B-29 Superfortress "FIFI" Cockpit in Flight, Approach, and Landing Loveland Ft Collins, CO 7 24 14
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- FIFI, The Commemorative Air Force's B-29 Superfortress visited Loveland/Ft Collins, CO in July 2014. We had the good fortune to get a ride in the cockpit and got to watch the crew at work landing. Some additional info based on Comments:
* The B-29 cockpit was the basis for the design of the Millennium Falcon in "Star Wars". theaviationist...
* The guy sitting at the huge control console is the Flight Engineer. He's controlling all aircraft functions except the landing gear and the flight controls controlled by the pilot's control column.
* Everyone was belted in for take-off and landing.
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Great to see! Old school flying skills, no computer assistance, and yeah, huge respect to the men who flew missions in planes like this.
In-flight problems occurred often. The front end crew were very good at managing them. I flew for the extra money unaware of the danger.
Plus b-29s had targeting computers for their machine gun turrets just like the black widow night fighter
You guys that flew those air craft in WW2 are. My heros. Absolutely
you can actually see modern panels in there there's navigation or something and the middle panel between the two seats is noticably modern
Interesting trivia for those who are not aware: one of the very few active pilots who is certified to fly Fifi is Jeff Skiles, the first officer of USAIR 1549 (Miracle on the Hudson).
Best comment so far!
Was that Jeff Skiles in the right seat?
My Dad was a flight engineer on these planes known as Washington’s in the U.K. and delivered many back to the USA in the 50s and flew Decca trials for quite a few years.
Lovely to see this
I love the sounds of these classic aircraft. The heavy rumble of the 4 engines.
Can't believe the pilot doesn't have the throttle controls, that's got to be a heck of an experience, and incredible coordination with the flight engineer behind him.
Didn't realize this either.
My first thought "why does that guy appear to have all the engine controls... and he's not even looking where they're going?"!
Bring back the engineer. Be much safer. Well this is a war plane & the pilot would have to concentrate on flying with flak exploding. He has 4 or 5 dials the engineer has nigh on 20 with throttles. These aircraft could fly 20-30,000ft well above flak but bombing accuracy was hopeless so they were ordered to fly much lower over target zone hence engineer doing the monitoring. Pilots fly & engineers engineer! We must'nt forget the cabin was pressurised hence access by a tube, in the main fuselage you had 2 waist gunners, a tail end Charlie gunner & a belly gunner all breathing on oxygen masks. Many when firing would rip them off to get better accuracy. Would like to compare a Lancaster which was definitely not roomy! Like our houses are to American homes.
Such a big workload for the pilot. Engineer needs to be checking and fettling those engines all the time.
Yeah pretty cool what the job was of the flight engineer back then. I would have like to see the takeoff and watching the engineer throttle up the engines just by looking at the gauges.
I didn't notice that until I seen this comment . Yeah I wouldn't want someone else to control the throttle on my car as I steered.
I had the pleasure of seeing Fifi when it flew into Richmond Va as part of the Confederate Air Force back in the mid 90's. The captain invited me to sit in his seat and took my picture. Such an awesome experience to climb through that machine. What an amazing step in aviation it was.
This reminds me of when I started driving my 35 ft Class C motor home. One thing you never want to do is turn around and look back down the hall while you're driving. Seeing all that behind you and realizing that you're navigating this huge beast on the highway will blow your mind!
Try driving a 36 foot class A. Wide cab. You can't take your eyes off the road. Judgement of the vehicle on the road position takes a bit of practice.
Now add 25 feet and 25 tons, piece of cake, turn around? , the mirrors job,
@@daleval2182 My motor home only had side mirrors. It didn't have a windshield mirror because it didn't have a back window low enough to look out of.
Hey gentleman and lady, don’t pinch yourselves…What a privilege and blessing 👊🏼🙏🏼🌻👍 for all of you! Thanks for sharing
I've always wanted to see a video of the B29 in flight from inside the cabin. Thank you so much! That was the closest you can get without being there. Great upload, thanks again.
Thanks for watching!
Amazed at how roomy it is, yes a eye lens can make it seem that way but looking at the people it seems a true picture. There's 3 people sat with ease in the rear & a nice flume pipe ride if bored. Why did they make access to the bomb bay that way. Fire? Maybe that's where the parachutes are! No cowards allowed. Maybe only the cabin is pressurised? The pilot only has to deal with the 'stick' & 4 dials, I was gonna say speed but amazingly the engineer has every other dial & all the engine throttles but he sits with his back to the pilot. In war the pilot's job is difficult enough with flak all around. The pilot must have a power throttle by his feet?
