Official B-29 Doc Restoration Thread

[earnie]

Can we make this a permanent thread please...!!!

I agree mods please make this a sticky

[walkerarmyairfield]

ryguy135,
I attended a ham radio convention meeting at Salina, Ks last august and one of the forum speakers was a radio engineer from Collins Radio Company. He told the story of restoring the Collins ART-13 radio transmitter for FiFi.
Seems that this was one of the best radio transmitters ever manufactured.

Rod and some other engineers restored to mint condition a Collins ART-13 and took it to the Dallas area and the local ham radio club installed in on FiFi. Fifi does have 40 meter (7mhz) communications capability to communicate when going cross country.

An intersting fact that Rod told at the meeting was the Enola Gay had two ART-13s on board. One would transmit a continous tone when the bomb was dropped in case the radio operator was unable to transmit the drop time on the other ART-13.

Drop me a pm email and will give you the contact info for this radio restorer as he might be able to help you folks find another ART-13 and some of the original type command set radios for "Doc"
Phillip

[ryguy135]

Hey I've gotten a couple PM's requesting info for magazine articles and offering to help with radio gear. I am not the guy to go to with that as I am not project manager. I am just a volunteer who thought I'd provide updates and answer questions as best as I can. Your best bet for these types of contact is to go to the Doc's Friend's website and contact us there. We appreciate any help we can get and I know the old retired gals running our publicity love hearing from you. Also, send requests for t-shirts, hats, and other merchandise there. If enough requests come in they'll find a way to set up shop. We'll have a booth at Oshkosh (though I won't be able to make it) and are stocking up on merchandise for it.

http://b-29doc.com/contact.php

Last edited by ryguy135 on Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Will there be any impact one way or the other with the pending sale of all the Boeing hangars, etc.?

http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/12/288434 ... -line.html

[ryguy135]

Good news is we're guaranteed our hangar until the end of 2014. After that you'll just have to wait and see what happens

[earnie]

Good news is we're guaranteed our hangar until the end of 2014. After that you'll just have to wait and see what happens

come on I am in need of my doc fix I wanna see pics and updates

[cooper9411]

Good news is we're guaranteed our hangar until the end of 2014. After that you'll just have to wait and see what happens

Warbird Tease!

[APG85]

Can we make this a permanent thread please...!!!

I agree mods please make this a sticky

Make this a STICKY please...!!!!

[ryguy135]

Now that the wings are on our focus is turning to running the control cables and installing wiring. The tail control surfaces aren't on yet, but that's our next goal. In running the control cables though some concerns have been raised about the center fuselage. It was supposedly completed several years ago, but some fasteners look to be incorrect an we have some open holes that shouldn't be. I'm going up to Omaha next weekend to take a look at the SAC's B-29 to try to get some answers/pictures, and the lead on that section is supposed to be in next week to also give us some answers. We have a complete set of drawings, but often a few good pictures is worth several drawings.

Regarding the engines, work is being done on the #1 nacelle. I haven't been involved in that though so I don't have much information on it. Talking to those guys though things are looking pretty good.

Last edited by ryguy135 on Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jeremy S]

Thank you for the updates. I'm really glad to see this project making progress again.

[earnie]

Sorry I still haven't put of pictures of the wings. Part of the problem is my wife didn't get any good pictures, and the other part is I don't have a Flikr account (yet). There's one that was put up on the facebook page. I'll get some good ones Monday or Tuesday (sorry! I really will do it-wife and daughter are gone all next week! ).

Now that the wings are on our focus is turning to running the control cables and installing wiring. The tail control surfaces aren't on yet, but that's our next goal. In running the control cables though some concerns have been raised about the center fuselage. It was supposedly completed several years ago, but some fasteners look to be incorrect an we have some open holes that shouldn't be. I'm going up to Omaha next weekend to take a look at the SAC's B-29 to try to get some answers/pictures, and the lead on that section is supposed to be in next week to also give us some answers. We have a complete set of drawings, but often a few good pictures is worth several drawings.

Regarding the engines, work is being done on the #1 nacelle. I haven't been involved in that though so I don't have much information on it. Talking to those guys though things are looking pretty good.

Now really, next post I promise to have pictures!!!

I am looking fwd to updates

[ryguy135]

double post

Last edited by ryguy135 on Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Looks Beautiful! Thanks for posting the photos.

[earnie]

thank you sir

[B-29 Super Fort]

The progress looks great, thanks for the photos.