Rhino
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Visiting Signature Flight Support at the Des Moines airport last Sunday, during a rare break in our recent soggy prairie weather, found us at the gateway to the Confederate Air Force's parking area on the Signature apron. Adult admission is $20.00 each, which seemed a bit steep, but how often do you get to see a fire-breathing Superfortress?
This was a momentous day indeed. This was my Sweetie's first Boeing B-29! I don't mean to sound passe' but I had seen two previous Superfortresses. It was long enough ago, I still had hair! I was going to be 29, so I went to see the B-29. Clever, no!?
Waiting in line to tour FiFi . I never had a tour before! Too cool! You are met by FiFi's Crew chief, a grizzled USAF vet from Arizona. I asked how he came to join the crew of the longest serving B-29 in the United States and he told us. I should have taken some notes! You may notice, Goofy left his gloves in the forward bomb bay. FiFi is painted silver except for areas that are exposed to heat. These are natural metal and cleaned regularly.
Up the short ladder and through the hatch (without conking your noggin)to the forward compartment and cockpit, and look who's there! Good ol' Ray Furlong! He's in the flight engineer seat to make sure we are safe and tell us about how a Superfort operates. "The pilots just steer. I do everything else." Looking down the forward hatch, you can see the padded "butt bar" of the nose gear. Ray tells us this is the place where departing cockpit visitors often strike their bottoms.
Notice the map of Japan at the navigator's station? It's signed by Enola Gay navigator Theodore "Dutch" van Kirke. Neeto-O!
Your view of the forward compartment is the from the space where the gun turret mechanisms would be, so we shuffled counter-clockwise about the space, so smaller airplane nuts could have a good look too. The hydraulic add reservoir was right in front of me, so........
We helped the younger and older FiFi guests navigate the cockpit hatch ladder, in the interests of comfort and safety. (and undamaged butts!)
Outside, a Stearman PT-13 (Lycoming R-680 nine-cylinder 220 hp radial engine) Is getting some love. It seems the retainer nut for the ignition lead from the distributor that serves the spark plugs in the rear of the cylinder head has split. No replacement was readily available. The magneto serves the front row of "sparkin' irons". Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Trainers were equipped with a Continental R-670 7-cylinder, 225 hp engine. I never knew the difference before last Sunday. The Stearman crew and her experienced pilot were informative and entertaining.
The CAF's T-6 Texan, is an homage to Women's Air Service Pilots of WWII. Her name is Nella. She came and went, carrying paid passengers throughout our visit.
The Pilots and crew showed us a fine time and offered lots of interesting information. See Rocky? (Third from the left) He was manning the merchandise booth. I asked if he knew why the airplane was named "FiFi" because I did not.
Victor N. Agather was a WWII USAAC vet. He decided the CAF would need one of every kind of warbird and made it his mission to find a restorable Superfortress. His search took him to the SAC Commander in Chief, General John C, Meyer. The general said the USAF didn't have any B-29's left. They had all been expended or scrapped.
Undeterred, Mr. Agather began touring places that recycled warbirds might be found, hoping to assemble a B-29 from parts. . He was crossing over the White Sands missile test range in New Mexico and lo and behold, there were B-29's parked on the target range! He contacted the US Navy about procuring the airplane he wished for. The Navy said, "They don't belong to us. those belong to the Air Force." The Air Force said "They don't belong to us. Those belong to the Navy." Mr. Agather went to see Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who had been a Major General in the USAF, and camped out in his office until the Senator agreed to meet with him. Senator Goldwater was instrumental in getting a restorable Superfortress to the fledgling Confederate Air Force at Harlingen TX. It took quite a while for the airplane Rebels and B-29 veterans to assemble a flyable example from the White Sands targets. When they were done, B-29 s/n 44-62070, finished in Omaha, NE 1944, but used as a training airplane in Nevada was ready. With Senator Goldwater's help, the FAA Issued a certificate for one flight. These dedicated, brave men crewed up their prize, with Victor Agather in the pilots seat, fired her up and flew all the way from Mid New Mexico to Harlingen, Texas in one hop. Victor invested a hole bunch of his own money and energy into the full restoration of this iconic warbird, and his passion for her shows!
Now, the tall "A" insignia on the rudder and fin stands for Agather. Victor's wife was named Josephine and so her nickname is applied to the nose. FiFi. We met the pilot of this airplane during out visit. He is none other than Niels Agather. Victor and Josephine's son!
We both shook his hand and thanked his family for such a herculean effort!
Rocky sold us some Superfortess swag. My sweetheart picked a FiFi Coaster, and since I had sat in the P-51D "Gunfighter" when Reg Urschler owned her, I picked that one. Gunfighter's new pilot is none other than Joe "Rifle" Shetterly. Formerly of the A-10 War Thog community. A skilled, precise pilot and a great guy. Rifle seems timeless. He still looks like a kid.
The Shetterly family can race their aviation heritage back to the Wright Brothers.
Born with aviation DNA — General Aviation News
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