My dad flew B29. His position was the flight engineer. His position was the most important. If he wasn't there the pilot couldn't of keep the bird in the air. RIP DAD💕
I loved being an FE on 141-C’s. Your father and I had a great job different aircraft but still the same adventures. I did not have control of the engine throttles like your father. What this gentleman did in the video was put the props in reverse for landing awesome!
If the flight engineer is killed in action, how will the pilots be able to control the engines? interesting line-up of crew jobs.
@@user-jl8hj8qo9p The second/copilot also had throttle control, supercharger and pitch control. However. The flight engineer had full control of all aspects of the engines.
Also this was the first aircraft to have a specific check list of operations assigned to each individual. From the pilot all the way down to the gunners.
It's really interesting to read the start up procedures and take off/landing sequences.
Also the Russian TU4 is basically a carbon copy bolt by bolt reverse engineering of the B29.
@@user-jl8hj8qo9p the pilots and copilots had throttles to the left and right respectively, Just below the windows.
My father was a B29 pilot and, yes, they relied on the flight engineers a lot.
What I wouldn't give to be a part of that crew! Many props to the flight engineer intensely monitoring those engines. Thanks to all of them for keeping that old bird flying.
The people who flew aboard these types of aircraft during and after the war had courage to the highest degree and deserve to be respected!
I have existed on the good planet earth for over 61 years……but this is the first time I have seen such clean high resolution footage from the flight deck of a Boeing 29 Flying Fortress.
Visually astounding!!
Thank you!!!!
Thanks for watching. It was a GoPro on a head strap.
It’s outstanding that they keep her flying. Nice work guys.
Это очень интересно! Спасибо за видео! Особенно если учесть, что в СССР сделали скрупулёзную копию B-29 - самолёт Ту-4, получается, я здесь увидел, как выглядит американский самолёт, и каким был советский. Я увидел его величину - он был большой, увидел знаменитый лаз в хвостовой отсек, увидел рабочие места экипажа и его работу, увидел, как нелепо выглядят гражданские в этой боевой машине. Вызывает уважение, что такой заслуженный самолёт до сих пор летает. Здоровья и мирного неба нам всем! 👍☺
This cockpit really looks so lovely and fantastic; the pilots and the rest of the squad look like the guy next door, the milkman, the cab driver... you name it !
Back in them days, boys had to have the balls of giants and guts made out of kryptonite! Mad respect for the men and women that built, flown or maintained one of these Giants!! 💪👊💪👊💪🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Amen!
What does he do the man behind ?
He watches the engines
@@peterhejny363 ok thanks 🙏
@@peterhejny363 Looks like he also operates the engines, he's moving his four throttle sticks, and looks like he didn't have to communicate with the pilot.
This was a sight to behold seeing this beast take off and fly a few yrs ago in Latrobe. I'll never forget it.
Millennium Falcon!! Was half expecting to see Chewy smack the console with a wrench to bring the hyper-drive online!😁
Think of all the old B-29 crew dogs that saw Star Wars when it first came out.
I never made the connection, but you are absolutely correct. The shape of the nose window frames look just like Han Solos ship!
@@EricPalmerBlog I'm certain they were first in line to see it! What else would they watch!!🤣
Yup! The B-29 cockpit was obviously the idea for the Millennium Falcon’s flight deck…..I have no doubts whatsoever….!!! 😂👍
Same here
Man oh man! The view of the cockpit is just like the Millennium Falcon. I guess we now know where they got that idea from. Just imagine what it must have been like to fly in a formation of a 100 of these over Japan or Germany.
Yep! theaviationist.com/2015/12/15/millennium-falcon-b-29-cockpit/
The B-29 was only used in the Pacific during WWII. Later some B-29s were bought by the RAF so a B-29 technically may have flown over Germany after WWII.
Try to imagine 400 to 500 B-29's flying to Japan..dropping over 2000 tons of bombs every mission. They burned out more square miles of Japan's cities than the entire 8th Air Force and the RAF Bomber Command combined over Germany
@@riproar11 thanks for the correction!
@@clacicle Sure! :) I read up more. The B-29 wasn't needed in Europe because the current bombers were doing a great job annihilating everything by mid-1944. Only one base in England was AAA with thick enough concrete to support the weight of B-29s and other bases wouldn't be ready in time.
Wow amazing aircraft ! I had no idea the flight engineer had the throttles etc ! Much respect to those guys
FIFI was at the Mercer County Airport near Trenton, New Jersey, back in late-June of 2019. I was at the western end of the runway when she took-off for Youngstown, Ohio, that Sunday. Watching and hearing FIFI pass overhead is a real thrill.
