What’s Up …

Of the staggering 3,970 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses built between 1943 and 1946, only two remain airworthy in 2023: Doc and FIFI.

Doc’s Friends, Inc, the Wichita, Kansas-based non-profit organization by which Doc is owned, maintained, and operated, announced the storied aircraft would make a 19 July stop at Mason City, Iowa’s Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW) as part of the B-29 Doc History Restored Tour.

MCW airport manager David Sims stated: “The Mason City Municipal Airport is very happy to bring a piece of history to North Iowa for people to experience. We welcome everyone to the airport this July to see Doc and get an inside look at this historic aircraft.”

B-29 Doc executive director Josh Wells added: “We are excited to return to Mason City and Clear Lake to share the experience of getting up close and personal with a B-29 Superfortress. Our mission is to honor the legacy and share the stories of the Greatest Generation while inspiring the next generation of aviators. The B-29 Doc History Restored Tour provides a unique opportunity for people to see and climb inside a World War II bomber and learn about the heroes who served to protect our freedom at home and abroad.”

Doc will arrive at Mason City Municipal Airport Wednesday, 19 July and be available for ground and cockpit tours Thursday, 20 July from 10:00 to 15:00 CDT, followed by ride flights at 17:00 and 18:00 CDT. Ground and cockpit tours will also be available Friday, 21 July from 10:00 to 16:00 CDT and Saturday and Sunday, 22 and 23 July from 12:30 to 15:00 CDT following morning ride flights.

A noble joint endeavor undertaken yearly for purpose of affording aviation enthusiasts opportunity to view and even purchase rides aboard the superbly-restored, historically-significant machine, the B-29 Doc History Restored Tour and B-29 Doc Flight Experience begins in early April and thunders on until late October. The annual tour/mission, which includes ground and flight deck tours, sees Doc amass an average of one-hundred-hours of flight-time.

The B-29 Doc Flight Experience spans approximately ninety-minutes and includes a thirty-minute ride. Prior to takeoff, passengers receive crew briefings and learn about the history of the B-29 and the pivotal role the aircraft played in U.S. history and the Allied victories of the Second World War.

Built in 1944 as part of a production run of 1620 aircraft constructed at Boeing’s Wichita, Kansas facility and allocated the military Serial Number 44-69972, the aircraft known today as Doc was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces in March 1945. The aircraft did not see combat and, in 1951, was converted to a radar calibration aircraft and based at New York’s Griffiss Air Force Base.

Squadron members at Griffis engaged in the endearing if not peculiar practice of naming their B-29s after characters in Disney’s 1937 milestone film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In keeping with the convention, 44-69972 was ascribed the sobriquet Doc—the bespectacled leader of Snow White’s gem-mining entourage.

In 1955, Doc, modified as a TB-29, was moved to Yuma County Airport in Arizona and pressed into service as a target-towing tug. One year later, the aircraft was retired from United States Air Force service and sent to south-central California’s Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake for use as a ballistic missile target.

Doc’s airframe was acquired by the United States Aviation Museum of Cleveland, Ohio, for restoration to flight status. After extensive restoration work at the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas—the selfsame facility in which Doc was assembled—the aircraft was moved in March 2007 to the Kansas Aviation Museum. In February 2013, the venerable bomber—that never dropped a bomb—was acquired by the Doc's Friends, Inc.

FMI: www.b29doc.com/rides