Bockscar in Wikipedia

A prime WTF? moment when I saw this on Friday. Is there an explanation for this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-29

Currently airworthy aircraft
Also, the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is considering restoring Bockscar to airworthy condition; it is presently exhibited as a static display. The Smithsonian has the complete Enola Gay at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center as a static display, but does not plan to bring the airplane back to flight status as that would likely compromise the preservation of the plane as an historic item.

Rob / Kansan.

PS - Wolverine - I may owe you an apology.

[Originalboxcar]

We should keep in mind that "anybody" can writeup a wiki and put whatever info. we feel like adding (true or not). Now, that said, the NMUSAF did restore ShooShoo to airworthy status but she's never been flown since the arrival flight back in '88 I think.

I think it would be great to restore "Bockscar" to flight worthy status as long as they don't take from her original mission configuration. I don't think it would be wise the fly her with the risk of losing such a rare artifact.

What type of shape is bockcar in? Is she a timecapsule? Did she remain largely intact during here AMARC internment from '46 - '61? I know the Enola Gay was deteriorating while store at Andrew AFB and I'm not sure how original she is.

regards,

t~

[Originalboxcar]

Hey Shay,

Can you sneak in old Bockscar and and snap us a few pics so we can see what the old girl looks like inside? (Hee hee)

regards,

t~

We should keep in mind that "anybody" can writeup a wiki and put whatever info. we feel like adding (true or not).

What type of shape is bockcar in? Is she a timecapsule? Did she remain largely intact during here AMARC internment from '46 - '61? I know the Enola Gay was deteriorating while store at Andrew AFB and I'm not sure how original she is.

Re Wikipedia - yup. This specific article needs some further discussion since the guy who write it has written a lot of stuff about warbirds on there, and got an award. That's what made me wonder.

IIRC the NASM said they wanted to restore EG to as near its stock condition on 6th August 1945 as they possibly could. Given what we've heard about the deterioration of this (and other) airframes at Andrews AFB and the Garber facility I would like to know if they've achieved this goal.

Rob / Kansan

[ww2John]

I would guess we are talking about two things here; whether either "Bockscar" or "Enola Gay" have been restored back to the authentic condition and to what extent they have their original equipment, not just re-equipped with authentic equipment types. Yes, I, for one, would enjoy knowing how much on either plane actually flew with that plane.

Having said that, it is no secret that "Enola Gay" suffered from vandals and later from poor storage while under the "care, custody & control" of the Smithsonian, prior to their extensive restoration. I have no idea of the condition of "Bockscar" was prior to it being actually flown to Dayton.

Here's a quote from the NMUSAF web site:

"The Boeing-designed B-29 #44-27297 was built by the Glenn L. Martin Co. at Omaha, Nebraska, at a cost of about $639,000. It was accepted by the USAAF on April 19, 1945 and was delivered to the 393rd Bomb Squadron at Wendover Field in the Utah salt flats. There aircrews of the 509th Composite Group were engaged in intensive training under a cloak of secrecy. In June, aircraft and crew flew to Tinian Island in the Marianas. From there, Bockscar, named for its pilot Frederick C. Bock, flew five bombing missions. On four of these, a 10,000 pound bomb loaded with high explosives was dropped. Nicknamed "pumpkin" bombs because of their shape and orange color, these were the same size and shape as the actual "fat man" atomic bomb dropped at Nagasaki. After Japan surrendered, Bockscar and the 393rd Bomb Squadron were reassigned to Roswell Field, New Mexico. In error, The Great Artiste was named in some official reports as the superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb at Nagasaki.

This mistake was discovered when preparations were being made to preserve the aircraft for later museum display. When the discrepancy was found, it was Bockscar that was retired in September 1946 to the desert storage facility at Davis-Monthan field near Tucson, Arizona. There it remained until September 1961 when it made one more flight, to Wright-Patterson AFB to become part of the growing collection of display aircraft at the U.S. Air Force Museum. Today about a million visitors each year view Bockscar, the aircraft that helped end the world's most costly war.

