Boeing B-29 Superfortress - Kermit Co-Pilots FiFi
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- In April of 2012 Kermit Weeks had the opportunity to fly "FiFi", the CAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Here's a clip of that flight from Lakeland to Tallahassee Florida, with Kermit getting to pilot the plane on take off, landing and in between, including some flybys of Fantasy of Flight.
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Good to see you doing well and loving life Kermit, I had the honour of meeting you when I was 10 years old when me and my dad visited fantasy of flight when on holiday from the UK, we are both warbird mad and ended up talking to this jovial fella in some oily overalls working on one of the birds as we wandered about, we spent a good 20 minutes talking to him and chatting about the aircraft, british aircraft in particular I expect and only when we finished said good day and wandered off to continue our tour did we see your face on a portrait or something and realise who you were, strangest way of meeting someone of your stature but really showed what a genuine guy you were and what a love you had for your babies there and how you wanted to transmit this love to others. Thank you.
Flew on this aircraft in 1994 during the Aviation Heritage Air Show at Clark County airport. Met Kermit when he brought his B24 from Singapore and landed at JVY for maintenance.
Fantastic! I flew bombardier on Fifi that same week at Lakeland and we also flew over Fantasy of Flight! Only thing that would have made it better is if I looked over my shoulder and Kermit was at the controls. I love it!
This was great. My father was both a Flight Engineer and Crew Chief on B-29s. R-3350s, Master Controls, managing and monitoring flight and engine performance, fuel consumption using a slide rule...I so want to sit in the Engineer's seat and do that. And then work on the airplane. I remember when Fifi had a flat at Sun-In-Fun and you had a tire for her. My Dad also gave me a video "Frozen In Time" of a B-29 that got lost and landed in the Canadian North before running out of fuel. Fifty years later, it's serviced, engines replaced etc but on a bumpy take off down a frozen lake, the APU that the crew had neglected to secure broke loose and caught fire. The aircraft was totally destroyed and in summer when the lake melted, sank to the bottom. It really bothered him...
Key Bird
I got to go aboard Fifi at Harlingen TX in 1979. The highlight was sitting in the bomb bay and listening to several Air Force veterans tell stories. Great memories!
Kermit is a good ol boy👍
I was on my back deck in Cortland, Illinois several years ago and was amazed to see FiFi overhead. She was giving rides out of DuPage Co. airport. I also got into the tail section back in the 80s.
I remember seeing FiFi when I was a kid in Midland Texas when it was getting restored at the Confederate Air Force Museum.
I use to work on FIFI when it was parked at March Air force base in Riverside California. It was a part of the tour at the museum
Fantastic, I was a CAF volunteer on FIFI for many years. Anytime she is in the air, a very good day.
I got to crawl around Fifi at FXE in the early 90s. Brought back a lot of memories. She's looking good (and reliable with the different engines).
I grew up watching "FiFi" fly when the CAF was in Harlingen, TX.
When I was younger, I used to watch military aviation documentaries that my dad had on VHS which covered anything from the bombing campaign during the Vietnam war to the B-29 base and missions from Tinian(North Field). I had tons of die casts model airplanes, but my favorite one to play with per my dad was my diecast road champs B-29 which was modeled on Fifi.
Hopefully one of these years we will see Kermits B-29 “Fertile Myrtle” take to the sky’s. 👍🏼
Where is that airplane? Are you saying there are 21 surviving B29s?
If any one could bring her back to the Sky's, it's Kermit.
The amount of overhaul work required would probably cost in the millions
@@dgansz705 Kermit owns a B-29 nose section.
@@dgansz705 I checked. I stand corrected. Thanx.
That must have been a great experience Kermit. What a fantastic bird.
Saw FIFI start and depart Beale AFB. in 1982(?) because I stayed after 5pm after I heard they were to leave. Nice to see it out and about so many years later. I remember each engine making large smoke clouds on startup.
FiFI was in Dallas, Texas this past weekend at the 2017 - Wings Over Dallas airshow.
Definitely one of my favorite youtube channels!
Come on Kermit you must have heaps more of that flight. 10 minutes is like a sip of a favourite drink. I'd like more please.
@MrCloudseeker Kermit has a B-29 nose section.
Being in the cockpit of a B29 must be the closest feeling to flying in the Millennium Falcon! 🤣 Awesome video and an incredible aircraft!
The cockpit for the millennium falcon was constructed out of a B-29 cockpit
Thank you for providing a unique perspective for us aviation buffs that most of us could only dream about!
Getting tired of seeing Kermit out there enjoying himself.......lucky bastard....
Lots of skid marks on the center of the runway. One of the coolest, most iconic airplanes ever built.
