According to www.warbirdalley.com ,,The Texas-based Cavanaugh Flight Museum has announced that it will sponsor the Commemorative Air Force's Boeing B-29 Superfortress named "Fifi." The $1.2 million sponsorship will make it possible for the famous aircraft to receive new engines and remain airworthy. It will be great to see her back in the air.
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Hey tex Fan
Who or where is the "other" b29 that is the rebuild process.... do they have a web site also
Bmarsh -
Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Mr. Marsh
'Doc' is in Wichita, KS. They have everything to put her back in the sky, except, money! They need to rebuild the power plants. The cool thing is,
some of the guys working on her BUILT them back in the 40's! She'll definitely be a national treasure!
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Did FIFI get the ok for the new engine mod thay were going to make her more reliable ???Comment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
What's the engine mod? I love seeing new ideas applied to old stuff to ensure the old stuff is around forever.Comment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Gary Austin, who frequents the forum here, can answer all of your questions. Here is a whole thread devoted to this groundbreaking news with many of the answers to the previous questions:
Now if only "Doc", the Kansas B-29, could only receive money. For those of you that aren't familiar, this B-29 was lovingly restored to near complete condition, sans engines, only to be "kicked" out of Boeing's hangar in Wichita. That B-29 is now outside, with no cover, and all of it's restored parts in the elements - rain, sleet, or snow. It's just my opinion, but unless a HUGE major sponsor comes along, I predict that "Doc" will never get completed and just have to be re-restored due to it's exposure to the elements.Comment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
I thought the MODS to FIFI's engines were going to be newer cases with all the later desin inprovments,later R3350's made more hp and had most the bugs figgered out,I thought thay were going to build them to the HP needed for what FIFI needed and the newer cores could handle more HP than needed giving a big boost and life quelling some engine woowsComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
That's what they are hoping to acomplish. They will be a hybrid of two or three different dash number 3350s. Mostly based on the rugged dash model from the skyraider.Originally posted by h34raceComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Originally posted by N22252
In a nutshell- using as much of the late production post-war 3350 as possible and adapting it to use in the B-29. The "early" 3350s that the B-29 originally used have almost nothing in common with the post-war versions and have always been a reliability nightmare. I don't remember exactly how the parts were going to mix and match, but the power section was pretty much going to be the Skyraider version, much like the ones that are commonly retrofitted into Sea Furys.Comment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Sorry for the late response here y'all. But what's been said so far is essentially correct. The new engines will be a combination of two of the latest (and most reliable) 3350's. The engines will have (basic description here) the power section, blower section, and accessory section from the 26WD (Skyraider engine), and have the rotating assembly, nosecase, and cylinders from the -95W (from an AC-119 Gunship). This engine will essentially be a Rare Bear "Light" engine. It is built for 3,500 horsepower, but we will only run it at around the 2,400 horsepower range. That will give us 200 hp more per engine, which the airframe should absorb with no problem, but also gives us the luxury of having available horsepower, should we need it in an emergency.
Anyway, I'm sure there'll be plenty of things we haven't thought of yet, but for over a year an a half, we've been working on this solution, so I'm confident that this is what will keep FIFI flying for years to come.
GaryComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Gary, wonderful that you are able to accomplish this engine solution. And also, I have heard that the the FAA is 'supportive' in the new engine configuration scheme. How will the engines be listed with the FAA? R3350-26WD/95W or such??!!
Good going anyway!,
VLComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Howdy Vlado,
Well, so far the FAA is VERY happy with our engine project. With it being in Experimental Category, we're really able to do whatever we wish (within reason), but to have them on board is excellent. I've gone over my plans with them and they didn't have a single negative comment to make about it, other than asking why this hadn't been done sooner.
I'm not certain exactly what we're going to designate the engines as, but they'll likely be called the R-3350-B29, since they'll be custom built just for this airplane.
GaryComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
I'll try and post some pics of "DOC" as it sat last August. I tried to post pics once before and the pics didn't go through.Originally posted by dvddude
I stopped there while on a bike trip in August of '07. The work that has been completed looks extremely nice! It would be a shame to see it deteriorate due to sitting out in the elements.Attached FilesComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Cool, it worked this time.............
and couple more.Attached FilesComment
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Re: FiFi gets a new sponsor
Looks like 'FiFi' and 'Doc" have competition!
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