Restoration Continuing, But Unexpected Delays Push Return To Flight

The group restoring an historic B-29 Superfortress dubbed "Doc" had hoped to fly the big warbird in December, the 70th anniversary of it rolling off the assembly line in 1944. But that flight has been pushed into the spring of 2015 as the inevitable problems cropped up as they will in a project that size.

The Wichita Eagle reports that, according to Jim Murphy, the project's program manager, installing the fuel system was the major hold-up ... and now it's the weather. Murphy said the fuel system is completely and correctly installed ... but now it's just too cold to take "Doc" outside.

Murphy told the paper that the temperature has to be above 50 degrees so that the oil in the engines will be warm enough to properly lubricate all the parts for taxi testing and flight. With no portable oil heaters available, and few days above 50 in Kansas in the wintertime, the plan now is to roll the airplane out in March, fuel it, and start the engines.

The group "Doc's Friends" still hopes to have the B-29 on display at AirVenture in 2015. It would be the first time in 60 years that two B-29s could fly in formation ... the other being the CAF's FIFI.

(Image from file)

FMI: http://b-29doc.com/