SAC Museum B-29 Restoration

[APG85]

This B-29 is really looking nice...

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

[B 25 C]

Witch B-29 is this. Will it fly?

[CAPFlyer]

I would hope the thread title was descriptive enough. It's the SAC Museum's B-29 and no, it won't fly. It's not flown in at least 30 years and I suspect it's got significant corrosion damage to the wing spars that has been treated but not repaired from its years in the open.

[Pat Carry]

They are doing some awesome work on this B-29.

[Pat Carry]

Witch B-29 is this. Will it fly?

Check this link http://www.sasmuseum.com/2008/11/21/b-2 ... erfortress There is a slideshow of the restoration at the bottom of the page.

Last edited by Pat Carry on Sat May 05, 2012 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Green Goggles]

About 3 years ago, I got the chance to tour this airplane, up in the cockpit and through the back and such.

It was quite an experience and quite impressive! I would be very anxious to view it again now and see how work has progressed!

[APG85]

The b-29 seems awesome, is it for fighting or no weapons are attached?

The B-29 was a strategic bomber designed as the next step up from the B-17 Flying Fortress. This particular B-29 is missing it's armamnet (four gunners turrets) and I don't know if they intend on installing them at a later time (I doubt it, turrets are hard to get, but who knows). I assume they will put the tail guns on it (tail gunners position). It does have two large bomb-bays and hopefully they will display it with the bomb-bay doors open (it would be nice to show off all of that great restoration work they did in there). We''ll have to wait and see what the museum decides. Either way, they've done a fantastic job with the plane. If I could change one thing, I wish they would have resisted painting the exterior and left it Natural Metal Finish (NMF) and eventually had it polished like the B-29 at the NEAM. Of course thats easy for me to say as I'm not the one paying for it and doing the work...

[mustangdriver]

I wonder just what condition the metal was in. It may have been too bad to polish

[Steve Nelson]

That's possible..the museum's B-17 is painted silver as well.

Here are a few shots of both that I took on my first visit to the museum in 1986. The B-29 looked pretty good, but the B-17 was getting a little rough around the edges (and was missing its nosecone.) It's hard to tell in the pics, but it appears the Superfortress is painted silver.











I visited the museum last summer..almost exactly 25 years later. While all the aircraft are now under cover, getting them all back into pristine display condition after decades of exposure to the weather is going to be a monumental task..particularly when you consider the size of the aircraft involved.

SN

[The Inspector]

4484076 B-29B-60-BA Built by BELL and as a 'B' and being completed in mid-ish 1945 probably never had turrets installed.

[whistlingdeath77]

love the older photos. I like the post-war scheme on the B-29 at that time