B29 overexposed in 1948 crashed on a routine flight to Burton wood Manchester on the moors of Bleaklow with the loss of thirteen lives , much of its wreckage can still be seen there to this day ,
We will Remember Them
Thank you for keeping FiFi flying as a lasting memorial to the Brave men who crewed the B29
One crashed on birchenough hill in wildboarclough about 20 miles from bleaklow I grew up in wildboarclough in the 60s and made many a pilgrimage to where those lads died I still find it very moving .
A local farmer found a watch belonging to one of the crew and returned it to the family I believe
@@chriswild2458 yes the dark peak is littered with aircraft wrecks from a WW1 biplane bomber at least three Lancaster bombers , liberators the B29 a thunderbolt skytrain (Dakota) even two Canadian sabre jets that crashed minutes apart
My Father was the flight engineer on one of those. . . .so awesome to see where he sat.
Spectacular. Much more spacious than I would have imagined.
My father was a USAAF B-29 navigator 1944-1945. He died in 2016 age 94. He saved and I have his original flight jacket with squadron insignia. My son and I visited (did not fly on) FIFI at Boire Field in Nashua NH in 2018. My family are Friends Of Doc.
Everything looks so complicated and what we must remember most of the airman back then where only in the early 20s true legend's 🙏
Обожаю старые самолёты и вертолёты. Видно инженерную мысль, развитие. Современные как смартфоны - одинаковые.
Спасибо за просмотр!
Spasibo za prosmotr!
I just toured this very aircraft over the weekend. 5-27-23 at Tri-Cities Airport. It was awesome
That's authentic Millennium Falcon. Amazing view! Thanks for sharing.
I was lucky enough to see her fly a few years ago. Amazing!!!
High tech and a tuff bird for her time.
I salute that generation and others before me ,this generation and those to come.
From this Vet,
Thank you for your service
This is the best view I've ever seen of the Flight Engineer station! Thank you so much! I'm a KC-10A Flight Engineer, and I'm going to miss "sitting the panel".
Thanks, Devin. You're the first who enjoyed that view. Everyone else was mad because I didn't show the pilots.
I greatly appreciate your capturing this and making it available to us!! I do, however, feel a bit sorry for the gentleman, with the best seat in the house!, who is missing the, true, experience completely by choosing to live the moment through the lens finder of a GoPro camera. Working the 'Backline', at major stadium shows, you can't imagine the astonishing amount of ticket holders, with premium seats ( $2200- $8200), who watch the show entirely through the camera feature on their cell phones which, by the way, is technically illegal. In my opinion, they are removing themselves from the moment and, although they have captured the event, they have missed an episode in time they will, most likely, never experience again. My philosophy, Live The Moment!
Ever thought of the notion that he might have clipped his camera on top of his headset? It looks suspiciously that it always points on the direction his head is turning and doesn’t look like he is handling the camera with his hands. He is as much in the moment as is possie it seems.
Anybody who pays €8200 to see a show needs a good reality check and probably deserve to get ripped off.
I thought and felt the same.
@@ChrisEchoes I thought he was talking about the man in the very front seat holding a camera.
I agree.. I went and got to see the Union Pacific "Big Boy" roar pas\t when it came near my home.. but felt ripped off after because my face was glued to the viewfinder and I missed the LIVED experience. It was cool.. but missed my first time seeing it LIVE..
Спасибо за видео. Такое ощущение что я в музее побывал. Всем здоровья.
Пожалуйста. Спасибо за просмотр.
Pozhaluysta. Spasibo za prosmotr.
Took a tour a few years ago, was impressed with what the tailgunner had to endure. Only way to get from tail to cockpit was through a narrow tube, lonely back there
And I’ll bet scary as hell once fighters were on their tail.
Hello Richard, I thought that the tailguns were remotely controlled, not sure though
i used to live in a tiny town in south texas called Harlingen, and I used to see Fifi a lot when i was a kid. it was the plane that got me interested in flying and aircraft. i used to see it and be amazed at her size and power. Fun as hell boy. Way to go Fifi!
Спасибо американским парням за нашу общую Победу над фашизмом! Благодарим их за мужество и отвагу!
Придется добавить, что именно патриоты вроде Василия Затизева в битве за Сталинград фактически начали отступление фашистов. Спасибо за просмотр.
Pridetsya dobavit', chto imenno patrioty vrode Vasiliya Zatizeva v bitve za Stalingrad fakticheski nachali otstupleniye fashistov. Spasibo za prosmotr.
