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Why FIFI? Aside from the well known story about being named after the wife of the man that paid for the acquisition, recovery and original restoration? And, I might add, the wife of the man that paid nearly all the costs of the first couple of years of operation?
I'll tell you why FIFI. That is the airplane's identity. She has had that same name since 1974 and that is all she has ever been known as. She is not a combat airplane and had a fairly vanilla record in her short time in military service. She never had a name or nose art during that time. She is famous for being FIFI. She is famous for pretty much being the only flying B-29 in the world for the better part of 45 years. She is famous because she is the only B-29 most people have ever actually seen in the flesh and the only one most people have seen fly. She's famous for being an airshow airplane and the flagship of the CAF.
Painted and marked as she is, a couple of different things are accomplished. As a fairly generic B-29 she is a tribute to everyone ever involved with the Superfortress. The men and women that built them, the ones that designed them, the ones that flew them. The men that worked on them and flew them in two different wars. Painted as a specific airframe from the war, she is a tribute to one crew. Of course there is nothing in the world wrong with that but it isn't the aim of this airplane.
Painted and marked as she is, she is a tribute to the men who saved her from China Lake and the man that made that all possible. She is a tribute to all the people that have worked so hard, for so many years to keep her going and in the air. She is a tribute to the organization that has been in the warbird business since 1957 and was memorializing the men, women and machines of WWII long before it was fashionable and long before most others were doing it.
Painted and marked as she is, FIFI is probably the most recognizable and known B-29 in history. From my observation, given the lack of the majority of society's interest and knowledge of history, of WWII, I would say more people know FIFI than know Enola Gay. It is certain that more people have seen FIFI. From what I've seen after several years on the road with the airplane, many people know about the atom bomb. But comparatively few know anything about the Enola Gay and not many more even know what a B-29 is or that Enola Gay was one. But they know FIFI because she's sitting there in front of them, on display, as she has been since 1974. Even if the Enola Gay is more recognized and known, FIFI is certainly second.
It isn't well known but Vic Agather originally wanted to paint the airplane as the B-29 Thumper. He knew the airplane and the crew from his time in the Pacific and considered them his friends. It was the CAF General Staff that voted to put the name FIFI on her, not the Agather family. The General Staff and the man that painted the airplane, Charlie Day, are the ones that decided to paint the A on the tail. It was, of course, done as a tribute to the family that made it possible. Members of that family are still making it possible today and the airplane would have long ago been grounded if that family didn't have the interest that they have in keeping her in the air.
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Brad
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