The CAF’s B29 had all four engines running at the weekend, the first time all four have run since 2004. She’s had a thorough overhaul generally, but the main job has been the replacement of the early R-3350’s with more reliable later models, modified to fit the B29 nacelles. She looks the business, here’s hoping it’s not long before she flies again!
By: timuss - 3rd June 2010 at 17:36
That’s one plane i’d love to see as well, good news.
By: oz rb fan - 2nd June 2010 at 15:23
and theyre pretty tough as one that was slated for fifi was used in rare bear at last years reno and ran second in the gold final at 485mph iirc 😮
i’m glad to see fifi on her way back.
i’m sure gary austin would be proud 😎
By: AdlerTag - 2nd June 2010 at 14:51
You’re quite right Sage, I was abbreviating rather alot in my first post! The essential point is that the new engines have all the best bits of the later model, which amounts to most of the engine, with just some older model components mixed in to make it still fit the B29.
Yes, that thread on WIX is an interesting read, I don’t know why I didn’t link to it in the first place! Here it is…
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24935
The thread goes back several years and amounts to 50 pages!
By: Sage the Owl - 2nd June 2010 at 14:07
I think you will find that the engines are actually custom built jobs combining the best of the various engine models and not just later versions. Its one of the reasons she has been on the ground for so long as they wanted the powerplants to be more reliable than had previously been the case.
There is a blow by blow thread currently running over on WIX about the engine replacement, very interesting it is too.
By: DL Sheley - 2nd June 2010 at 00:48
I got to see FIFI in the air at the CAF’s home field back in the early 1980’s, when they were based in Harlingen,Texas. Even as a little kid I knew I was seeing something very special.
By: PaulR - 1st June 2010 at 21:26
Oooooooooooohhhhhhh! What a lovely noise!
By: Firebird - 1st June 2010 at 21:18
That’s excellent news, she must head my list of airworthy historic aircraft that I really want to see.
Fifi was one of the a/c I was most looking forward to seeing when I went over to Nellis AFB for the USAF 50th Anniversary show back in 1997. Alas, she developed a major problem (Ithink it was an engine failure then?) not long after leaving her base for the trip to Nellis and had to RTB.
By: Arabella-Cox - 1st June 2010 at 19:09
Great news, hopefully her engine woes are at an end.
curlyboy
By: pagen01 - 1st June 2010 at 19:00
That’s excellent news, she must head my list of airworthy historic aircraft that I really want to see.
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June 1, 2010 at 4:48 pm