Notes: Serial number: 44-27297 (B-29-35-MO)" (end of quote)

As far as restoring "Bockscar" back to flying condition, why bother? Why risk it? This is a unique & important artifact and a very real touchstone to our history. It needs to be maintained safely to help future generations understand that time in our history.

IMHO, if you want to help B29's fly, support CAF's "FiFi" or support the restoration efforts for "Doc". If you have heard those four engines overhead and seen a B29 fly, well, it IS pretty unique and worthy of our support.

[Originalboxcar]

MHO, if you want to help B29's fly, support CAF's "FiFi" or support the restoration efforts for "Doc". If you have heard those four engines overhead and seen a B29 fly, well, it IS pretty unique and worthy of our support.

I agree, while an authentic restoration to flight status would be nice, I believe that there are higher priorities for restoration such as (A25-HELLDIVER , The Swoose, Memphis Belle, Flak Bait, etc...) EG or BC are not worth the risk for flying either way due to their historical significance.

Hopefully FIFI and DOC will be both be back in the air soon and who knows, maybe the NMUSAF will sell some statics for a plastic 1:1 and some $$ and we'll have yet more B-29's in the air some day. Maybe even a silverplate replica

regards,

t~.

[wendovertom]

Don Albury was able to sit in Bocks Car and have an interview taped from the cockpit for the documentary "Men who brought the dawn". I believe this was around '98 or '99 (???) and at that time the plane was inside at USAFM and from the little bit you see it looks to be in decent shape.

Tom P.

Ok Folks,
Lets take a look at this there are three reason why this will never happen,
1. USAF doesn't have the money to restored and fly it.
2. Boxcar along with EnolaGay are two of the four aircraft on the National Preservation list.
3. Who would fly it Civilians Pilot or Active USAF if Active then they would have to fall under Training Command besides there are only 10 B-29 Qualf. Pilots out there.
Cheers
RER

Amen Colonel!
I don't see it either. I would love to know where the Wikipedia author got his information from. It's a shame. I haven't found any truly bogus information on there until this. Shaken my trust a teensy bit.

Rob / Kansan

[kennsmithf2g]

Does the Dayton Air Force Museum still have the B-29 section that you can walk through?

Kenn

[TimAPNY]

Does the Dayton Air Force Museum still have the B-29 section that you can walk through?

Kenn

Yes it does.

Ok Can someone explain how one goes and makes a respound to the article because i sure the He!! would like to set him straight.
RER

I just had a look - it's already been done. The article just mentions "doc" now. Did anyone here edit it? Good job, anyway.

Rob / Kansan

[airnutz]

Ok Can someone explain how one goes and makes a respound to the article because i sure the He!! would like to set him straight.
RER

I just had a look - it's already been done. The article just mentions "doc" now. Did anyone here edit it? Good job, anyway.

Rob / Kansan

HE..HE...HE...

[APG85]

I was recently at the NMUSAF (two weeks ago). Although Bockscar is nicely displayed and easily photographed (planes aren't jammed in around it), I did notice it could use some attention. The faired over blister areas on the sides of the aft fuselage have minor corrosion on the screw heads. The entire plane could use a good polish. This was accomplished on the Enola Gay and the B-29 at the New England Air Museum and they look fantastic. I took a picture of the bomb bay and nose wheel well by leaning over and putting my camera (with flash) up underneath. You can see where they (the museum?) took green paint and shot the bomb bay doors and the catwalk areas and then stopped (they didn't even tape it off, just freehanded it). The rest is yellow primer which looks original (and should have been left that way).
The walk through B-29 fwd fuselage is still on display in another hangar. I've alway wondered what happened to the rest of that aircraft.........

[Eric Friedebach]

Perhaps there is some preservation effort that has recently started, prompting someone to update the Wiki with the “airworthy” comment.

[oscardeuce]

Boxcar along with EnolaGay are two of the four aircraft on the National Preservation list.

Which aircraft are the oter two?