Kee Bird

[Shay]

Kbirds done and is now a memory.

That may very well be the case but we can still discuss it can't we?

Instead of going to the great expense of going to her resting place and trying to salvage engines and such, why not send a hefty donation to FIFI and B29 Doc.

FIFI and DOC and both very admirable causes in which support and send donations to. But people here are looking additional ways to increase the B-29 population. Preferrably toward another flying example. It costs us nothing to brain storm and daydream, now does it?

Perhaps we should all be content with only 2 flying Lancasters??

I am sure most of the americans on this forum would sooner see 2 B29s in the air again instead of a set of engines and bits from an almost flyable one?

You bet they would. I can go see a B-29 everyday if I want to, but I have never seen one fly in person. Pretty sad huh? The closest I came was FIFI at the Dayton airshow in 97 but I had to ship out for Navy boot camp the day of the Air Show.

That even goes for the Lancaster. I saw one years ago at the Dayton air show well over a decade ago, but it was on static.

For me personally there are 3 B-29 airframes I would like to see recovered.

KB-29P 44-83905 "Lady of the Lake"
B-29 45-21-847 "Lake Mead"
B-29 45-21763 "Keebird" remains

Will it ever happen? Most likely not until they become the best available option for a B-29 to be obtained.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[APG85]

I agree with everything Shay said...

[rwdfresno]

Instead of going to the great expense of going to her resting place and trying to salvage engines and such, why not send a hefty donation to FIFI and B29 Doc.

Many of us support FiFi and want to see other aircraft recovered. As for Doc, I actually at one point was actively hunting down parts for Doc and was going to donate a set of main gear wheels that they were looking for until I found out Tallichet is the actual owner of Doc then I decided that as much as I want to to see the aircraft fly I just don't want my money in Tallichet's pocket.

[Tigercat]

I think that B-29 at Aero Trader might be a great project for our members to donate to or spend your free time working on (after initial aquisition).

Anybody have a few million that they don't mind tossing in the pot. After it is finished we could add the WIX logo as nose art along with a picture of some half-naked old "snake" for visual stimulation.

http://www.aerotrader.net/b29.html

Let me know----I will send you the Paypal account to send donations to.

[B-29 Super Fort]

Instead of going to the great expense of going to her resting place and trying to salvage engines and such, why not send a hefty donation to FIFI and B29 Doc.

Many of us support FiFi and want to see other aircraft recovered. As for Doc, I actually at one point was actively hunting down parts for Doc and was going to donate a set of main gear wheels that they were looking for until I found out Tallichet is the actual owner of Doc then I decided that as much as I want to to see the aircraft fly I just don't want my money in Tallichet's pocket.

Are you sure about Tallichet. I thought Tony Mazzolini was the owner. Here is what the FAA records say:

Registered Owner

Name BOMBER FORCE INC
Street 4477 MACKALL RD
City SOUTH EUCLID State OHIO Zip Code 44121
County CUYAHOGA
Country UNITED STATES

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... dfind.y=11

[rwdfresno]

Are you sure about Tallichet. I thought Tony Mazzolini was the owner. Here is what the FAA records say:

I am not 100% positive because I have no way of 100% verifying the information since I have run into road blocks every time I have tried to find out information about Doc. I can say that I have heard this information from 3 independent sources and was sort of "warned" about this fact by someone whom I trust very well in the industry.

[peter]

If the engines would be of use to another B29 then for sure. I guess I was blinded a bit when posting that after reading about doc being moved to the outdoors again.
Oh and definately lake mead should be recovered before souvenir hunters strip her.

[bdk]

Oh and definately lake mead should be recovered before souvenir hunters strip her.

She can't be stripped, she is protected by the park service...

[mustangdriver]

Tallichet with out a doubt has his hands in on Doc somewhere. When I worked at Air Heritage, we restored a B-25D/PBJ for the Naval Aviation museum. That restored PBJ went to them so that Tallichet could get Doc. Tony was his partner on the deal.

[peter]

wasnt there a thread about here as i am sure i read somwhere that once it was accesible to the public that itemsin the cockpit began to go mssing i think it was the flt engneers panel goages or something?

[Shay]

wasnt there a thread about here as i am sure i read somwhere that once it was accesible to the public that itemsin the cockpit began to go mssing i think it was the flt engneers panel goages or something?

That's really Shitty if it's true.

Getting strung up and beat'n with 3 foot lengths of garden hose is a good solution for that problem.

Maybe even followed up by a body dump in the middle of the desert.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[BK]

PBS is replaying the program on Kee bird next week:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/schedule.html
"B-29 Frozen in Time"
Tuesday, July 20 at 8 pm

[phil65]

PBS is replaying the program on Kee bird next week:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/schedule.html
"B-29 Frozen in Time"
Tuesday, July 20 at 8 pm

Maybe they could go to Midland,TX, and edit the ending!

Phil

[gary1954]

Tallichet with out a doubt has his hands in on Doc somewhere. When I worked at Air Heritage, we restored a B-25D/PBJ for the Naval Aviation museum. That restored PBJ went to them so that Tallichet could get Doc. Tony was his partner on the deal.

Where is this PBJ of which you scribe? Are there really only two PBJs left in the world? I know 5865V is one

[Ken]

As much as has been said on the story of the Kee Bird, I don't tire of the topic. I vividly remember watching the PBS special for the first time, not knowing the outcome. When I saw the violence of the taxi I was flabberghasted. On the other hand, I know that things are not always as they seem. There's a taxiway in Afghanistan I thought was pretty reasonable until I got halfway down it and had to slow to a crawl; the undulations and ruts felt way worse than they looked. Had they only used the tractor to tow it to the end of the runway. Had the APU had a safer fuel supply. Darn shame, but it is what it is.

Did the original engines get airlifted out for trade or were they left on the lake shore?
What of that C-7?
Any small souvenirs make it back for display anywhere or to the original crew?
Any good source out there on the Kee Bird's service after manufacture?