A neat old photo

[Neal Nurmi]

I was poking through some old photo files and turned up this 1978 shot. I think it was done at an airshow at Travis AFB.

Neal

[Lon Moer]

Fertile Myrtle.

[Neal Nurmi]

The Registry says this thing was restored in Tucson in 1969. Was that when it got the turrets and operating bomb bay doors? Who did the restoration? Where did they get the parts 25 years after WWII?

[Taigh Ramey]

I heard that Aero Services in Tucson (Jack Kern) did several B-29's at his place at TIA. I wonder if it was him? Turret parts and B-29 bits would have been relatively easy to get at the time from several yards, weapons test centers and even China Lake. The rebuild of the bomb bay section where the cut outs would have been a big job. I recall seeing the obvious repairs using universal head rivets instead of flush on Fertile Myrtle.

[JohnB]

I saw it at Mountain Home AFB in 1978. It looked strange among the F-111s.

[APG85]

Neat plane! Wish they would re-assemble her and put her on display. Anymore pictures out there...?

[deskpro590]

The registry has the latest location as the International Sports Aviation Museum in Florida....at least the nose section. Considering the historical significance of this B-29 (Bell X-1 Program), it would be awesome if she were restored to airworthy, or static (in one piece) at a minimum. Of course that would take $$$$ Perhaps a gofundme? One could dream....

[Neal Nurmi]

She got around quite a bit in 1978-79. I saw her at several Northern California air shows, and once down in Chino...

[deskpro590]

Thinking about your first photo there, with the B-29 and B-52...that would have made a cool Legacy Flight with those two in the air together.....

[APG85]

I don't think this B-29...(B-29-95-BW 45-21787 / P2B-1S BuNo 84029)...ever carried the X-1. It did carry the Douglas Skyrocket with Scott Crossfield at the controls.

I believe the nose section was damaged in Hurricane Andrew and re-skinned (and painted silver).

It would be neat to see it restored to it's drop/mother-ship configuration...

[Lynn Allen]

Thinking about your first photo there, with the B-29 and B-52...that would have made a cool Legacy Flight with those two in the air together.....

2 B-29's, 2 B-17's and a B-24 with a B-1, B-2 and the B-52 would be nice as well.

[Dan K]

...Anymore pictures out there...?

My personal favorite...from the day she tried to kill Neil Armstrong:


http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/22-march-1956/

[deskpro590]

I don't think this B-29...(B-29-95-BW 45-21787 / P2B-1S BuNo 84029)...ever carried the X-1. It did carry the Douglas Skyrocket with Scott Crossfield at the controls.

I believe the nose section was damaged in Hurricane Andrew and re-skinned (and painted silver).

It would be neat to see it restored to it's drop/mother-ship configuration...

Yeppers. The Nose art threw me off. 45-21800's nose art looks similar to this one....

[Neal Nurmi]

"My personal favorite...from the day she tried to kill Neil Armstrong"

Thanks for that link. That certainly adds to my knowledge bank regarding this airplane. I've been curious about her from the moment I first laid eyes on her outside Santa Rosa back in the early 1970s. That bit about the prop blade going right through the fuselage and damaging an engine on the other wing is pretty scary. A lot of energy in an overspeeding 3350 prop...

Neal

[APG85]

The aft edge of the nose landing gear door has an odd cut-out on it. Most B-29's don't have this...