What a fantastic video. Truly inspirational on so many levels. What a contrast between the flight engineer station with all the analog gauges and then a shot of the pilot with digital GPS flight screens. We've come a long way baby, but the past was epic !!
That was good stick and rudder Kermit! I see so many guys in big airplanes hogging the ailerons and elevator all-over the place without a sense for what the airplane is doing and needs, but you were really smooth and precise but ahead of the airplane. Good job man...
I have been a GA pilot for 55 years and I would be happy with just 10% of Kermit's skill and experience. His adaptability to move between cockpits is amazing.
Love the B-29. I live 1/2 mile from Doc's Hanger and Information Center, here in Wichita, Kansas. The B-29 Doc flies over my place all the time in the Spring and Summer months when Doc isn't doing some tour or airshows. I've taken a lot of pictures of Doc.
Awesome, only a handful of people on this entire planet will ever get to experience flying in the venerable B-29, much less actually sitting behind the controls and flying this historic aircraft. What an amazing experience that must have been. I know Kermit has been in a position to be able to fly many vintage airplanes, but the Superfortress has a unique place in aviation history shared by no other plane. Way to go Mr. Weeks!
froggie6608 7n&
Coward.
That was fun. Grew up in my dads Ercoupe with no head-phones. I'd forgotten how loud a plane can be. Still that was fun, fun, fun. N2078H will live forever in my head.
very nice touch captain!!
One question, is there anything you can't fly. Amazing!! Like I said before, you sir are a national treasure.
The same question I often ask myself when I look at Kermit's flights. I think he could fly on a broomstick.The great pilot !
Apollo 13.
I imagine taking off and flying that beast loaded is a whole nother kettle of fish!
Awesome video! My profile picture is in the CAF's B-17, Sentimental Journey (44-83514). Keep doing what you're doing. We need to keep these old warbirds alive as long as we can!
What an honor that must have been. I was working in Sherman, TX a few years ago and saw this four engine bird fly overhead. I thought that is no B17, that is a 29. It was Fi Fi on her way to start hitting the air show circuits.
I had to meet a lawyer in Reno, late 90s? and as I got out of the car, saw a B-29 flying over. It was just before the Reno air races, and I sure thought about ditching the lawyer to follow the B-29.
Well done Kermit,another type for the log book and you made a great landing.
Nothing but admiration (and maybe a little jealousy???) for a man who can jump into any airplane and fly it like a natural!!
A very nice flight, smooth even a low altitude, and a lovely landing, an experience not to be missed.
Super cool! My father flew the B-29D called the B-50, which was converted to a WB-50. It was a weather plane flying out of Guam and Japan. Dad said it was a super tough airplane!
Great videos!!
Looks like you were having a blast Kermit
Speaking for myself, I can’t get enough of you in a gyro! It’s really a fascinating aircraft.
I appreciate you taking us all the way through the learning curve with you. I’m going to see if one of the local airports has a gyro school because, at the very least, I’m going for a ride! Who knows? Maybe I can become a gyro pilot...
Also, thanks for that 2nd camera angle. It was worth the trouble.
Such a good channel, Kermit. Many thanks.
Wow, I can't even imagine flying in one of those! Amazing Video!
Awesome piece of history and good job by everyone keeping it flying
What an experience that must have been
I think the captain knew he had a very competent co-pilot!
Lucky Ducky! Very smooth Mr Weeks! I’m very envious! I hope one day I’ll hopefully get to meet you at Fantasy Of Flight and checkout or awesome fleet of aircraft.
Count your blessings Kermit. You're one lucky fellow. Thank you so very much for the videos you share with us. One can only dream of how your life is to fly such aircraft.
The near-absence of narration actually worked well for this cool video. . . just let the experience of the flight speak for itself. Great idea! Thanks for posting, brother Weeks!
Totally Beautiful plane .just amazing flying you done an excellent job on this..Thank you so so much for your videos and everything you do..
Kermit is amazing. But FiFi is AMAZING !! 🇺🇸
that must have been a big thrill for you to copilot Fifi I was on that plane in KeeneNH years ago
That was cool. I love all the bombers. I had the chance to take a ride in this plane, but at the time it was more than I could afford. Very nice video.
Amazing Just Simply Amazing a lot of people out there do not even understand the beauty what is going on when you're flying an aircraft like that.
Kermit that was awesome! Been enjoying you’re videos so glad I got to meet you at fantasy of flight and watch you fly your p51. I hope to return someday.
This is an extraordinary piece of history and i think this is the best way to preserve and remember the brave guys that bought our freedom with their lives. imagine being in a 12 hour flight with the squad of 30 planes waiting to bomb a factory wile Luftwaffe planes & flack shooting at you. those guys had iron nerves.there is no greater honor.
