The 2019 Flying Season Tallied Nearly 100 Flight Hours

The 2020 flying season has come to a close for B-29 Doc and that means the team is now in winter maintenance mode.

While 2020 wasn’t what they planned for regarding tour stops and airshow appearances, their mission was still a success thanks to the hard work and dedication of so many volunteers, and those who joined them for a ride flight, or abbreviated tour stop.

Those tour stops included these cities in nine states: Oklahoma City, Omaha, Branson, Fayetteville, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia, Terre Haute, Great Bend and of course, Wichita. In all, Doc traveled more than 3,200 nautical miles over some 53 flight hours.

Here’s a map of what the 2020 season looked like for Doc:

By comparison, the 2019 flying season tallied nearly 100 flight hours.

Now, the process of getting Doc ready for the 2021 flight season begins as the B-29 Doc maintenance team enters the scheduled winter maintenance period. The nearly five-month-long period will include annual inspections, routine engine maintenance and other scheduled maintenance items to ensure Doc remains airworthy and ready for 2021 flight operations.

Doc officially entered winter maintenance following a Veterans Day flyover in Wichita, KS.

Doc is a B-29 Superfortress and one of 1,644 manufactured in Wichita during World War II. Doc was found in 1987 sitting and rotting away in the Mojave Desert. Since then the historic warbird has been restored to flying status, serving as a flying museum. For nearly two decades, hundreds of volunteers worked on Doc and the restoration project. Skilled workers and retirees from Wichita’s aviation industry, veterans, active duty military and others wanting to honor those who served, spent tens of thousands of hours on Doc’s restoration. Countless individuals and organizations also made financial and in-kind contributions to keep the project going.

FMI: www.b29doc.com