B-29 Thread:::::::::::::

[Dan4th]

I'll kick it off with this:



Of course, post-war, YOU guys flew B-29s which you
called "Washingtons".....

They were Nuclear, weren't they?

Gotta keep them Ruskies at Bay, right?

A difficult aircraft to fly properly, too.

Anyone remember seeing them fly over there??????????

Danf.

[Mayfly]

Thanks for taking the time to post that D4th, nice vid - good condition too..

[Xplumberlives]

Anyone remember seeing them fly over there??????????

Danf.

My late father told me about them!

[Sploosher]

great video Dan4th.................

[Gaz]

Always liked em'

Maybe even more than the B-17

[Readycrew]

That was a cool video!
With all the footage of B-29's I have seen I've never seen that one.
FiFi of the commemorative airforce is currently the only B-29 that still fly's.
There will be another soon. Someone in Wichita Kansas has one and is being assisted by Boeing to restore it.
Thanks again Dan4th that was good.

[Howslo]

Funnily enough, I was looking at the B29 at Duxford yesterday. And my brother mentioned a DVD he's got somewhere with some footage of them, which led me to a dig around You-tube.

Is the Duxford one the only one in the UK?

[Dan4th]

Yep, the Duxford example is the only one in
your country -- and I think the only one in Europe....

Here's a fairly recent one of Zee Lovely Fifi!

A nice vid except for the "music".......



She's looking very nice after her recent re-engining
and general sprucing-up!

I am hoping she'll make it over your way in the next
few years......

Danf.

[Sploosher]

Thats an excellent video,

as you say, why the music...............................

let the aircraft `speak` for itself.............

would be great if she came over here..................

[MOD]

Great find Danforth I don't know what was dubbed over the video but it certainly was not music

The only thing missing was an engine start-up... Fantastic noise and bags of smoke..

Thanks D4th and Readycrew for inspiring this topic.

[Dan4th]

Great find Danforth I don't know what was dubbed over the video but it certainly was not music

The only thing missing was an engine start-up... :( Fantastic noise and bags of smoke..

Thanks D4th and Readycrew for inspiring this topic.

Your Wish is My Command!!!!!!!!



The very first plastic model aircraft I ever built was
a B-29 from Revelle when I was about 5 years old....

A little help from my Father, and I certainly needed it,
but I remember there was a LOT of excess glue and VERY
mangled decals.....

Edited later, here's the best vid I have found so far......

Stick with it, the music and the videography get better.....



Danf.

[Xplumberlives]

Lovely, good work D4th!

[Kermit]

great videos, thanks for posting. shame about the music ! great aircraft, wow !

[Gaz]

Nice find, Danf!

[Dan4th]

I thought you might like to know that
this was the chase aircraft for the first
half of that last vid::::::::::::::::



We Murkins do NOT discriminate!

Cheers!

Dan4th

[Sooty655]

Great video's Dan4th
What type of aircraft is the chase plane?


Here is another one of Dad's pictures.
This B-29 was built at the Martin Aircraft Co Omaha Nebraska shortly after the the Enola Gay.
Enola Gay # 44-86292
Four A Breast # 44-86323

[Dan4th]

Larry::::::::::

That chase aircraft from the Commemorative
Aircraft Flight is a Hawker Sea Fury:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Fury

And that's a GREAT B-29 photo. Those were such crazy days,
they had to turn them out ASAP, but they still had to be A-1
in terms of quality.

I would LOVE to get a close-up of the nose art on that aircraft!
Even blowing it up, I can't quite see it......

Keep 'Em Coming!

Dan4th

EDIT::::::::::

Wait! That's "Four Abreast", isn't it??????????

That'll teach ME to pay attention!

D.

