Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:00 pm
I got a few pics of "Right Stuff Fifi" at OSH 82 and was glad I did; it was a nice change. But I liked when she was changed back, too. She's become the third-, maybe even second-most famous of all B-29s and is a piece of history in her own right by this time.
Every year I go to a conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington DC. In the conference area they have a number of framed watercolor collage artworks representing various decades in US history. In the one for the 40s, it has fragmentary little watercolors of FDR, WWII things generally, and some stuff related to the first A-bombs and early cold war, including a B-29 taking off. But it's not Enola Gay or any wartime B-29, it's Fifi. She's become so iconic that she's one of those instances when modern warbirds are confused (by the careless, anyway) with the WWII article, like when artists paint Battle of Britain scenes in which the 109s are clearly Buchons.
August
Every year I go to a conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington DC. In the conference area they have a number of framed watercolor collage artworks representing various decades in US history. In the one for the 40s, it has fragmentary little watercolors of FDR, WWII things generally, and some stuff related to the first A-bombs and early cold war, including a B-29 taking off. But it's not Enola Gay or any wartime B-29, it's Fifi. She's become so iconic that she's one of those instances when modern warbirds are confused (by the careless, anyway) with the WWII article, like when artists paint Battle of Britain scenes in which the 109s are clearly Buchons.
August
Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:56 pm
retroaviation wrote:Yeah, I have been given a lot of freedom with what I do to our B-29 and B-24, but if I were to take FIFI's name off the B-29 it would be the last you'd hear from me. You should have heard some of the grumbling after I painted her name back in blue, like it was back in 1974. Some of the members thought it had always been black (when Boeing repainted it in '91). There may be a more authentic looking paint scheme in store for her someday though.
Gary
You would be in the next overpass pillar on IH20 by Jimmy Hoffa!
Last edited by Lynn Allen on Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thu Sep 14, 2006 5:18 pm
I like natural polished metal best but since that's a royal pain to maintain (and $$) I think the next best choice is black undersides with a painted silver top. It makes the silver paint (instead of natural metal) look less obvious. I always thought FIFI looked pretty neat painted black. I've seen It's Hawg Wild and it looks really good with the black undersides. Just my opinion...