GAH! I saw that episode of NOVA where that happened. It really was a terrible thing. They just started the takeoff run over a frozen lake. Everything was running fine. The engines weren’t even the problem! Something caught fire back about midway between the tail and wing, and the fire spread enough for the tail to fall off.
What’s even worse is the fact that kunked out on a frozen lake. Come summer it got warm enough for the lake to thaw, and all the wreckage sunk to the bottom. Nothing left at all.
Great! I had that memory repressed until now, thank you very much! [}:)]
I hope they’re able to get that old girl flying again, even though I agree they SHOULD give her a bit of a break.
Well for those of you who don’t know about the B-29 Doc being restored to flying condition… http://b-29.boeing.com/ It should fly either late this fall or early spring if all goes as planned. [:)]
I talked to one of FiFi’s pilots, and as of this month she was close to returning to the sky. They were going to try to push to get to Thunder Over Michigan, but decided to take their time and go slow. Hopefully, she will be back for next year’s airshow season!
I was fortunate and honored to have worked on FIFI back in the early 90’s. Was an awesome feeling to be a small part of a great aircraft. The CAF in Midland, TX is a “must see” for all. grapeape
This dates me big time (hit the five-oh couple days ago), but I once got to ride in the right waist position of FiFi when I was working down there, when the CAF was still in Harlingen. I can’t say it was exciting, compared to, say, some kind of tactical jet, except just knowing I was in the only B-29 in the world that still could fly was nice.
Then she disappeared for a while, I knew not where. The planes at Rebel Field came and went all the time, spending summers one place, winters in Harlingen. But FiFi was permanently based at the home field in Harlingen. Well, when she came back, she’d been painted with black undersides, the “FiFi” logo was painted out and on the other side a stork carrying a baby was painted on. She’d been off starring in the film version of “The Right Stuff” as the mother ship for the X-1. I like that scheme better than the one she carries normally, especially since there was no such bird. But then, the CAF’s FiFi was a bunch of parts rescued from the target range at China Lake and made into one B-29, so there’s really no “accurate” scheme for that bird.
TOM
The cause of the fire was a leaking fuel line on the AUX electrical generator located in the aft fuselage. The fire started during engine start-up and the plane burnt up before it could start its take-off.
The APU was a two (?) cylinder engine in the tail that was notorious for causing fires during the service career of the B-29. The recovery team took prudent steps to minimize this by seperating the APU gas tank from the APU, suspending the tank from the stab (inside the fuselage) and connecting via flexible line. They started the main engines (now was a good time to shut off the no longer needed APU) and, because they didn’t have near the required book distance for takeoff, decided that they should do a high-speed taxi (to check systems and controls) to the other end of their cleared runway, turn around and takeoff into the wind. Greenemyer said on this downwind run the plane almost wanted to fly but he wouldn’t let it. During the turn around in the rough, uncleared ice to face the wind all the knocking about loosened the flexible fuel line to the needlessly still running APU . . .
A re-spar is a hell of a job and the RAF’s lanc would never have got one if it weren’t for stuff left over from the shackleton re-spar programme. But if it can be done, it should be. Grounded aircraft remind me of a butterfly with a huge pin stuck through it.
Actually, I was suprised that the spar lasted this long. Most of the 29’s that have come out of China Lake have had problems with spar corrosion. And they aren’t the only ones. There have been several A-26’s either lost or grounded because of corrosion in the spar which led to the spar cracking.