B-29 "Doc" First Flight Scheduled

[Bomber_12th]

It was just announced that the first test flight of the restored B-29 "Doc" is scheduled for Sunday, July 17th: http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restorations/flight-scheduled-b-29-doc.html


https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/583/21647855108_f2d28fa54f_b.jpg

[stansdds]

:applause: :applause: :applause: Great news!

[Taco]

:applause:Yep, great news.

[modelr]

Wish I could be there. I'm sure there will be lots of videos to see. :applause:

[Bomber_12th]

Just a reminder, as of now the first flight is still on track for Sunday morning! http://www.warbirdsnews.com/aircraft-restoration/b-29-doc-remains-go-flight-sunday.html

Word from Oshkosh is that EAA and "Doc's Friends" are still holding out hope that it will be able to fly off all of the needed test flight hours in order to make it to Oshkosh after the end of next week to join 'FIFI' there.

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2016-05-11-at-9.02.33-PM.jpg

[Moses03]

Thanks for the heads up John. Looking forward to this.:encouragement:

[modelr]

Just a reminder, as of now the first flight is still on track for Sunday morning! http://www.warbirdsnews.com/aircraft-restoration/b-29-doc-remains-go-flight-sunday.html

Word from Oshkosh is that EAA and "Doc's Friends" are still holding out hope that it will be able to fly off all of the needed test flight hours in order to make it to Oshkosh after the end of next week to join 'FIFI' there.

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2016-05-11-at-9.02.33-PM.jpg
Hopefully the weather being called for here in Iowa won't affect them.
Would be awesome if they can make it. Looks like this year is going to be really great with all the rare aircraft scheduled to be there. Unfortunately, I can't make it this year. Bummer. :banghead::banghead:

[Bomber_12th]

The assembled flight crew (made up of some members from the CAF 'FIFI' group) did some more engine runs, taxi tests, and final inspections today.

To watch the first flight live, tomorrow (Sunday) morning, go here: http://www.b-29doc.com/firstflight/

(They expect to be wheels-up quite early, anywhere between 8:00-8:30 am (CDT), so plan on getting to the site/tuning-in as early as you can.)

[stansdds]

Thanks for the link, watching it now. First flight attempt has failed due to the forward bomb bay doors not closing and fully locking.

[stansdds]

Airborne at 09:59 EDT!

[Bomber_12th]

A short, just around the pattern flight - according to "Doc's Friends", the original plan for the test flight was for it to last 30-minutes, wheels-up at 8:30 am CDT, and while I don't know for sure, I suspect that they only had a 30-minute window of time allotted to them by McConnell AFB to use the runway, and since they became well delayed, not taking off until just before 9:00 am, they had to make it a short one.

[mikezola]

I also watched the flight... other than that bomb bay door glitch, everything seemed to go just fine. They couldn't have had a more beautiful morning to fly in, could they? That plane looked absolutely gorgeous in the morning sun...

-Mike Z.

[Bomber_12th]

Turns out it was a very optimistic idea on the part of EAA of "Doc" making it to Oshkosh this year - following the short test flight this past Sunday, the next test flight isn't scheduled until the week after Oshkosh (i.e., first week of August), mostly due to the fact that at this time its operation is dependent on having a flight crew made of pilots/FE from "FIFI", and those particular individuals will be tied-up with "FIFI" operations during the duration of Oshkosh-week.

[spokes2112]

Here's a nice video taken from the Harmon Rocket chase plane.


https://vimeo.com/175487327

[n4gix]

Thanks for sharing the video. I missed the livestream event.

[RockStarofRust]

Thank you for the video! Learned quite a bit on how to land my sim version! Thanks again!

P.S. Here is a little tribute video I did in P3D...hope you like it. Best in full screen and those radials are loud!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2clCWMPYhM

[Bomber_12th]

In-case anyone missed it (as I did), it has been reported that "Doc" will likely resume flight testing by the end of the month. This article also describes (as already stated before) why the first flight had to be cut short and the reason for the delayed continuation of flight testing: http://www.flyingmag.com/docs-friends-to-resume-flight-testing-b-29?src=SOC&dom=fb

[Bomber_12th]

"Doc" had its second test flight earlier today, with a very successful 52-minutes of flight time. Photos/videos being posted here: https://www.facebook.com/DocsFriends/

(https://www.facebook.com/DocsFriends/)Edit: A bit of air-to-air video from today's flight: http://www.b-29doc.com/2016/10/01/video-success-b-29-doc-logs-nearly-an-hour-for-second-flight/

[stansdds]

:jump::jump::jump: