Warbird Information Exchange

It has been said, recently, that Doc is a silver plate B-29.
I'm all ears to learn more on this matter, but I have my doubts.
Is there any documentation to verify this claim?

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Phormer Phantom Painter

Some amateur research seems to indicate Doc is 44-69972 and silverplates are 44-27296 through 44-27304. Therefore, Doc is not a silverplate.

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Wish I had a plane to put here... anyone got any leads on a (prewar) J3 Cub?

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I doubt it. DOC does not seem to note any assignments to active bomb groups, much less any atomic groups of which there was only one unit during WWII (the 509th all with Martin Omaha built aircraft) and a few post war that were atomic capable.

of the 65 Silverplate aircraft built in a few batches, 57 were built at Martin Omaha.

Perhaps some musing by someone seeing a B-29 without main turrets, thinking it was Silverplate?

This. From the exterior. without turrets....Doc and Enola Gay look very similar.

When the CAF had the pick of the litter at China Lake in the early 70s...were there any surviving silverplate airframes parked there?

That could be as well.

Doc is a B-29. How can you tell the difference? The B-29 had a three piece wing, one large center section and two outer wing panels.
The B-29A has 4 piece wing that attaches to the center wing section with exterior bolts and is covered with wing root fairing panels.
Two outer wing panels, two inner wing panels, and the center section within the fuselage.
This is referenced right out of the B-29-2 maintenance manual. AN 01-20EJ-2. ( pre-1947 maint. manual.)
There are other differences between FiFi and Doc as well. FiFi ended up with a lot of post war mods the airplane still has today that Doc may have never received.

The question I have, are there any legit matching serial number B-29B's in existence? How about the static 29's out there that were pieced together from other airframes? Were some of those sections from B model aircraft? Did all the B's get scrapped at the end of the war? How about the other " Silverplate" aircraft? Only two?

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There are some that think old airplanes fly on fairy dust and unicorn farts.

USN Ret
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The aircraft was sent to the Bechtel-McCone Modification Center in Birmingham, Alabama in March 1945, at which time the aircraft had its turrets removed.

Now here's the interesting bit...

The B-29 "Doc" airframe, 44-69972, then shows up as having been based at North Field on Tinian in May 1945. In an accident report from May 20th, 1945, 44-69972 (the future "Doc") is listed among the B-29's parked at North Field, Tinian that were damaged from the takeoff crash of the B-29 "Thunderin' Loretta" 42-24913 of the 9th Bomb Group, 1st Bomb Squadron.

As far as I know, the "Doc" owners/restorers have yet to be able to find confirmation on its assignment(s) between April 1945 and November 1945, as log entries during that time were redacted/classified. It shows up as having been assigned to the 331st AAF Base Unit, Barksdale Field, Louisiana in April '45, and then the logs go missing until it shows up again in November '45 as back in the US, with the 19th Bomb Group, Air Technical Service Command, based at Pyote Field, Texas, where it was placed into storage (just as "Enola Gay" was). This was of course all several years prior to the aircraft ever gaining the "Doc" name, which came in 1951 when it was put to use as a radar trainer.

I do not believe so. I think only the ENOLA GAY and BOCKSCAR are the only silverplate survivors. Happy to be corrected.

44-86408 now at the Hill AFB museum was Martin Omaha built and is now painted as "straight flush" of the WWII 509th, and is without turrets, but is NOT the original Straight Flush from the 509th. Used for air sampling in atomic tests, but I do not think she was a Silverplate. The hulk was recovered from Dugway Utah. The other survivors from China Lake seem to be a mix of regular B-29s, a few with a war history, but not Silverplates. By deduction you can rule out the Boeing Renton built survivors as Silverplates.

Oh yuck....Dugway. Don't get too close to it.

Thanks for the info sandie!!

_________________
There are some that think old airplanes fly on fairy dust and unicorn farts.

USN Ret
Recip FE