B-29 "Doc" First Flight Scheduled

Bomber_12th

Bomber_12th

SOH-CM-2025
It was just announced that the first test flight of the restored B-29 "Doc" is scheduled for Sunday, July 17th: http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restorations/flight-scheduled-b-29-doc.html


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Bomber_12th said:
Just a reminder, as of now the first flight is still on track for Sunday morning! http://www.warbirdsnews.com/aircraft-restoration/b-29-doc-remains-go-flight-sunday.html

Word from Oshkosh is that EAA and "Doc's Friends" are still holding out hope that it will be able to fly off all of the needed test flight hours in order to make it to Oshkosh after the end of next week to join 'FIFI' there.

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Hopefully the weather being called for here in Iowa won't affect them.
Would be awesome if they can make it. Looks like this year is going to be really great with all the rare aircraft scheduled to be there. Unfortunately, I can't make it this year. Bummer. :banghead::banghead:
 
The assembled flight crew (made up of some members from the CAF 'FIFI' group) did some more engine runs, taxi tests, and final inspections today.

To watch the first flight live, tomorrow (Sunday) morning, go here: http://www.b-29doc.com/firstflight/

(They expect to be wheels-up quite early, anywhere between 8:00-8:30 am (CDT), so plan on getting to the site/tuning-in as early as you can.)
 
Thanks for the link, watching it now. First flight attempt has failed due to the forward bomb bay doors not closing and fully locking.
 
A short, just around the pattern flight - according to "Doc's Friends", the original plan for the test flight was for it to last 30-minutes, wheels-up at 8:30 am CDT, and while I don't know for sure, I suspect that they only had a 30-minute window of time allotted to them by McConnell AFB to use the runway, and since they became well delayed, not taking off until just before 9:00 am, they had to make it a short one.
 
I also watched the flight... other than that bomb bay door glitch, everything seemed to go just fine. They couldn't have had a more beautiful morning to fly in, could they? That plane looked absolutely gorgeous in the morning sun...

-Mike Z.
 
Turns out it was a very optimistic idea on the part of EAA of "Doc" making it to Oshkosh this year - following the short test flight this past Sunday, the next test flight isn't scheduled until the week after Oshkosh (i.e., first week of August), mostly due to the fact that at this time its operation is dependent on having a flight crew made of pilots/FE from "FIFI", and those particular individuals will be tied-up with "FIFI" operations during the duration of Oshkosh-week.
 
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