Warbird Information Exchange

Yes that may be true. She is fast and we have all been amazed at the performance numbers. The best she has flown, faster acceleration, quicker climb, cooler running, faster in straight and level, everything we had hoped for and expected!!

"FIFI" is HAPPY!!
Dave

Any chance we might see her at Wings Over Houston ?

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Just a short note from an exhausted crew of "FIFI"...

"FIFI" flew her first airshow this weekend in a LONG time, and loved it! "FIFI" performed extremely well. Crew chiefs Dave Miller and Rick Garvis deserve a HUGE pat on the back for making sure this would happen.

I may be a bit prejudice however I believe "FIFI" taking to the air on Saturday stole the show. In addition to the two airshow flights, "FIFI" was almost in constant motion, we were only able to open her for tours about two hours total, because we flew at least nine revenue rides and a photo mission over the weekend (I lost track of all the flights).

At the end of the weekend a number of crew were standing on the ramp having the first beer of the evening at sunset with huge smiles on our faces.

I will steal a line from Neils Agather and wrap up by saying "FIFI" IS BACK!

NOPE! you not being prejudice, i told my wife when we left home [at 4;30 sat morn] that i was going to the show to see FIFI fly, all else would be icing on the cake. well i saw her fly, and it was GREAT. she did steal the show. Dave was kind enough to spend a few minutes talking with me, which was another BIG thrill for me, because he's my new hero [along with all we the other good folks that made this happen]. now don't get me wrong, the WHOLE show was absouletly a dream come true for me. if anyone ask me about the AIRSHO the best thing i can say about it is. they FLY the planes. CONGRATULATIONS to the CAF for pulling off the greatest air show i've ever been to.

A couple of photos from Airsho...

Getting her ready for the first flight of the day





Flying past the sun





She flew flawlessly. The engines are breaking in well. This Airsho was a tribute to her maintenace crew, her flight crew and all of those in the years past. On one flight I had the honor to be the "flight attendant" for a WWII B29 pilot who flew 35 missions. If there is any danger from grinning too much, this man could have been in real trouble! This is why we do it ladies and gents!!!

Mark

Jeff Lee of LiveAirshowTV put together a brief teaser from this weekend. Though not a substitute it will give you a feel of the weekend. Jeff said he would be putting together a longer version down the road. In the meantime http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1448594732004


I cannot tell you how cool it was on Saturday during the AIRSHO to be standing between the two ladies with all eight engines running!

Great video in the clip. Too bad they couldn't just let us hear the engines and leave the music in the can. IMHO.

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It's what you learn after you think you know it all, that counts.

Dave Miller is now a fully qualified B-29 flight engineer! Congratulations Dave!!!

Thanks a million to John and Shorty, for there work with me. It was there guidance, knowledge and patience, that got me qual'd so quickly. I can now join the small group of qualified B-29 flight engineers that are in exsitence. We have many pilots but very few F/E's.

In case you are not aware, this is an engineers airplane, the pilots just drive it!!
Dave

Congrats, Dave. The plane looked and sounded spectacular !!!!!!

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Dave

"FIFI" looked magnificent this weekend. With all the work put into her over the last two down times she should be able to be shared with the world for a good long time. A big thanks go to Gary, Dave & Rick. A special thanks go to all the volunteers who have worked on her over these many years. Those that I know of are " Team GrandPa", Mark, Chief, Brad, Chris and so many others. The guys up at Anderson have given us a great motor. Mr. Cavanaugh also has to be recognized for his generous support.

A very special THANKS go to Mrs. Dave who helped him get through all the trials and tribulations he has experienced through these last two years. He may have gone home tired and frustrated, but each morning he was a new man and ready to get started.

Congrats to Dave and all the folks who made it happen! Wish I could've been there to see it! (Currently bouncing between Lawton, OK and Twentynine Palms, CA)

And Mark...Any chance of an original copy of the "first flight of the day" pic? the d/l copy is pretty pixellated?

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Bob

Congrats to Dave on the Flight Engineer position! Or maybe condolences, since we always blame the FE for any problems with FIFI...

I am proud for you. You have worked hard to get this position.

Mark

That is as large as my Microsoft program will make the photo to post on the web, and of course I have limited capacity on photo bucket. I have photoshop in several versions, but I have been too busy working on FIFI to learn the program. Glad you liked the photo.



Mark

Well I screwed that up! I was trying to fix something on the post and deleted the entire thing. Dang Oklahoma internet. Anyway, I'll at least put the pictures back!

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Brad