B-29 42-24791 "Big Time Operator" - New Home and inside!

Project Warbird · **Posted:** Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:36 am

Van,

Great job first of all. I will look through all my parts and see if I have any B-29 parts. I did see this on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Boeing-B-29-Sup ... 1199240933

Quest Master · **Joined:** Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:42 pm **Posts:** 387

Eric,
Please do let me know if you have any B-29 parts. :drink3:

And thank you for the praise.
As for the nose glass section on ebay, it is the most common section. Jay Wisler found a stack of these NOS glass sections a bunch of years ago, but only the single glass panel for the lower left of the greenhouse. That piece will not fit anywhere else. I have several of them NOS as "spares". Not pictured in any of the photos of my B-29, is the glass.
I have brand new glass for the B-29 cockpit already, but not the greenhouse.

TAdan · **Posted:** Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:56 pm

Glad to see the restoration is progressing. The seats really help bring the cockpit together.

I am looking forward to hearing more about your findings with the "Lady of the Lake."

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:58 am

APG85 wrote:

A wartime picture on this website:

http://www.mrprophead.com/b29nose.htm

That link is broken, but archive.org saved the image:

Quest Master · **Joined:** Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:42 pm **Posts:** 387

I have have found quite a few original wartime pictures, some are full color, of "The Big Time Operator" and have posted them to my Facebook fan page for Quest Masters Museum:
www.facebook.com/QuestMastersMuseum
and look under the photo album titled: Boeing B-29 "Super Fortress" The Big Time Operator

Quest Master · **Joined:** Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:42 pm **Posts:** 387

TAdan wrote:

Glad to see the restoration is progressing. The seats really help bring the cockpit together.

I am looking forward to hearing more about your findings with the "Lady of the Lake."

Thanks! The BTO cockpit is really coming together and the seats really fill up the space nicely. :drink3:

As for The Lady in the Lake, the next dive is planned for August 1st. The initial dives revealed that the port wing is completely detached from the aircraft and she is completely resting on the lake bottom on her belly. The starboard landing gear is lowered and resting on the lake bottom.

Quest Master · **Joined:** Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:42 pm **Posts:** 387

History update for the B-29 "The Big Time Operator". We were recently contacted by a family member of the crew of the BTO: "Maurice Edward Bettinger was the bombardier on the BTO for much of its initial missions. The Pilot was Sheinfield, Pulsfort was co-pilot and Bloomfield was navigator during his missions. I believe he was part of the original crew when the plane entered action. Maurice (The Bombardier) claimed credit for the two Japanese flags on the nose, signifying shooting down two enemy planes." What a great detail of this aircraft's history!

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B-29 42-24791 "Big Time Operator" - New Home and inside!

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