FiFi press release

Steve

Steve

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JOINT NEWS RELEASE

COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS
Midland, TX

CAVANAUGH FLIGHT MUSEUM
Addison, TX

CONTACT: Autumn Esparza
Director of Membership and Public Relations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jim Cavanaugh to Sponsor CAF B-29 Bomber - FIFI

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum ("CFM") and the Commemorative Air Force ("CAF") announced today a Cooperative Agreement that will put the world's only airworthy B-29 back in the air. Jim Cavanaugh has pledged $1.2 million sponsorship for the re-engine project of FIFI, the CAF's world famous B-29.

"This sponsorship, together with additional donations from CAF members, should go a long way towards completing the project of putting FIFI back in the air again," said Stephan Brown, President/CEO of the CAF. "Fundraising for FIFI by the CAF will continue, as we still have other restoration maintenance to perform, but Jim Cavanaugh's generosity will get us a long way down that track," Brown continued.

Cavanaugh is the main financial support for the CFM and has been a long time benefactor of warbird projects and the CAF.

"The B-29 played such a significant role in history that it is important that this airplane be preserved. Because of my close relationship with the CAF, I felt the need to get FIFI flying again," said Cavanaugh.

Additionally, the B-29/B-24 Squadron Staff of the CAF, which has been assigned with the responsibility of operating the B-29 and the B-24A, voted unanimously to base these two airplanes at the CFM. According to Lyn Fite, CAF B-29/B-24 Squadron Leader, "Up to now, these aircraft were based out of Midland, but this unit move will be beneficial to the Squadron in many ways," said Fite. "We will reside in Addison Texas , at the CFM, for six months, while we perform annual maintenance and we will tour on behalf of the CAF, by our crews, for the other six months."

Steve Sheridan Director of Maintenance of CFM exclaimed, "We have the facilities and resources to assist the volunteers of the B-29/B24 and look forward to helping in any way we can."

According to Doug Jeanes, Director of the CFM, visitors of the museum will be able to view this spectacular aircraft during its annual maintenance, at no additional cost.

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to promoting aviation studies and to perpetuating America's aviation heritage; the museum fulfills its mission by restoring, operating, maintaining, and displaying historically-significant, vintage aircraft, and by collecting materials related to the history of aviation.

The Commemorative Air Force is a nonprofit aviation association dedicated to Honoring American Military Aviation, through Flight, Exhibition, and Remembrance. The CAF has more than 8000 members within 75 units worldwide, flying and restoring 171 vintage Warbirds.

For more information of the Commemorative Air Force or the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, go to www.commemorativeairforce.org or www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com.
 
You mean to tell me, these planes are gonna be based about 11 yards from my Bonanza? Darn, what a shame...

...Tommy is going to be JAZZED!
 
spike maybe you could trade them for rides!
 
just need to build me an airworthy CG-4A replica and get a C-47 towplane. Sell rides for 50 bucks a person in the glider or 100 in the towplane :D
 
GREAT NEWS Steve! I toured the cockpit on FiFi. It's fascinating.
 
Many years ago FiFi made a stopover at Hawkins Field in Jackson, MS. I didn't know about it until the evening before the morning they were to leave. I drove up early the next day and made my way to look at the plane just as the flight crew was arriving. While they were starting their pre-flight the left seater saw me approaching and after a few pleasantries invited me to climb up the access ladder. He told me I could sit in the cockpit while they secured their baggage and did the walkaround. I was only in there about 10 minutes but I'll never forget the feeling of looking out all that plexiglas in the nose thinking about what it must have been like at 30,000'.

mikea said:
GREAT NEWS Steve! I toured the cockpit on FiFi. It's fascinating.
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
Many years ago FiFi made a stopover at Hawkins Field in Jackson, MS. I didn't know about it until the evening before the morning they were to leave. I drove up early the next day and made my way to look at the plane just as the flight crew was arriving. While they were starting their pre-flight the left seater saw me approaching and after a few pleasantries invited me to climb up the access ladder. He told me I could sit in the cockpit while they secured their baggage and did the walkaround. I was only in there about 10 minutes but I'll never forget the feeling of looking out all that plexiglas in the nose thinking about what it must have been like at 30,000'.
Click to expand...

Yep. I thought it was pretty roomy, but they would have what, 5 guys up front?

You see that tunnel between the cockpit and the the tail over the bombay? It has a pressure door at each end. They said the crew didn't like to go there during flight because if one end got depressurrized you would shoot through like out of a cannon. The B-29 tail gunner vet I talked to said they were never told that.

