RE: Can I?

[Bill Dugan <bdugan@domain.elided>]

>> "Twas not a BUFF--more like a B-25 or B-47??? BUFFs were 1. Not
around
>> then. (believe it or not) 2. do NOT use radial piston engines!

>I think you are talking about the B-29.  It was going to be the 2nd
flying
>B-29 in the world (the confederate air force has the only one - named
Fifi).

>What a loss!  Can you imagine traveling to some distant isolated
location,
>working on your scout for a year, only to have it burn up!  Of course,
IH
>engines were far far better than those nasty write cyclones: more B-29s

>crashed in WWII due to engine failure than due to being shot down.

Yeah, that was a fascinating show. Something like 4 P-38s and 1 B-29 had
to land on the ice cap, over the years were covered in ice.

I think the problem with the B-29 was that they cranked up 1 or 2
engines, had them running well, and then an auxilliary power unit
somewhere in the tail burned out a bearing and caught fire. I remember
watching the PBS show and wishing somebody had been standing by with
some foam.

On a happier note, I think the folks who recovered these planes got a
(relatively) intact P-38 Lightning out and are in the middle of
rebuilding her.

Bill Dugan