FIFI is currently the only B-29 Superfortress that is able to fly, and
she's on tour this summer. If you get a chance to see her, I highly recommend you take the opportunity to see aviation history up close and personal. I was able to see her when she made a stop in Albany, NY and it was well worth the admission fee.
More below the Orange Omnilepticon.
The B-29 Superfortress was one of the iconic weapons of World War II; while mostly known for being the aircraft that dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, it was also the culmination of the frantic evolution of aircraft technology during the war years. Here's some information from the signs placed along the line to climb through FIFI.
FIFI's own story
I stood in line for about two hours waiting for my chance to climb through FIFI. That gave me a lot of time to appreciate the sheer size of the airplane. The propellors, the engines are huge.
That's one big radial engine, turning a big prop. Each engine on FIFI has its own name. From left to right: Ingrid, Mitzi, Rita, Betty.
Here's a side view. You can see some of the changes made when FIFI was re-engined.
The original
Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone engines were the key to the B-29 Superfortress design. The 18 cylinder air-cooled radial engines were equipped with superchargers, equipment that compensated for thinner air at high altitude by compressing it to keep the engines developing full power, for a service ceiling of 36,000 feet. The front and rear compartments were pressurized, so the crew didn't have to wear oxygen masks; a tunnel along the inside of the top of the unpressurized bomb bay connected the front and rear of the plane. It was these engines that gave the B-29 the power needed to carry a heavy bomb load to high altitude and fly several thousand miles to deliver it.
In practice, the original engines proved problematic. A complex design, they were prone to overheating, breaking down, and catching fire. (The quip about the B-29 was "Three turning, one burning.") There were other problems as well. Nonetheless they were rushed into production; the B-29's range was essential for the Pacific campaign and the need to strike directly at Japan. It took heroic efforts, the Battle of Kansas, where crews struggled to modify bombers that had come off the assembly lines essentially unflyable. According to some of the information on display with FIFI, the B-29 program was more expensive than the program to develop the atomic bomb! It kind of puts the teething problems of the F-35 in perspective.
One of the headaches of operating FIFI is keeping those big engines running. Several million dollars were spent equipping FIFI with new engines modified to fit on the aircraft while incorporating changes to make them more reliable. FIFI was grounded from 2006 to 2010 while this took place. The complex superchargers were removed; changes were made to improve engine cooling, and the airplane is no longer pressurized.
Here's a few more shots from around FIFI; you can get a better idea of her size from the people around her.
Tail end of FIFI - where the tail gunner's position was. Check out the size of that rudder - and the size of the people versus the size of FIFI.
This is the insignia of the Commemorative Air Force, the group that owns and operates FIFI. The name was changed a few years ago from Confederate Air Force, fortunately.
While I was waiting to tour FIFI, the crew cycled the flaps several times - part of a maintenance check I presume. This is what full flaps looks like.
Here's a montage of the flaps being retracted as they would be for cruise at altitude. Flaps increase wing area for more lift at lower speeds, as in take off and landing - but they also increase drag a lot. That's why they're retracted once a plane is set up for cruise.
Here's a few shots from inside FIFI. As the tour was set up, you climb up from the bomb bay into the forward compartment. You get to go past stations for the flight engineer, navigation, radio, etc. and see the pilots and bombardier positions. You exit through a hatch down through the nose wheel compartment. If you sign up for a flight aboard FIFI (I was strongly tempted but they'd sold out) you can ride up front or in the back, which has a lot more room. As I said, it took about two hours to get to this point - but they did let one man jump the line. It turns out he'd been a B-29 pilot back in the day, and he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to sit behind the controls one more time. Everyone applauded him.
This is how you reach the cockpit of the B-29 from the bomb bay - up a ladder. That tube overhead is the tunnel for the crew between the front and rear of the airplane,
Here's the view from inside the compartment. You can see the entrance to the crew tunnel to the rear of the plane. (Kind of like a Jeffries Tube from Star Trek!) The bulkhead is curved and the hatch looks a little like something from a submarine because the compartment was designed to be pressurized.
Here's a montage of crew stations in the forward compartment: flight engineer, navigation, radio, etc. Old-school 'steam gauges' - state of the art for the day - with some newer stuff I'm guessing. This was high-tech back then.
FIFI's cockpit: L-R pilot, bombardier, copilot. I suspect this may have influenced the cockpit design of the Millennium Falcon...
I did not get to look inside the tail section of FIFI, but I did manage to get my camera up through an open hatch for several pictures.
This is the other end of the crew tunnel, where it opens into the rear compartment. The curve of the bulkhead is really obvious here.
Here's looking aft in the rear compartment. I think you can just make out the tail gunner's position.
While B-29s are mostly associated with World War II, they also were used in Korea and up until the 1960s. The
Boeing B-50 Superfortress was the B-29 enhanced with more powerful (and reliable) engines with improvements to the airframe. It could have been considered a late model B-29 - but giving it a new number allowed the Air Force to slip it through the budget process when production of B-29s was cancelled following the end of World War II.
The basic airframe of the B-29 was further modified. Boeing turned it into the 377 Stratocruiser for airline service, after developing a military version as a transport. The Air Force also flew a tanker version. It pioneered the use of aerial refueling (pdf) via a boom. Here's a couple of photos of one in the Linear Air Park at Dyess AFB, Abilene, TX.
Boeing KC-97, one of the few survivors, part of the extensive air park collection at Dyess AFB
The story of the KC-97L Stratotanker
Keeping a complex, aging aircraft like FIFI flying calls for a lot of dedication, expertise, and money. The reason why the
CAF does it is to keep history alive, honor those who served, and educate the public in a unique way. It's necessary because of the nature of battles where the primary conflict is carried out with planes and ships. Land battles have monuments, trails, markers. Re-enactors can put on old uniforms and
recreate battles. No one is going to see massed formations of heavy bombers forming up again to take to the air over Britain, or vast naval fleets assembling in the Pacific. The last Vulcan is on
her final tour; the iconic planes of the cold war are mostly gone - except for the
B-52 and the
TU-95 Bear.
Odds are, you will never get to see the fighting aircraft of the Vietnam War, the Gulf War on tour like this. No flybys by F-4 Phantoms. No F-105s in the pattern. They're too expensive to keep flying - you generally only see more recent military aircraft at airshows while the military still has them in the active inventory. The military and the FAA are also rather particular about what kind of hardware ends up in civilian hands. All the more reason then to support programs like the one that keeps FIFI flying, and turn out when they come to town.
This is an actual money bomb. It was next to the tour line - all contributions welcome.
IF you want more...
The Times Union had coverage of FIFI's visit to Albany International Airport, including pictures and video.
FIFI may be joined by another surviving B-29 Superfortress: Doc is being restored to airworthiness, and it is hoped will be on tour soon.
There's a unique B-29 tour opportunity, thanks to Climate Change. NPR recently reported that dropping water levels in Lake Mead are making it much easier to dive to a B-29 that crashed in 1948. It's become an attraction for recreational divers, as it remains largely intact. The National Park Service would like to keep it so, so be advised.
9:47 AM PT: UPDATE Found a nice Youtube video of FIFI starting up, taking off, flying, landing, and shutting down. There's something about the sound of those big radials...
https://youtu.be/...
6:27 PM PT: Want to ride in a B-17?
http://www.yankeeairmuseum.org/...