I still want to know how they got into the bomb bay. There has to be a double door airlock. (The atom bomb crews had to go to the bomb to arm it.)
 
There's a hatch on the aft bulkhead of the cockpit just below the tunnel to access the bomb bay. Yeager would have used this for the X-1 as well. The B-29 interior would require depressurization to open it at altitude.

rad4.jpg


The tunnel is just above the "Use Ladder" signage.

I did take a peek at the tunnel, but I didn't go through it to the tail position. According to the link below there were no hatches on either end of the tunnel, but there was a safety belt to keep someone who might be in the tunnel at the time from being propelled thru it should there be a catastrophic loss of pressure in either the cockpit or the aft section.

http://s110605900.websitehome.co.uk/b-29/b29main.htm

I don't know if FiFi is/was flown pressurized by the CAF.


mikea said:
Yep. I thought it was pretty roomy, but they would have what, 5 guys up front?

You see that tunnel between the cockpit and the the tail over the bombay? It has a pressure door at each end. They said the crew didn't like to go there during flight because if one end got depressurrized you would shoot through like out of a cannon. The B-29 tail gunner vet I talked to said they were never told that.

I still want to know how they got into the bomb bay. There has to be a double door airlock. (The atom bomb crews had to go to the bomb to arm it.)
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
There's a hatch on the aft bulkhead of the cockpit just below the tunnel to access the bomb bay. Yeager would have used this for the X-1 as well. The B-29 interior would require depressurization to open it at altitude.


The tunnel is just above the "Use Ladder" signage.

I did take a peek at the tunnel, but I didn't go through it to the tail position. According to the link below there were no hatches on either end of the tunnel, but there was a safety belt to keep someone who might be in the tunnel at the time from being propelled thru it should there be a catastrophic loss of pressure in either the cockpit or the aft section.

I don't know if FiFi is/was flown pressurized by the CAF.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Steve! Makes sense. I think I imagined the doors on the tunnel by confusing it with the hatch to the LEM on Apollo (as in 13).

One thing I did see on FiFi is they carried a 55 gallon drum of oil in the bomb bay. :hairraise: ... or about enough for a 3-4 hour flight. :rolleyes:
 
mikea said:
One thing I did see on FiFi is they carried a 55 gallon drum of oil in the bomb bay. :hairraise: ... or about enough for a 3-4 hour flight. :rolleyes:
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So it burns less than 20gph! Not bad at all, if it were avgas! :rofl:
 
This is great news, and not too terribly far from me. I might have to stop by and see it when I'm up in the D/FW area next month. I went through the Cavanaugh Museum one time (dragging my girlfriend, her best friend, and her best friend's husband with me) and thought it was a great place! I recommend it to anyone who is in the area, followed by a stop by the Flying Saucer, which is just a couple of blocks from the airport.
 
mikea said:
Yep. I thought it was pretty roomy, but they would have what, 5 guys up front?

You see that tunnel between the cockpit and the the tail over the bombay? It has a pressure door at each end. They said the crew didn't like to go there during flight because if one end got depressurrized you would shoot through like out of a cannon. The B-29 tail gunner vet I talked to said they were never told that.

I still want to know how they got into the bomb bay. There has to be a double door airlock. (The atom bomb crews had to go to the bomb to arm it.)
Click to expand...

I think there were 5 up front. The pilot, copilot, flight engineer, bombadeer, and navigator.

Accessing the bomb bay required depressurizing the airplane. My dad had to go in their while airborne once in an attempt to clear some mud out of the fuel lines which were routed through there. I've been inside Fifi including the cockpit and the bomb bay. The view from the pilot's seat is very obstructed by the multiple frames on the large windshield and I suspect that the view is rather disorienting when landing the airplane. The bomb bay is definitely a place I'd rather not occupy during flight. I don't recall any doors on the tunnel but I can imagine that there would be quite a breeze in there if the center compartment or the cockpit depressurized quickly.

BTW the tailgunner's station couldn't be accessed from the other pressurized areas when the pressurization was on as there was an unpressurized area ahead of the tail.

Somewhere I've got a B29 "POH" but I think it's over in Michigan.
 
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lancefisher said:
...

BTW the tailgunner's station couldn't be accessed from the other pressurized areas when the pressurization was on as there was an unpressurized area ahead of the tail.

