Doc Sold?

Rod Schneider · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:26 pm

I just got an email from a friend who says he'd just received a note saying that Doc has been moved back into her original hangar and restoration work would soon resume! A press conference is scheduled on Monday, the 11th. It also mentioned that Doc has been sold, but no mention of who the buyer is.
I hope this is true! I'd love to see another B-29 flying

Warbirdnerd · **Joined:** Fri Apr 30, 2004 7:34 pm **Posts:** 2923

It appears a group from Wichita has aquired the B-29. They are called Doc's Friends and restoration to airworthy is set to resume soon:

Quote:

A group of business leaders from Wichita, KS founded Doc’s Friends in early 2013 with a vision to see the historic Boeing B-29 Superfortress known as Doc restored to flying condition.

A new non-profit group, Doc’s Friends has taken ownership of the airplane and will lead the effort to refurbish the vintage airplane. It is believed that Doc is the last known Boeing B-29 Superfortress that is in restorable condition.

Doc’s Friends is chaired by Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner. Other board members include Charlie Chandler, INTRUST Bank, Steve Clark, Clark Investment Group, Lynn Nichols, Yingling Aircraft, Brad Gorsuch, Boeing, Vic McMullen, Spirit AeroSystems, and Ron Ryan, founder of Ryan Aviation.

This national treasure airplane was recently moved from a storage hangar at Boeing to hangar space donated by Boeing to allow volunteers to begin working on restoring the aircraft.

Found it here: http://www.b-29doc.com/about.php

CAPFlyer · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:26 pm

They need to update their info though. Kermit has a B-29 that is "restorable" since technically it's not assembled. They can't say it's the last one able to be restored to airworthiness either as there are several out there which could be including the ones in Pueblo, Tuscon, and Wichita (I will leave Bock's Car and Enola Gay off the list for obvious reasons).

bombadier29 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:17 pm **Posts:** 272

CAPFlyer wrote:

They can't say it's the last one able to be restored to airworthiness either as there are several out there which could be including the ones in Pueblo, Tuscon, and Wichita (I will leave Bock's Car and Enola Gay off the list for obvious reasons).

But you should leave all those off the list for the same obvious reason. They all belong to the air force museum and will never fly again. The only possible ones to restore and fly besides doc are the ones that Kermit Weeks owns.

bombadier29 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:17 pm **Posts:** 272

I wonder if the caf guys are starting to get nervous? Doc is considerably nicer of an airplane than fifi is, inside and out. If the confederates had taken doc when they had the chance then they'd still be the only show in town for the forseeable future.

walkerarmyairfield · **Joined:** Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:10 pm **Posts:** 58

The Friends of Doc listed are an impressive group. Doc will fly again with these people behind him. Deep pockets one and all. So glad to see the progress for Doc.
Phillip

Pogo · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 7:40 pm

Be interesting to see what they do for engines.......

Wildchild · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:18 pm

bombadier29 wrote:

CAPFlyer wrote:

They can't say it's the last one able to be restored to airworthiness either as there are several out there which could be including the ones in Pueblo, Tuscon, and Wichita (I will leave Bock's Car and Enola Gay off the list for obvious reasons).

But you should leave all those off the list for the same obvious reason. They all belong to the air force museum and will never fly again. The only possible ones to restore and fly besides doc are the ones that Kermit Weeks owns.

But you also do not know how many are under water in the Pacific...

gary1954 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:01 pm

Wildchild wrote:

bombadier29 wrote:

CAPFlyer wrote:

They can't say it's the last one able to be restored to airworthiness either as there are several out there which could be including the ones in Pueblo, Tuscon, and Wichita (I will leave Bock's Car and Enola Gay off the list for obvious reasons).

But you should leave all those off the list for the same obvious reason. They all belong to the air force museum and will never fly again. The only possible ones to restore and fly besides doc are the ones that Kermit Weeks owns.

But you also do not know how many are under water in the Pacific...

I'd love to see the one in Lake Mead break the surface.

..she's in some very cold fresh water with minimal damage.....raising her, I wonder if that would be possible given the current technology. geek

..But Doc being made airworthy is Awesome :supz:

. I too wonder about the engines.

...will Doc be powered by the same Mills as FiFi

....these questions and I suppose many more....

Wildchild · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:20 pm

Were the engines in the Early B-50's more reliable? Doc could be converted into a B-50 simply due to the engines.

Kyleb · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:49 pm

Wildchild wrote:

Were the engines in the Early B-50's more reliable? Doc could be converted into a B-50 simply due to the engines.

Replacing 3350's with 4360's is probably a pretty big bite...

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:28 pm

Pogo wrote:

Be interesting to see what they do for engines.......

They'll Call Nelson... :wink:

Iclo · **Posted:** Sat Mar 09, 2013 2:22 am

Pretty cool news.
Their website is well improved too: I hope they will post update on a regular basis.

There is probably a lot of work to be done before completion, but looking the pictures the quality of the restoration work already done is incredible.

b29flteng · **Posted:** Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:17 am

bombadier29 wrote:

I wonder if the caf guys are starting to get nervous? Doc is considerably nicer of an airplane than fifi is, inside and out. If the confederates had taken doc when they had the chance then they'd still be the only show in town for the forseeable future.

Why would we get nervous? We've helped "Doc" with parts in the past. It's not about "We have the only B-29", it's about educating the masses and having fun doing it. There's a bunch of B-17s out on tour that support each other, why would you think it would be different with the CAF and Doc? I would love to see two B-29s flying in formation.

In regards to the engines we recommended that they modify the engines as we did. The engines FIFI has now have been virtually trouble free.

A B-50 is not a modified B-29, it's about 80% different. Do you really think that R-4360s are trouble free?

I hope they get the web site up and running too, I've enjoyed it in the past.

JohnB · **Posted:** Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:32 am

Wildchild wrote:

Were the engines in the Early B-50's more reliable? Doc could be converted into a B-50 simply due to the engines.

Not quite that simple, the B-50 was made out of 75ST vs 24ST, then of course the traller tail, different systems. etc, etc.
Still, you're point's well taken, I wonder if there are still some C-97 engines in the can somewhere?

Warbird Information Exchange

Doc Sold?

Who is online