I would be in utter awe of the historical magnitude of this aircraft! To even ride in it would be amazing, but to actually fly it.....migod.
Brings back memories of my flight on FIFI.
Superb! Would like to see all the start up and shut down routine if filmed. Thanks Kermit.
Great video! Love FiFi and the sound of those engines!
fantastic cockpit video
Damn straight, "Life is cool"... provided you have the resources to make the dream a reality. Kermit, you da' man!
Whenever I hear the sound of a piston engined aircraft, I always look up. In Melbourne, Australia, where I grew up, you used to regularly see Dc 3's, Tiger Moths, Harvards and maybe, rarely, a Mustang among all the motley Cessnas, Pipers and such. But to look up and see that- oh my goodness! You'd certainly forget about whatever else you were doing at the time. I would have crashed my bicycle for sure!
Fertile Myrtle used to fly - I saw it many times. I even got to crawl through it when it was at Oakland.
You are a PILOT senor K and show respect to your aircraft. The Fifi flight and ground crews are also in the same realm. The boys, our fathers and grandfathers, rode these machines and similar into battles they did not plan but faithfully obeyed the orders putting them into harms way trusting that their leaders were smarter than them and would not waste them.
It is eye opening to read that Le may stripped their defensive armament out so that they could carry bigger loads and then flew missions at 15000 feet! This tactic murdered both the firebombed Japanese and the USAF aircrews who were sacrificed to flawed bombing “strategy “. It is amazing to realise that over 300 b29s were lost in combat in 6 months of action.
The US still persists in bombing as a strategy when it is really major vandalism and murder when used against the tribes the US goes to war with today.
I had a really close friend and co-worker who was a 29 pilot in the Pacific...….while he said it was an amazing aircraft, he wasn't too fond of them at the time...they called them widow makers because of an engine "ahead of its time", the load they carried, coupled with the absence of a go/no air speed...aka, where you often then "went over the cliff"...
What a honor it was to fly I’m sure.
Bucket List- FIFI ✔️
DOC - Still waiting. Lol.
FiFi. Ain't she a beauty? Thanks for sharing, T.
Saw this up close and checked the inside at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale LI this summer. Great experience....
thank you Kermit! you rock brothers. the best.
What a dream come true Kermit.
Gee Kermit. You'll probably one of the luckiest aviator in the world 👍
With her pressurized crew compartments the 29 was way ahead of the 17 and 24 for crew comfort. You could fly in shirt sleeves at 30,000 ft, try that in a 24!
I'm pretty sure that Fifi doesn't exceed 10,000 feet. She doesn't fly pressurized. Yeah, over Germany at altitude in the dead of winter, in 17's or 24's with open gun ports...
Fifi paid us a visit recently at St-Hubert airport, unannounced so missed the chance to meet her. Dang!
Man, that bombardier's position has a GREAT view! :O
You really had your game face on for that flight.
dang that must have been a blast being one of the last ones around.
FiFi and FoF - the genuine couple ;-)
Great stuff and what an honour! Legacy bites... and they let you land this bird WoW
You have a cool job Sir, I salute you.
that must be a dream come true to pilot a B29
That would be an awesome bird to fly on I'm sure.
That's awesome! I'm jealous...I wonder was the highest altitude they reached in this flight?
Wright R-3350 Duplex-cyclone 18 Cylinder 3350 CI Radial engines the noise inside that thing was deafening even though the video.
Lots of nobs and leavers in the cockpit, which one turns on GPS-guided autopilot? Great to see such an an important aircraft type being flowed after so many years. A very important part of US engineering history.
Nice landing Kermit
Saw this plane at Selfridge Field in Michigan several years ago.
So cool, great video
What a thrill for Kermit.
Definitely in my top 5, favorite bombers. 👍
I love your videos. I want fly with you and experience life of a pilot
Kermit has all the fun.
Crazy to think that thing was managed by a bunch of 20 year olds during the war.
They did a great job bombing the hell out of Germany
@@dgansz705 Yes thankyou I see now..the B17 was used there..B29 in Asia Pacific
TRUTH SEEKER Japan
@@lsabino4707 my bad... :-D
Because you are thinking of today's 20 year olds :-) People grew up faster back then.
P.S. I'm in my 20s.
Never seen Kermie look so serious!
Thank you for sharing!
Very spectacular.
That was awesome! Thanks for sharing.
If there's any such thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as Kermit Weeks.
I want to come back as Pete Browne!
Ive been in FiFi it is a beautiful and massive plane
I was friends with one of the crew members of that plane.
Kermit I just found out but you Copilot B-29 FiFI 2012 man you are full of surprises that's true. Keep wondering what you going to do with the Sutherland flying boat? When is it going to fly again?
Dude is living the dream!
Wow what an opportunity!
Legendary!