Merrill Wien's B-29 Retirement Flight

This was my dad's last flight as a check pilot in June of 2001. He was fortunate enough to fly the Commemorative Air Forces B-29 called "FiFi." It was (and still is) the last flying B-29 in the world. Since he never got a proper sendoff from the airline flying he did for so long, we thought it would be fun to celebrate his last B-29 flight.

This was my first editing attempt using Apple's iMovie. I rode in the back seat of a T-6 with the canopy removed and my brother was in the fire truck. It was quite a thrill. The inside B-29 shots are from a flight I took in June of 1997. Note the Boeing 307 parked on the ramp as the B-29 taxis in. That was shot two weeks before that same Boeing 307 took a swim in Puget Sound. The 307 is on display now at the Smithsonian and the B-29 flies from Midland, TX. Take a look at their site:

http://www.cafb29b24.org/

If you get a chance to see this airplane fly, don't miss it.

Music:

The first song is "String of Pearls" and the second song is "In the Mood." Both are by Glenn Miller.

Special thanks to the volunteers at the CAF for making this possible. They're a wonderful bunch.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• B-29 Superfortress
• B-29
• Boeing
• Superfortress
• Aviation
• Bomber
• Flying
• WWII
• flying
• flight
• Wien
• Everett
• Paine
• R-3350

[tonytonytonyargh]

without engine sounds, it is not so interesting.

[B291945]

Ｔｈａｎｋ　ｙｏｕ

Ｍｒ　ｆｌｙ４ｆｕｎ♪＼＾▽＾／

Ｍｙ　Ｈｕｎｄｏｌ　ｎａｍｅ

ＰｅｎｉｓＢ２９　Ｆａｃｅｂｏｍｂｅｒ

[QuetMarcocota]

The plane was so sealed with aluminum that the engines could not be cooled efficiently, This became a huge problem, but there was a reason why I just learned. If you can get a good view of the B 29 from the rear, you will see how different it was from the 17. They trained long before Hiroshima to bank hard left and slightly down after dropping the A bombs for a very specific reason besides the actual blast.

[QuetMarcocota]

I was just informed by one of the original designers of the B 29 it had more secrecy to it than commonly realized. He told me this plane was built as a ferral cage with the origional intent to survive an EMP. No other airplane in the world at that time could have dropped the Nukes on Japan and survived. 17 had glass turrets, if it could have lifted bomb would have been disabled by the elect magnetic pulse. 29 had alumin turrets, is sealed completely from the rear deflecting the EMP. They Knew!

[MrColt45acp]

cool film, thanks!

[19XWyomingGrizFan]

Too bad about the engine problems; first combat mission over Japan 15 June 1944. "Hobo Queen" in the UK in 1944 as well. I'd wonder what it would have been like to have had about four or five USAAF bases in North Africa sending about a hundred planes each with hundreds of P-51 Fighters for escort over Germany at the time. My B-17-G-42-97217 (JW-L) would have greatly have appreciated the assistance there.

[CrAzY3AGL3]

@Trashcansam123 yeah from what i know it kinda was one way flight.

[Trashcansam123]

My Grandfather worked on B-29s. He was a mechanic so he didn't fly em, but I don't think he would want to. According to him the engines often caught fire after overheating, and that was a big problem.

[badboyvr4]

It's good to see "FIFI" back in the air on the airshow circuit with her new hybrid engines.

[WSPSkydiver]

excellent video... I'm sure your dad loved it. Great video!