WIX Archives
McConnell AFB
Posted by bdk on Fri Feb 14, 2003 01:58:26 PM
In reply top Re: B-29 ?Doc? gets new windows, new instruments posted by Lynn on Thu Feb 13, 2003 11:28:35 PM
Boeing Wichita mailing address (not the exact location of the aircraft hangar) is 3801 S. Oliver, Wichita, KS 67210. This is adjacent to the base.
If you show up, you won't get in, you'll need a Boeing security badge. I don't think that they give tours either. I think that all the volunteers are either current employees or Boeing retirees, thus meeting the security requirements.
: Which airport is the Wichita?s Northwest Hangar at?
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: Thanks
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: : B-29 ?Doc? gets new windows, new instruments
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: : Two major milestones were reached last week as volunteer
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: : continue the long and arduous task of rebuilding ?Doc,?
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: : B-29 Superfortress now being restored to flying status a
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: : Boeing Wichita?s Northwest Hangar.
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: : The first new window ?glass? for the airplane was placed
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: : n the engineer?s emergency hatch by Rick Bloom, director
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: : f engineering for Lee Aerospace. Bloom said the Wichita
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: : rm was replacing all 32 windows in the aircraft with a m
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: : h stronger, lighter and more durable window.
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: : ?The windows aren?t really glass, but stretched acrylic,
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: : he said. ?We will form, trim and bond each window.?
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: : Lee Aerospace is doing the work on a volunteer basis and
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: : lans to have all the windows in place and sealed by the
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: : d of the summer.
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: : Bloom said the next step is replacing the eight windows
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: : r the ?nose bowl.? Lee Aerospace has the brackets and th
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: : bowl itself and is hand-fitting the windows.
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: : Rick Otto of Otto Instruments in Ontario, Calif., is pro
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: : ding all the instrumentation for ?Doc.?
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: : ?A hobby and passion of mine always has been antiques an
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: : to restore airplanes,? Otto said. ?I?ve helped do the in
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: : ruments for several museum pieces, and I heard about Boe
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: : g?s effort to restore one of the B-29s.
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: : ?That?s how we got started, and I?ve just been trying to
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: : elp get the project off the ground ever since.?
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: : ?Doc? was built at Boeing Wichita?s Plant II in 1944 and
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: : pent 42 years sitting in the desert before being returne
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: : to Wichita for restoration.
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: : The Superfortress was one of a squadron of eight airplan
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: : named for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Through the
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: : rseverance of Tony Mazzolini, founder of the United Stat
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: : Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and the help of Boe
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: : g Wichita, its employees and numerous volunteers, the pr
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: : ect is moving slowly but markedly toward flying status.
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: : ?We are getting closer and closer to stages of final ass
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: : bly and then completion, and it?s gratifying to see the
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: : eps along the way,? Mazzolini said. ?The quality is supe
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: : , of course, and our volunteers want to roll this out lo
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: : ing like a brand new production model. They are doing a
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: : eat job of it.?
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