I got to see FiFi today.

The CAF has an open house at the New Century Kansas airport this weekend.
FiFi, the only B-29 still flying is the main attraction. I work out at the airport and we got to watch her land on Thursday.

For a mere $1595, you can ride in the bombardiers position. $995 gets you a seat in the engineer or radio operators seat and $595 lets you ride in the waist gunners positions. I had to pass on that..... I've got another Garand build in progress and all my play money for the month is commited.

Anyhow, here are some pics from the show.

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...events/026.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/023-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/018-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/021-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/017-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/015-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/009-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ents/008-1.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...events/010.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...events/027.jpg

I gotta tell you, I would love to ride in the tail of that cat.

Their website says they don't have the rear position open for passengers at this time. But it would be cool as hell!

I was able to ride on one of the few B-17's still flying about 15 years ago at a airshow in Corning, NY. I was scary as all hell and fun as can be all at the same time. On that ride people were taking turns sitting in the different areas, the nose was by far the best. The cost then was about $400, but a client paid for it for us.

Ahhhhhh, the joys of unlimited disposable income! It would be cool as hell to ride in one, but for $1600 I can think of some other things I can enjoy for much longer than a plane ride.

Get me a seat in the Mustang and we can talk!!!

$1200 for 20 minutes in the Mustang. I'll pass on that too. :)
And...FiFi just flew over my house 5 minutes ago. I'm only 8 miles from the airport. Even inside with the TV on, we could hear her passing overhead. The dog didn't know what to make of the deep dronning sound of 4 big radial engines as she passed over us. I would love to have had my camera, but didn't have time to go get it before we went outside to watch. It would have made a cool picture of him barking at it as it went by.

I flew in a B-17 in upstate NY, I might be tempted to spend on a B-29. Afterall she is the most beautiful plane ever made.

Tnx for posting the pictures.
Bill

Ok, $1200 is still a bit steep! Hahahahaha

I sure would like to ride in one of those,but I'm pretty cheap.

How much to ride duck taped to the wing?

I did a ground tour through a B-17 once. after watching 12 o'clock High as a kid I thought those things were enormous. Wow was I surprised. It was pretty cramped especially going through the bombay.
I would like to do a walk through on a B-29 one day.

Which one was the one with the long tube over the bombay to get from one end to the other? Was that the B-29?

The B-29 and the B-36 both have a tunnel over the bomb bays. It connects the two presurized crew sections together. You crawl through the tube on a B-29, but the the B-36 was so big it had a little cart that you pulled along a track.
On the B-17 and B-24's, there is a very narrow catwalk that goes between the fore and aft parts of the plane. Both of those are unpressurized aircraft, so no fancy tunnel is needed.

B-29 cutaways:


http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway1.gif

http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway2.gif

http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway3.jpg

http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway4.gif

B-36 cutaway:

http://up-ship.com/blog/wp-content/u...-36cutaway.jpg

Thanks, Shriv

Great cutaways.

In the late 70's I was stationed with the USAF in Iceland. I got to watch a B-29 Fly in on it's way to England for a musem. Quite a sight to see and since it was going to be it's last flight maintenance was just enough to keep it going. When they landed large pans were put under the engines to catch the oil gushing out. Then they refilled them just before take off. Lot's of smoke coming from all engines on take off. Still it was a sight to see.

I'd spend the $600 for a ride on that bird! It sounds like a lot of money, but it goes to a good cause, and what is money for except for buying cool memories??? Seriously, these guys are doing with B-29's, B-17's, etc what we are doing with the M1's, only there job is a bit more complex, especiallly with the B-29.

Our own Tony Giacobbe is a Yankee Air Force member.