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Last Super Fortress B-29 takes to the air

6:01 pm

An evening pause: A bit of World War II history is saved by volunteers so that it can fly again.

Hat tip George Petricko.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

7 comments

  • Frank
    March 14, 2017 at 6:42 pm

    Thanks George and Bob.

    I grew up on the base at China Lake where this plane sat it the desert. A few of us base kids would ride our bikes out to the boneyard (avoiding the security guards) and play WWII in them, taking turns in the pilot seat and as gunners. Some of the big bombers still had radio logs, headsets, microphones, and all sorts of pieces that made the game even more real for this 8 year old kid. All we had to add were the sounds of the engines and cannons as we fought the enemy in the skies.

    Its wonderful to see Doc restored and flying again. Thanks for bringing back the memory.

  • Joe
    March 14, 2017 at 10:47 pm

    Tough and sturdy in use, fragile with time and disuse, these are rare birds indeed! What the Enola Gay and Bockscar did to help end WWII saved so many lives for both America and Japan, and what the B-17’s and their crews did for Europe! These bueatiful aircraft should be preserved, they are national treasures..

  • Mitch S.
    March 15, 2017 at 9:56 am

    Nice to see.
    Funny how the reporter was awed by it’s size. Guess he never saw a B36!
    Brings to mind the last time a B29 was brought back to flying condition… almost made it!
    (heartbreaking)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u4YBwjQTds

  • Frank
    March 15, 2017 at 12:39 pm

    Thanks for that Mitch.
    I value seeing the dedication and sacrifice of these men towards a noble goal, even if it wasn’t achieved.

  • Steve Earle
    March 15, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    Thanks for the Link Mitch S. even though I can’t bear to watch it again….

    All that effort and even a man’s life. And all to satisfy a boyhood fantasy, so sad.

    Even the first time I watched the program (and I didn’t know yet how it would end) I remember yelling at the TV: “Cut the damn thing up and fly the pieces out to a nice dry hangar somewhere you idiots!!”

  • ken anthony
    March 15, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    My stepdad was an A&P mechanic that once worked to restore a B-17. That thing was so tiny inside that a bigger person couldn’t fit in it’s stations. He found it very satisfying to work on something you could appreciate seeing after you were done. He was born in 1930 and could tell you any WW2 aircraft by the shadow it put on the ground.

  • Steve Earle
    March 17, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    I know there’s at least one more intact B-29 sitting on the bottom of Lake Mead…..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Lake_Mead_Boeing_B-29_crash

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