18 July 2016
+VIDEO It’s taken 16 years to restore ‘Doc’, a 1944 B-29 Superfortress WWII bomber, but finally, on Sunday, the aircraft flew for the first in nearly 60 years.
‘Doc’, serial number 44-66992, is now the second airworthy B-29 in the world. It was flown by Charlie Tillman and co-pilot David Oliver of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) which operates the only other flying B-29, known as ‘Fifi’.
The flight lasted only 7 minutes after an engine warning light came on, and the pilots decided to land as a precaution. It completed the takeoff, a circuit and landing.
‘Doc’ was restored by a group of volunteers in Wichita, Kansas – where it was originally built – after Tony Mazzolini discovered it in the Mojave Desert where US Navy pilots were using it for target practice (presumably not very well, since it was still intact). Mazzolini brought it back to Wichita, and formed ‘Doc’s Friends’ who set about restoring the historic four-engine bomber.
Tony Mazzolini found Doc being used for target practice in the Mojave Desert.
Jim Murphy, Doc’s Friends Restoration Program Manager, said, “Today, we celebrate this major milestone and honor the hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer work that has gone into restoring our B-29. From the team who saved Doc from rusting away in the Mojave Desert in California, to the dedicated volunteers who have been working tirelessly on the restoration project since Doc was brought to Wichita 16 years ago, today is great day.”
One of those volunteers is Connie Palacioz, now 88, and who worked on the original Superfortress production line during WWII. Connie left school in 1943 and went straight to work for Boeing, riveting nose sections of the Superfortress.
When the war ended, the aircraft workers were laid off. Connie got married, raised four kids, and went to work in a hairdressers. But when she heard in 2000 that Doc had been trucked to Wichita, she volunteered. Now she’s hoping to get a flight in the B-29 sometime soon.
