Fifi comes to town

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EXPjawa

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Well, came to town. This past weekend, the CAF B-29 Superfortress "FIFI" paid a visit to the Rochester area as part of their fundraising tour. Or, I assume it was a fund raising tour - they were offering rides and tours all weekend, and I imagine the cost to operate is something I don't want to imagine, so probably every place it goes involves fundraising. Anyway, I drive past the general aviation side of ROC on my way to work, and on Friday spotted a very tall, curvy tail fin. Managing a better look while negotiating morning traffic on Scottsville Rd was tough, but I saw enough to identify it. After that, it was googling to find out what the story was (ROC's airshow was a couple weeks ago, so they were a bit late).

I didn't have the clams to pony up a ride in the cockpit, but my father and I did go through the plane on Saturday afternoon:
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FIFI didn't come alone, the CAF also sent along a Curtiss Helldiver and a Beech C-45.
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The Helldiver had what seems to me the unique claim of having both the engine and airframe built by the same company, being powered by a Wright Cyclone engine. Apparently, its the last of its type left flying. Curtiss is of special interest to me, as it has a relatively local tie-in. Glenn Curtiss was sort of local boy, growing up down in Hammondsport, worked in Rochester for a time, and started flying from the surface of Keuka Lake in the winter when it was frozen. A lot of the pioneering work in naval aviation was conducted in the heart of the Finger Lakes region, within spitting distance of where LDRS is being held this year. Curtiss Aeroplane merged with Wright Aeronautics and set up shop just over in Buffalo. Curtiss himself died from complications of an appendectomy while a trip to Rochester. BTW - anyone coming up to LDRS that can find the time owes it to themselves to pop into the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport.
 
It's a very impressive plane. I saw it before the last motor overhauls and was allowed to sit in the pilots seats. It was the first bomber with a flight engineers station behind the co-pilots seat. I forgot to ask if the pressurization system
was operational or if they just flew at low to mid altitudes. The docent didn't know if the plane had the "silverplate" modifications at one time or was stock during its entire service life. Silverplate = capable of carrying and delivering the early nuclear bombs.
Kurt
 
Well, came to town. This past weekend, the CAF B-29 Superfortress "FIFI" paid a visit to the Rochester area as part of their fundraising tour. Or, I assume it was a fund raising tour - they were offering rides and tours all weekend, and I imagine the cost to operate is something I don't want to imagine, so probably every place it goes involves fundraising.

A few years ago it was about $2,000 an hour to operate a four engine warbird; a B-17 anyway. The cost has probably gone up since then. Selling rides is a big part of what they do.
 
I bet that was cool to go through!

Old warbirds are so cool! :)
I like the P-51 Mustang
 
It's amazing to me (the son of a WWII pilot) these activists seem to have forgotten the role this plane played in the war. It literally SAVED thousands of lives thru it's missions. Just read the book (not the frickin' movie fer cryin'' out loud-work a little for your education) Unbroken and you'll have a better understanding of what this plane did. Yeah-- our freedom enables idiots like this to survive. It's what we (okay-our forefathers) fought for and deserves the respect and gratitude that generation of (really) kids gave to us. Rant off!
 
It is not known if the B-29 ever returned to MI.

I recall a story on American POWs getting beheaded by their Japanese captors after the bomb was dropped. They wanted to know about the new super weapon. A P-38 pilot made up a story about how scientists were able to separate atoms into plusses and minuses. These were put into a lead box which dissolved allowing the particles to recombine in a cataclysmic explosion. His story was so fantastic that he was allowed to live.
 
It's amazing to me (the son of a WWII pilot) these activists seem to have forgotten the role this plane played in the war. It literally SAVED thousands of lives thru it's missions. Just read the book (not the frickin' movie fer cryin'' out loud-work a little for your education) Unbroken and you'll have a better understanding of what this plane did. Yeah-- our freedom enables idiots like this to survive. It's what we (okay-our forefathers) fought for and deserves the respect and gratitude that generation of (really) kids gave to us. Rant off!

My dad was in WWII also. A Marine. Wounded in the Pacific Theater. He never talked about it.
When he passed, I donated his Army & Navy Blankets along with his Uniform to the local Museum.
I recently came across an old hard cased watch case, (going through boxed stuffs from moving 2-1/2 years ago) with a hinged back (U know the kind Dave) with his decorations and uniform pin on's.
I need to get those to the curator of the Museum so he can dress up his Uniform. (They were missing a WWII Marine Uniform BTW)
I also recently discovered digitized photo's of my father in his Uniform. My brother must have done this for his funeral.
So I will have a 8x10 done & framed to go with it. He was a US Postal worker for 35 years after his recovery.
There is already a host of photo's and news paper articles with him in them with the Post Office.
I wish more people would take interest in our history and preserve it, instead of trying to profit from it on E(vil)bay!
So at least locally, he will be exhibited of one of those that future generations read about.
Times were different then. Only those that knows the stories from the previous generation will ever understand.
Books, will never teach the future what it was really like for them or what they gave so we could enjoy what we do know.
 
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