B-29 "DOC" Restoration Project

 

Dick Ziegler

Dick Ziegler, DOC and Tony Mazzolini

Inch by inch, and foot by foot, DOC comes back to life By Dick Ziegler Originally published in the United States Aviation Museum Issue #2, June 2003 I was in DOC's hangar the other day guiding a tour of World War II vets and their guests through the last two and half years of progress on the old warbird.  There were, among this group, several individuals who, as much younger men, had flown the B-29 as crewmembers in the last "great war." As I began my pitch I could see that most of the ladies were paying attention to me but the men -- well, let's just say that the men were paying attention to another time and a different place.  They really wanted to be polite and attentive, but the B-29 in front of them was talking to them in a language that only airmen and other warriors can understand. It was leading them back to another day and time when their younger selves had eagle eyes and sharp reflexes, and the smells of 100 octane low lead, cigarette smoke, and the chow hall were as familiar as a wife or sweetheart's favorite perfume.  They were remembering missions planned and missions flown and the staccato sound of the rivet guns in the hangar were giving way to that special whine and smoky cough of a reciprocating engine "lighting up." They remember like yesterday the munitions they busted their rear ends to upload and the munitions they dropped in hopes of ending the war sooner.  They remembered the joy of making it back from the mission and their last memories of those who did not.  And suddenly, all that our team has accomplished over the past months had a renewed meaning and a sense of importance. We're doing this for them -- as a tribute.  We're doing this for their children and their children's children, that they might understand the ingenuity and the hard won successes of past generations and learn life's really hard lessons about sacrifice and conflict.  Suddenly the need to get this airplane into the air came into very sharp focus. I will be the very first in line to heap praise on our Restoration Project volunteers and those here at Boeing Wichita who support us.  It is my honor to lead the very finest volunteer force and the greatest support network that ever resurrected a flying machine.  They have taken what, for all the world, was a corroding hulk on the Mojave Desert, and they have created a budding masterpiece of aerodynamic reconstruction. The final parts have been moved from the Experimental Flight Hangar to the Northwest Hangar, otherwise known as the Bunny Wash.  We have prejoined the front end of the airplane, Section 41, to the next sections in line where the bomb bays are. The fit is great.  We have some minor repairs to do before we permanently join those two sections, but it will happen very soon.  The aft end of the airplane has been painted and will be joined to the airplane as soon as some last minute repairs are made.  The wing repairs are happening slowly but very surely, as are those to the horizontal stabilizer. The really big problem remains our engines.  They're in Seattle, actually Everett, Wash., awaiting further injections of money that is very slow in coming.  We must raise about $500,000 to equip this airplane with zero-time engines.  The engine repair facility is ready and really wants to begin the restoration efforts, but restoring these huge reciprocating engines is not inexpensive. < Previous   First Page    Last Page    Next >