[Readycrew]

I was not familiar with the Haker Sea Fury.
The round front end of this aircraft makes it look like it would be a radial engine.
I looked up further detail on the engine to find the Rolls Griffon engine is a V design like the Merlin engine.
I am what most people in Kansas call a motor head. I love engines of just about any type and enjoy wrenching on them.
My favorite engines are radials but you cannot deny the greatness of legendary Rolls engines.
The Sea Fury has a very impressive performance record and they compared its performance to the F4U Corsair.
The Corsair has always been my personal favorite since I was a young boy.
I grew up watching the Black Sheep series when it was first aired in the mid 70's.
My first roll model was Pappy Boyington but later I learned the real Boyington was nothing like the man on TV.
Thanks again Dan4th

[Dan4th]

What I've read about the Sea Fury, a carrier
based fighter, is that the British Fleet Air Arm
wanted an aircraft which combined (some) of
the Grace of the Spitfire/Seafire with the power
and toughness of the Corsairs with which they had a
lot of experience.

You should know that the Royal Navy had lots of
success flying Corsairs off of carriers before the
USN and USMC did. It was a really tricky aircraft
to land properly on a moving platform!

It's sort of like the Sea Fury was a combination of
the best elements of all WWII fighters put together.
It came along so late in the war that there isn't
much of a combat record, but they DID serve in
Korea where they were good enuff to be (I think)
the only prop-driven aircraft to shoot down Migs!

Four Abreast might have had a Sea Fury ESCORT
at some point!

Ya never know!

Danf.

[MOD]

Is this the one Dan4th?



The red lines were put on to stop illicate copying as this image is for sale on an auction site. I can't see it now though.

ibw

EDIT
Dan4th I had no warnings but I have deleted the link. BTW is that the photo you were seeking. I see that this image has been sold anyway.

ibw

[Dan4th]

IBW:

When I clicked on that link, all the alarm
bells on my security software went ballistic!

All settled down now, though.....

D.

[Readycrew]

You are correct Dan4th the Sea Fury is the first propeller aircraft to shoot down a mig 15 on July 27, 1952.
The same info site also said that it is a 2 row radial engine. I do not remember Dad metioning this aircraft but he did say that that British pilots could and would fly anything.

[Mayfly]

for what it's worth I looked the link and had no warnings either...

[Dan4th]

I promised I'd tell the story about my Dad's Cousin
Richard, so here it is::::::::::

He and my Dad were the same age, and they were
both at the University of Maine at the same time.
My Dad graduated in the spring of 1942 and went
straight into the Army Air Corps. Richard was in
the middle of a 5-year engineering degree program,
so he waited until the summer of 1943 and got married
to Bev right before enlisting.

He was so good at where they sent him, Navigators'
School, that they made him an Instructor. Bev was
able to move out to the mid-west to be close-by, but
they couldn't live together. Later on, they switched
him over to B-29s from, I think, B-24s. Despite his
cushy circumstances, and his wife's fears, Richard
always wanted to get "out there" on some real combat
missions, and they finally sent him at some point.

Here's some additional background required for the
story: All through college, Richard had worked on road
crews for a contractor who was doing Concrete Roads
here in Maine. They had to work in all weathers and
conditions, and a "Bad Pour" that didn't set-up
properly had to be jack-hammered-up and poured
again. They got Very Good at adjusting the mix to
suit the circumstances. Concrete was an inexact
science in those days, and Richard used the hands-on
experience as the core of his engineering degree.
There was no such degree in those days, but in effect
that's what his was, and his dissertation was on the
calculation of stresses in structural concrete.....

Anyhow, out to the South Pacific goes Navigator
Captain Richard Danforth to some island -- can't
remember which one -- on a B-29. The island base
was still under construction and they landed on a temporary
runway parallel to the CONCRETE one under construction.

After arrival (quite a hairy landing) Richard took a
stroll over to talk with the guys working on the runway.
They are having the God-Awfullest time getting the
stuff to set-up properly given the climate, humidity,
etc. Half or more of their pours need to be jack-hammered
up and re-poured. The runway should have been completed
a month prior, and it was only half done.

Seeing the situation, Richard decided to pay a visit to the
Commanding Officer who was tearing his hair out due to the
delays in construction. Long story short, Cousin Richard was
immediately requisitioned to the construction team, promoted
to Major and Never Got to fly a combat mission. He DID,
however, get the runway built.......

Dan4th

[Mayfly]

and thus did 'his bit' in a different way to what he expected