public.
The project has been moved multiple times throughout the years and needs a new facility . Project leader Tony Mazzolini is now determined to keep the aircraft at its birthplace of Wichita, perhaps as a flying cornerstone for an expanded Kansas Aviation Museum adjacent to McConnell Air Force base. Bur for now economic reality means the project will be sitting outside until funds can be arranged for shelter and then completion. "Three million dollars would put us in the air within a year," Gaston said. Major obstacles after shelter include $185,000 restoration for each of six engines and the manufacture of 26 fuel cells. A similar plea went out last year for the Commemorative Air Force's B-29 Fifi, which had been grounded on and off for airworthiness issues and engine problems. That call was met by the generosity of Texas inventor and industrialist Joe Jamieson, who donated $2 million to the cause. Mazzolini, Gaston, Shark and a crew of devoted volunteers will now hope that lightning strikes twice. Doc's supporters clearly think their project may be more sustainable than many restoration projects thanks to new parts, and even if the aircraft is left to the mercy of the elements, the group is confident that its workmanship will preserve what's already been done. But is there room in the hearts of donors for two airworthy B-29s. For a hangar, donations are being accepted at The Kansas Aviation Museum, c/o Hangar for "Doc," 3350 George Washington Blvd., Wichita, KS, 67210. For restoration, funds are being accepted at The B-29 Restoration Fund, c/o Boeing Wichita Credit Union, 2900 S Oliver St., Wichita, KS 67210.

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http://silverplate1945.smugmug.com/AVIATION

She has gotten more mileage on the ground in the past few years than she has in the air I think. I truly hope she finds a permanent home so that her restoration can be completed! I wish them all the best!

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Cheers,
Peter

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I thought Boeing was donating a considerable amount of money or has that been used up already in the restoration?

It's a great project. I hope it doesn't suffer because of a lack of facilities...

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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..."

Is Doc not owned by a private individual?

If so, is it not slightly disingenuous of him to compare the fundraising effort with that of the CAF's for 'Fifi'.

What he appears to be saying is 'give me money so I can restore my aeroplane'!

How long did was the restration supposed to take Boeing has given them the hanger for a long time. It is very cold here is boeing footing the heating bill in that big hanger? That could get very expensive. I'll drive by tonight and see if it's been moved.

FYI, this was posted this morning on our internal news feed.

Bela P. Havasreti

B-29 SUPERFORTRESS LEAVES BOEING SITE
New digs for Doc
Wichita Eagle 02/21/2007
Author: Fred Mann
Aviation museum to raise funds for hangar

Connie Palacioz beamed as the B-29 Superfortress named Doc, gleaming in the sunlight, rolled toward its new home
at the Kansas Aviation Museum on Tuesday. One more milestone in Doc's history. "It's wonderful," said Palacioz, 82,
a riveter at Boeing during World War II and one of the volunteers helping to restore the plane to airworthiness.

"I'd like to see it when it flies," she said. "We'll do our part. We have to keep the project going."

Palacioz was part of a crowd of about 75 people who watched the plane's move to the museum from Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems, where volunteers have been renovating it since 2000.

Doc was one of more than 1,600 B-29s built in Wichita during World War II. It was part of a squadron of aircraft
named after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The plane will sit outdoors at the museum until a temporary fabric shelter is built.

The museum's board will meet next month to plan a fundraising campaign for the shelter and a new 40,000-square-foot
permanent hangar to house Doc and other restored vintage aircraft, said Teresa Day, museum director. The board also
will establish a specific date to launch the campaign.

A temporary shelter will cost about $350,000, and a permanent hangar about $4 million, Day said.

Donations to the museum historically have come in fits and starts, primarily from individuals. A grassroots campaign
started by local businessman Dawson Grimsley in 2004 raised just under $100,000, which was "a good start," Day said.

As Doc neared the museum on Tuesday, Cliff Gaston, project manager for the plane's owner, the United States
Aviation Museum in Wickliffe, Ohio, kicked rocks aside and made sure the ground in front of the museum was
clean and smooth.

"The tires are $1,859 apiece," he said.

Gaston hopes Doc doesn't have to sit out in the Kansas weather very long. With spring approaching, he worries
about hailstorms.

"The upper skin is pretty soft," he said. "The wing is pretty solid, but the fuselage and horizontal and vertical
stabilizers -- hail will just eat 'em up. That really bothers me."

Holes and openings in unfinished portions of the plane have been covered, said Jerry O'Connor, project manager
in Wichita. Four trailers will store parts and tools near the plane so renovation work can continue in bad weather,
he said.

The U.S. aviation museum has signed a seven-year lease to keep the plane at the museum, Day said.

A 4-foot chain-link fence will be placed around the plane today to prevent sightseers from touching it.

At night, the plane's security will be monitored by Boeing and McConnell Air Force Base, Day said.

Doc is at least a couple of years away from flying, volunteers said. It still needs fuel cells and its engines rebuilt.

But on Tuesday, just watching Doc roll along the ground was satisfying enough to those who have worked on
the plane.

"It means a great deal to me," said Dori Almire, one of the volunteers on the project. "All my family was in the
service during World War II, and I had an uncle in Guam who saw B-29s fly overhead all the time. It's part of history."

I hope it gets undercover soon.

Might as well just hang a sign on her saying "open season." Is she at least within the airport security perimeter?

SN

The article is located here with video of the move

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/busine ... 746045.htm

Eric

Is this museum name misleading in that it might make the casual observer think that this is a government run publicly owned museum rather than a private one?

She certainly looks magnificent..I didn't realize how far along the project was. Hopefully they'll be able to get her undercover before she becomes just another abandoned airport relic.

SN

Just because Doc has been moved outside, does not mean restoration has to stop. When I was with the CAF, we restored Sentimental Journey outdoors, in the AZ summer. We reskinned the upper fuselage from the nose to the radio ops room, paint stripped the interior, rewired the fuselage, new instrument panels, installed all the turrets, installed all the bombbay equpiment and doors. We also changed alot of engines, and tires, and flight controls. A hangar is nice, but you can go on with out it.

Nowhere in the article does Mr. Mazzolini say anything about wanting more money. The author of the article itself makes that connection, please note that.

Also, he owns the aircraft (the USAM is his collection and is a 501(c)3 organization) but plans on donating it to the Kansas Aviation Museum (as I understand it; I might be wrong. It's been a while since I was told what was happening) if the KAM can give it a hanger. It's definitely not what you'd call privately-owned warbird. It's a museum bird. They are asking for money, same as they (and most museums when it comes to restoration) have always been.



No offense, but we're talking Kansas in the winter (be glad; we've only had four ice/snow storms this year). Arizona's weather is much better than hours. Our weather is bitter cold during this season (today was an incredible fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit; it has been freezing almost nonstop until a day or two ago), so working on an aircraft like Doc would be nearly impossible. We're talking fairly hard work for people who are mostly forties and fifties in weather that's fairly unpredictable.



...and there's no need to mention how many tornadoes we get a year, is there?

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(sorry if I sounded harsh to either of you)

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Shall I go down this weekend and get pictures?

Kansas=major hail storms and tornados. I'm from California and had no idea what big time hail was like until I moved to the Colorado plains.