WIX Archives
Re: B-29 ?Doc? gets new windows, new instruments
Posted by boxcar on Tue Feb 11, 2003 10:50:40 AM
In reply top B-29 ?Doc? gets new windows, new instruments posted by bdk on Tue Feb 11, 2003 10:38:29 AM
Is Boeing rebuilding "Doc" to be pressurized?
: B-29 ?Doc? gets new windows, new instruments
:
: Two major milestones were reached last week as volunteers
: continue the long and arduous task of rebuilding ?Doc,? a
: B-29 Superfortress now being restored to flying status at
: Boeing Wichita?s Northwest Hangar.
:
: The first new window ?glass? for the airplane was placed i
: n the engineer?s emergency hatch by Rick Bloom, director o
: f engineering for Lee Aerospace. Bloom said the Wichita fi
: rm was replacing all 32 windows in the aircraft with a muc
: h stronger, lighter and more durable window.
:
: ?The windows aren?t really glass, but stretched acrylic,?
: he said. ?We will form, trim and bond each window.?
:
: Lee Aerospace is doing the work on a volunteer basis and p
: lans to have all the windows in place and sealed by the en
: d of the summer.
:
: Bloom said the next step is replacing the eight windows fo
: r the ?nose bowl.? Lee Aerospace has the brackets and the
: bowl itself and is hand-fitting the windows.
:
: Rick Otto of Otto Instruments in Ontario, Calif., is provi
: ding all the instrumentation for ?Doc.?
:
: ?A hobby and passion of mine always has been antiques and
: to restore airplanes,? Otto said. ?I?ve helped do the inst
: ruments for several museum pieces, and I heard about Boein
: g?s effort to restore one of the B-29s.
:
: ?That?s how we got started, and I?ve just been trying to h
: elp get the project off the ground ever since.?
:
: ?Doc? was built at Boeing Wichita?s Plant II in 1944 and s
: pent 42 years sitting in the desert before being returned
: to Wichita for restoration.
:
: The Superfortress was one of a squadron of eight airplanes
: named for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Through the pe
: rseverance of Tony Mazzolini, founder of the United States
: Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and the help of Boein
: g Wichita, its employees and numerous volunteers, the proj
: ect is moving slowly but markedly toward flying status.
:
: ?We are getting closer and closer to stages of final assem
: bly and then completion, and it?s gratifying to see the st
: eps along the way,? Mazzolini said. ?The quality is superb
: , of course, and our volunteers want to roll this out look
: ing like a brand new production model. They are doing a gr
: eat job of it.?
: