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Just spotted Fifi overhead! (Oops! It was actually Doc!)


Clay Mosby

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Heard a big jet ruckus and got outside just in time to see the Blue Angles going overhead, followed a couple seconds later by Fifi! Big airshow in town this weekend. Had considered going but over $125 for tickets and parking is a fair bit more than I want to spend to stand or sit in the sun most of the day.

 

I'll get to see a lot of the flying as we're only a few miles from the airfield.

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22 minutes ago, Clay Mosby said:

Heard a big jet ruckus and got outside just in time to see the Blue Angles going overhead, followed a couple seconds later by Fifi! Big airshow in town this weekend. Had considered going but over $125 for tickets and parking is a fair bit more than I want to spend to stand or sit in the sun most of the day.

 

I'll get to see a lot of the flying as we're only a few miles from the airfield.

 

SWEET~!!  :lol:

 

Clay, where's the airshow?  :)

 

My late Uncle Bob (who raised me) was a career A&P man.  His retirement job was working for the Confederate Air Force until they moved to Midland.  He literally LOVED working on FiFi... somewhere I have a bunch of pictures of him wrenching on the old girl.  I don't recall the details, but he told me of being sent somewhere "up north" to do an engine swap.  They had a "new old stock" engine - sealed in the can a few decades; new, but needed much work to replace unused tubes, hoses, and such that had deteriorated with time.  

 

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Hmmm?

 I didn’t know what FiFi is.

So, I did an Internet Google search.

Now I know what the Internet thinks FiFi is. :o

But, I still don’t know what y’all think it means!  (?)

 

Cat Brules

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Okay, apparently you’re talking about a specific airplane.

As the cool kids say, “My bad....”

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1 hour ago, Cat Brules said:

Hmmm?

 I didn’t know what FiFi is.

So, I did an Internet Google search.

Now I know what the Internet thinks FiFi is. :o

But, I still don’t know what y’all think it means!  (?)

 

Cat Brules

I googled “fifi” to see what you meant. 

Glad my first thought reading this post was the B-29. 

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Cool! Enjoy the show from home!

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I have seen Fifi, but not Doc.  As to the B-17's, the crash of 909 was, indeed a real tragedy. particularly the loss of life! :(:(:(  I have seen the "Aluminum Overcast", another B-17, when it was at Centennial Airport near Denver.  Much as I was tempted to go for a ride, I was taken aback by the fact that they had taken the tubo-superchargers out of the engines.  Granted they were not carrying a bomb load, nor "Tokyo tanks", so their max-gross was probably pretty low, but at around 5800 ft. MSL, plus a warm day, increasing the density altitude, I just didn't feel comfortable with the idea.  Of course, the $350 ticket price also was a large factor in my decision to merely take a tour on the ground. 

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Took my boys to see see Fifi when they were in grade school (1980's) Somewhere I have a pic of them standing in front of one of the  props. Dang those things are huge!

 

On another note, I can't help but think of this Far Side 'toon whenever I hear the name Fifi. :D

 

ClMrcrWXIAAVXQF.jpg

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On 10/3/2019 at 4:24 PM, Clay Mosby said:

Heard a big jet ruckus and got outside just in time to see the Blue Angles going overhead, followed a couple seconds later by Fifi! Big airshow in town this weekend. Had considered going but over $125 for tickets and parking is a fair bit more than I want to spend to stand or sit in the sun most of the day.

 

I'll get to see a lot of the flying as we're only a few miles from the airfield.

 

On 10/4/2019 at 6:57 AM, Clay Mosby said:

This is "Doc" the only other flight worthy B-29

download.jpg

 

Actually, according to a couple of the groups I follow on Facebook, you probably saw 'Doc" fly over.

It is the B-29 at the California Capitol Airshow this weekend.

 

 

 

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Oh damn, my mistake, Sorry!  I assumed it was FiFi as I thought Doc was still in the south doing shows down there. Spectacular sight in either case. Unfortunately Doc was so high and the Blue Angels were so loud I couldn't really hear the song of Doc's radials. 

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Interesting thing about Fifi and Doc.   According to a friend of mine who is in the know, B-29 engines had a tendency to catch fire.   So, Fifi was refitted and Doc was restored with the redesigned engines that were used on the B-50.   Since that was really the only difference between the 2 models, one could argue that Fifi and Doc are both really B-50's now.

 

But I would not make that offer.

 

I did not check the internet, but to be honest, when the post said Fifi overhead, I knew was meant.  But then when people started wondering, wondered if a certain purple skunette was coming to people's minds.

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A few weeks back I was flying with a couple Japan Airlines captains, getting them checked out with the aircraft our flight school uses. We all see something a bit out of the ordinary. Doc was arriving in town passed about 2-3 miles off our nose. When they asked what it was, thankfully it was one of those rare occasions my filter was working. I just said it was a rare old plane. The little devil on my shoulder was screaming something about an antique rice cooker. 

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Trailrider mentioned the absolute stone coolest, "in your face, axis", bomber name ever in Aluminum Overcast.  Nothin' else says, "You're done for" quite so well.

As a child, in LaGrande, OR, the mountain behind our house caught fire.  Watching B-17's fly in, one after the other to drop retardant (boray?) was the thrill of a lifetime for a nine year old boy.

Special thanks to all those folks who preserve these historic planes into the 21st century.  See one and thrill.  Then remember how many thousand were made and crewed by the greatest country that has ever existed.

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Just read an article that says Doc uses 4 Hybrid Engines, They have the power of the engines from the 40's but the reliability of the engines used in the 50s to power the DC-7. Something like 3500 horsepower EACH!!

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A HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE BUCKS?????? :blink::wacko:

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Sad, ain't it?

 

I stopped going to the annual air show in my area.  Ticket prices kept going up and the entire flight line was blocked by viewing stands reserved for those willing to pay NFL-like VIP prices. And beyond a performance by the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels, there's been little to see. Gone are the days of back-to-back civil aviation performances and military demonstrations before the climax of the day of TB or BA jets. :(

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General Admission was $40, parking $10.  Still pricey!  :huh:

 

Of course, there were "upgraded" seating tickets.  No thanks ~ I like to wander about at air shows, and plan to get there early enough to stake out a good spot with a folding chair.  

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My Dad and I used to go to Edwards AFB back in the early 60's to their Huge Armed Forces Day  Airshow. There was something in the air almost all the time. The flyby parade usually had 20-30 aircraft, including one year the XB-70 Valkyrie. It came by twice, once with wings drooped and the second time with flaps and wheels extended. Watched a U2 come by wings flexing up and down in the turbulence. Then the pilot pointed the nose up about 60 degrees and sl o w l y climbed out of sight. 

 

Now those were airshows. 

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