Doc Sold?

[rwdfresno]

Mike,

Very nice to hear some first person insight. Thanks, Ryan

[bombadier29]

In the center top of this picture you can see the B-29 nose laying on its side after the hurricane.

http://blog.kermitweeks.com/wp-content/ ... sized1.jpg

[B-29 Super Fort]

Lots of questions to try to answer.

Kermits two "spare" airframes were fairly complete, sans many small parts that were removed by other organizations as use for spares / to complete their displays. and parts were removed by movie companies and souvenir hunters as well. Both of kermits china lake airframes had the vertical stabilizers removed by cutting them off about 2 foot above the bottom. Kermit was primarily after wings, tail cone and what spares he could get in order to restore Myrtle. They were obtained as part of a trade with the Air Force Museum back when they did that. IIRC it involved a Nieuport, Duck and ? in kind Kermit received the EP-35, ? and "all the remaining B-29 Airframes on the North Range at China Lake" I remember there was three airframes available, and had the team from Lowery been 1/2 hour later, they would have missed the deadline, and Kermit would have got T square 54 also. As it was we towed all three several miles through the desert over the one weekend that we had to clear them from the range. We had to dig pits to jack up the aircraft, install wheels that would hold air, and tow them many many miles. It was a long weekend. The two airframes were disassembled and shipped to Carl's place in the desert. (Aero Trader had one advertised for sale on their web site)The third went to Lowery AFB, now at MOF IIRC.

If I remember the story correctly that Kermit told us about the one flight of Myrtle it went something like this:
Kermit wanted to get it to Stockton to primarily get it away from the enviroment at Oakland, with the added benefit of it being "easier to work on" at that airport with more suitable facilities available.
The FAA was going to allow only one attempt at the ferry flight. The wing corrosion was a major concern to them. Myrtle had major intergranular corrosion in the wing skins (among other places).
One engine failed shortly after take-off. Strike 1
Top turret (fwd I think) began to behave like it was going to depart the aircraft.
A second engine was begining to show signs of imminent failure, so the decision was made to RTB (rather quickly). Since the FAA refused to authorize a second attempt, the only way she was leaving was on a truck.

There was evidence of the modifications needed for the D558 on the fuselage. I can't remember exactly where, I will have to go through photo's of the disassembly to refresh my memory. We finished getting her out of Oakland several months before the big earthquake. We traveled the stretch of interstate that collapsed on itself everyday.

We disassembled Myrtle, and shipped the fuselage to Florida (Miami at that time), as Kermit thought it would make a nice display, and he would begin restoration of the fuselage first. The remainder went to storage at Carls.

Hope that helps.

Wow, thanks for the background on Kermit's B-29's and what came out of China Lake. So it seems Kermit has two B-29's (or at least the remains of 2) in storage Carls in addition to Myrtle, and there's a third B-29 that Aerotrader has for sale (http://www.aerotrader.net/b29.html), is that correct?

[bombadier29]

[
Wow, thanks for the background on Kermit's B-29's and what came out of China Lake. So it seems Kermit has two B-29's (or at least the remains of 2) in storage Carls in addition to Myrtle, and there's a third B-29 that Aerotrader has for sale (http://www.aerotrader.net/b29.html), is that correct?

The one that Aerotrader has on offer is one of Kermit's two they have in storage.

[Fouga23]

From the Aerotrader site:

So which one is the real Myrtle?

[bombadier29]

From the Aerotrader site:

So which one is the real Myrtle?

The one in Florida is. The nose in this picture is one of the Disney noses.

[B-29 Super Fort]

[
Wow, thanks for the background on Kermit's B-29's and what came out of China Lake. So it seems Kermit has two B-29's (or at least the remains of 2) in storage Carls in addition to Myrtle, and there's a third B-29 that Aerotrader has for sale (http://www.aerotrader.net/b29.html), is that correct?

The one that Aerotrader has on offer is one of Kermit's two they have in storage.

Thanks.

[bdk]

Aero Trader was restoring a B-29 nose for static display somewhere, maybe 9 months ago? I've forgotten who it was for and what the source of the nose was.

[bombadier29]

The real nice nose on display at FOF is the real Fertile Myrtle. It was repaired by aerotrader after the hurricane damage. The second nose that was at aero trader is the disney nose in the other picture. It appears to be a spare nose (hence the Disney connection) but was in some pictures of Kermit's spare B-29s for sale on aerotrader's site.

From the Aerotrader site:

From Kermit's blog it seems that this spare nose is to be repaired by aerotrader and used for a disply about Rosie the Riveters at FOF in the future.

http://blog.kermitweeks.com/?cat=75

Who knew one man's B-29s could get so confusing.

[Brad]

It was the top rear turret cover that came loose and was blown nearly off the airplane. I've got a picture of it somewhere showing the cover standing straight up in the wind but all four engines are still running. It always looked to me like the cover got hung on the shroud that covers the two .50 cal barrels but what ever it was, it seems like it was mostly luck that kept it from totally departing the airplane. I'm guessing it was around 1984 or something along those lines. I'll try and find the picture.

T-28Mike: I'd love to see any pictures you might have of the disassembly.

Seperate subject______________________________________

As a devoted "FIFI" worshiper, crew member and serious lover of all things B-29; I'd like to go on record as saying that I can't wait for Doc to get in the air. I wish I lived closer so I could help. I'm one of many CAF B-29/B-24 squadron members that look forward to the day that we finally get to fly two B-29s in formation.

[usaf ssgt]

I have requested more information to volunteer through their web site.
In the USAF my AFSC was 42751 Corrosion Control Spec. and I love to polish bare aluminium.
I also have a long history of painting, from aircraft, to heavy machinery, to automotive.

I'd love to say I had a small hand in seeing this project to completion.

Leon

[Chris Brame]

So would it be realistic to say that we have FiFi which is flying now, Doc which hopefully will be flying several years from now, Fertile Myrtle which could fly eventually but is on the back burner and probably will stay there, and maybe enough components to put together one more flyer with a great deal of effort and money.
Total: Four civilian B-29s max. Sounds right?

[tulsaboy]

I would argue that MOF's B-29 is most likely pretty darn close to flyable, if they were that type of museum. And I believe that it is civilian owned, not on loan. Correct?

kevin

[bombadier29]

I would argue that MOF's B-29 is most likely pretty darn close to flyable, if they were that type of museum. And I believe that it is civilian owned, not on loan. Correct?

kevin

Several years ago I went on a tour of the restoration facility and talked to some of the guys that were restoring it. Lots of unairworthy stuff was done to it in order to complete the restoration. Several parts weren't heat treated before installation so they would have to be removed and fixed. Some of them were major parts. They've done really nice work on it but a lot of the hatchet work that was done in the original move from China Lake was just covered over.

But, to answer the other part of your question, it is owned by the Air Force Museum so it would never fly anyway.

[Brad]

Found the picture of Fertile Myrtle in flight with the turret cover coming off. I'm pretty sure this was cut out of an airplane magazine from around 1984 or 85 but I don't remember which one. I have no idea who the photographer was.