Restored B-29 takes to the air

Doc’s History

Of the almost four thousand B-29s built during WWII, only one remained airworthy throughout the years. Lucky for us, Tony Mazzolini found a B-29 sitting in the desert of China Lake Naval Air Station in 1987.

You probably know who we’re talking about by now.  Today, that aircraft is widely known as “Doc,” a reference to the bomber’s nose art. 

It was restored at a Boeing plant in Kansas in 1998 and was moved to the Kansas Aviation Museum in 2007. Doc was acquired by the non-profit organization, “Doc’s Friends” in February 2013 and underwent extensive repairs. 

July 17, 2016, marked the first time Doc flew since 1956, a testament to its crew’s hard work to restore the aircraft to airworthy status. 

Watch Doc start up its four R-3350 radial piston engines in the video below!