[smokingfrog]

video at link

[equaviator]

Military air museums are The Bomb, man!

[amigatec]

I had a chance to take a look inside a couple of years ago. What a Machine!!!

[LifePath]

Hi there SmokingFrog:

I am a member of the B29/B24 Squadron, based in Dallas. Our squadron is part of the Commemorative Air Force (the old Confederate Air Force). I am the volunteer coordinator for the squadron. We are always looking for new members and also volunteers. Members can train to fly as crew on our planes and go on tour with the planes. I have spent three weeks on tour so far this year.

FIFI is one of two bombers in the squadron, the other being the B-24 Diamond Lil. FIFI is in Lexington, KY for a few more days for maintenance, then she resumes touring the Eastern and Central US until November 2.

If you are interested, check out our site at: www.cafb29b24.org. And if you are going to be in the DFW area, let me know and I can get you in the hangar with the airplanes.

[drunknsage]

An amazing piece of engineering. First pressurized bomber and those guns are wild with their radio controlled fire system. I’ve never seen fifi but I want to. Hopefully one day it will find its way to houston.

Anyone interested in WWII aviation should check out the Dogfights shows reposted on youtube. There’s a mammoth amount of content for aviation on that site including historical training videos. Want to lean the startup procedure for a P47? It’s there.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LIE_ev_L-CY

[Rinnwald]

Are the inside spaces any larger than a B-17? I toured a B-17 interior with my youngest son a couple of years ago at Paine Field, Washington.

I am tall and *ahem*...stout. I was able to scrape through the length of the plane, but with full gear, I could never have served aboard one. Most comfortable spot was the waist gunner area.

Smallest cockpit I’ve ever seen was in Tillamook Air Museum’s original Japanese Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar).

I guess there was always the infantry for the large ones.

[donaldo]

Re: WW II Warbirds - I was fortunate to visit Stinson Field here in San Antonio where the Central Texas Wing of the Commemorative Air Force made an appearance over the July 4th weekend. I went up in their Yellow Rose, a beautifully restored B-25. An added pleasure was meeting Dick Cole who was Doolittle’s co-pilot in the Tokyo Raid in 1942. While up I took a couple of short videos, one from the front and one from the top turret. What a thrill!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdYdjGoKu_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTlMzOTiapo

[MasterGunner01]

The B-29 technology in its day was similar to that of the Space Shuttle. The B-29 had four Wright R-3350 radial engines, was pressurized so its crew could fly in shirt sleeves at high altitude, and weighed in at 70 tons. Bomb load was 10 tons, crew was 11, and armament was 12 .50 machine guns and one 20mm M2 cannon (later removed). Some 3,970 of all versions were constructed. The B-29 was retired in 1960. Three B-29 bombers, damaged by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, flew to Russia (our ally at the time, but neutral in the Pacific War). The crews were allowed to escape, but the Russians kept the B-29s. These aircraft were reverse engineered by the Russians and the Tupolev TU-4 “Bull” was an exact copy. The Tu-4 was Russia's first very long range bomber.

[Does so]

Something like 400 B-29s were lost over Japan during WWII.

[SkyPilot]

Neat!

[MediaMole]

I so want to get to fly in a B-29. I’ve done a B-25 and a B-17 along with older and more modern military planes,