Restorers Have Raised $52,000 Towards $137,500 Goal

"Doc's Friends", the group which has painstakingly restored the B-29 bomber "Doc" to airworthy condition, is making progress with their Kickstarter campaign to fund a flight test program ... but time is growing short and there is still a considerable amount to be pledged.

Doc's Friends set an initial goal of $137,500 to be able to offset some of the costs of the flight test program that would eventually lead to an airworthiness certificate. As of Wednesday, 528 backers had pledged $52,568 with 15 days remaining in the campaign.

If Doc's Friends do not reach their $137,500 goal, none of the money pledged will be disbursed to the effort.

The effort has been endorsed by Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell and former SR-71 pilot Buz Carpenter.

For those of you who have not been following this story, after spending 42 years deteriorating in the western Mojave Desert at the U.S. Naval Weapons Testing Center, B-29 Doc was rescued in 1998 by Tony Mazzolini and a group of volunteers. Despite initial roadblocks, Mazzolini’s passion and persistence are now paying off and will soon culminate in the form of a flying tribute to the Greatest Generation.

When it returns to the air, Doc will be the second, and likely last, airworthy B-29.

(Image from Doc's Friends YouTube video posted to Kickstarter)

FMI: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1344227353/make-history-fly-send-b-29-doc-through-flight-test