Somewhere I've got a B29 "POH" but I think it's over in Michigan.
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Correction: the guy I knew was a photographer/gunner on a reconnaissance crew out of Guam. I think his position was at the window on the (left?) side of the tail where he had the sight and electric remote controls for the belly and top(?) guns.
 
t0r0nad0 said:
This is great news, and not too terribly far from me. I might have to stop by and see it when I'm up in the D/FW area next month. I went through the Cavanaugh Museum one time (dragging my girlfriend, her best friend, and her best friend's husband with me) and thought it was a great place! I recommend it to anyone who is in the area, followed by a stop by the Flying Saucer, which is just a couple of blocks from the airport.
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PJ, it will likely be a while before it's here; they still need to repair engines to make her flyable, and there is no room for a B29 down Taxiway Uniform! Look for the airport to designate space on the southeast section of the field.
 
mikea said:
Correction: the guy I knew was a photographer/gunner on a reconnaissance crew out of Guam. I think his position was at the window on the (left?) side of the tail where he had the sight and electric remote controls for the belly and top(?) guns.
Click to expand...



5th guy from the right, no hat, black hair. He must have been the youngest crew member, fresh from the streets of Brooklyn.
 
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Goodbye, Fifi. Sniff. I guess if you guys are going to buy all new engines, you can have her for a while.
 
I'm sooooo glad to hear they mangaged to pull it off. I thought this last engine ordeal might have sealed her doom. Figured she'd end up on static display. Glad she'll grace the skys again.
 
What is involved in acquiring 4 new engines for this airplane?
Those are not something you can call a supplier and order; are the original specs and tools available? Does it all have to be machined from scratch?
 
Dave, this is some info from the crew chief on FiFi that he posted a couple of years ago after the CAF cancelled their appearance at OSH:

Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 2:19 PM
Subject: FIFI engine program explained...

Thank you for your input regarding the B-29 re-engine program. We have certainly looked at many different options that we could go with this.

The reason we chose the -95W engines are because we have them. In fact, we already have nine of them. They are a late (1965 or so) manufactured engine that went on AC-119K Gunships (attack version of the Boxcar). These are turbo-compound engines that are very similar to the DC-7 engine and were rated at 3, 500 horsepower. We obviously cannot use the turbo compound portion of these engines, as they simply would not fit in the B-29 cowlings & nacelles.

This is where the -26WD engine comes in. As you mentioned, this is a Skyraider engine. This particular dash number was manufactured from the early 1960's until the early to mid 1970's (depending on what information you read). These were EXCELLENT engines, just ask any Skyraider pilot or Sea Fury racer at Reno. The reason we need them is because the power section, blower section, and accessory section will simply bolt right up to our existing B-29 engine mounts. This will save us tremendous amounts of time since we won't have to design, test, and manufacture new engine mounts.

We plan on using the "guts, " cylinders, and nosecase of the -95W in the "block" of the -26WD so that we can fabricate a strong and reliable engine with the least amount of work and money. We have no intention of trying to use the full 3500 horsepower of the -95W engine, as the B-29 airframe simply was not designed to take that kind of power. In addition, we intend on using the stock B-29 propellers, so we could not turn this "new" engine of ours up high enough to get that horsepower anyway.

Our estimates show the following:
Takeoff setting: 2, 400 rpm and 44" of manifold pressure (roughly 2, 400 h.p.)
Cruise setting: 2, 000 rpm and 30" of manifold pressure. This is the same power setting that we use now and the same setting that this engine recommends for cruise flight. This should allow for the engines to be operated in a "normal" capacity, while still allowing more horsepower across the board. This is obviously an important figure when figuring the safety of flight if we were to lose an engine.

Since our takeoff power is merely the normal METO power of the -95W engine, we could (in theory) fly at that power setting for sustained periods of time. Again, not a bad thing to have if we were not flying on all four engines...plenty of "reserve power."

I could go on and on about this engine combination and if you'd like some more info on it, I'd be happy to get into more detail. As always, we very much appreciate any input you or any of our Squadron members or Warbird buffs might have. We have not thought of everything, but I can assure you, we have been thinking of everything we can.

Regards,
Gary Austin
Crew Chief, B-29/B-24 Squadron
Commemorative Air Force




Let'sgoflying! said:
What is involved in acquiring 4 new engines for this airplane?
Those are not something you can call a supplier and order; are the original specs and tools available? Does it all have to be machined from scratch?
Click to expand...
 
SCCutler said:
PJ, it will likely be a while before it's here; they still need to repair engines to make her flyable, and there is no room for a B29 down Taxiway Uniform! Look for the airport to designate space on the southeast section of the field.
Click to expand...

True, I guess I'll just have to "settle" for a look at your Bo instead. ;)
 
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