Старый, а такую жуйню несешь
Amazing skill there !! back when our nation was on top of our game ! Looks like fun !!
Does that include war, seems like it. Every President hopes to bomb somewhere to show off his metal & command military wise. So far not yet.
It's like a steampunk spaceship lol. Seriously though, I've never seen the cockpit of a B29, let alone during flight. Thanks for posting this!
At 23 years old my father pilot the B-29 off of Saipan, this is a very moving video for me, thank you for sharing it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What a machine. America was a great country then. The engineering that went into building these great planes was incredible.
Looked like inside the STARWARS Millennium Falcon! Thank You So Much for Sharing!
Wow - like bein' in a dream. Blessings, Fifi and crew!
25 years ago I met an American pilot who flew 50 daylight sorties over Germany. His wife was by his side and he told us all wonderful and sad story. This was his after dinner speech on his golden wedding anniversy Back in 1944 he took leave for a day to be with his girlfriend(and future wife) and next day when he got back to base he discovered that his B-29 had been hit by flak and all his buddies had been killed in action over the skies of Germany. Someone else was filling in for him during his absence. He settled down in Australia after the war and had a wonderful life but he used to remember his friends every day who had not been so fortunate and had perished as their aircraft went down in flames.
B-29 wasn’t used in Europe
I’m from Wichita which is home to the B29-Doc. I see Doc overhead on occasion, you can definitely tell by the deep thunderous rumble of those massive engines that something special is about pass overhead.
Definitely cool to see it go over. I'm about a mile north of where it was rebuilt an the flight line. Saw the first flights. Big rush!
That video pretty cool.
Bought a credit card size piece of the skin from Doc, stamped with plane image, dates, Boeing Logo & # 44-69972.
Been carrying it for a long time,,Doc was still getting shined an waiting for engines then.
Possibly the most impressive thing I've ever witnessed especially good camera work
Thanks for watching!
@@rockymountains2261 Awesome
Damn! These guy are so fortunate to be able to fly this awesome piece of history. It has to be very special indeed.
What a wonderful machine greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Thanks for watching!
Nice to see history flying. Not to many of the men or the warbirds left.
It is very interesting! Thank you for the video! Especially if you consider that in the USSR they made a scrupulous copy of the B-29 - the Tu-4 plane, it turns out that I saw here what an American plane looks like, and what a Soviet one was. I saw its size - it was large, I saw the famous manhole in the tail compartment, I saw the crew's workplaces and their work, I saw how ridiculous civilians look in this combat vehicle. It is a matter of respect that such a well-deserved plane still flies. Health and a peaceful sky to all of us! 👍☺
Корабль классный, рабочее месть бортинженера поразило. Как не крути, B-29 настоящий Корабль.The ship is cool, the flight engineer's work place amazed.
Isso não é um navio , é um avião.
NICE, “could have, should have” back in the “ Confederate AirForce” days! Thanks for the video!!🇺🇸🇺🇸
wow, what an experience that must be
I LOVE YOU
Amazing video! I consider myself a lucky guy, I've made two flights in a row in the Aluminum Overcast B-17, at Columbus-Ohio, in 2014. Very nice to see now how its like to fly in a B-29!
What an honor it must be to be selected as a pilot for this incredible piece of history! Fantastic restoration. While interesting, the photographer spent too much time on the flight engineer.
And the leggy lady in the back. She ruined it.
So beautiful. What an incredible flight deck!
Ild friend of mine was the Radio operator on B29 Incendiary Blonde stationed on Tinian Island. Great guy. Cool video
Thanks for the info
In 2002 or 2003, I believe, Fifi was in Bowling Green, KY, for the weekend. I had the privilege to climb up into the cockpit and hear a WW2 B29 crewman speak of his experiences flying out of Saipan and over Japan. He and his crew were among the last to be sent to the Pacific and fly actual bombing missions. By this late stage of the war, the new recruits were mostly 18 year olds straight out of high-school who had turned 19 by the time they reached Saipan. If I remember correctly, his crew had 10 men age 19 and one man age 26. The 26 year old was immediately nicknamed Grandad by the rest of the crew. The old gentleman said words to the effect, "Can you imagine sending out the biggest bomber in the world on a bombing mission, 2900 miles round trip, with a crew of 19 year old boys?" He just boggled my mind.
The conversation would have been awesome to hear between these guys
Beautiful aircraft. It seems so strange to see the pilots sitting so far back.
Maybe because of the fisheye lens?
Actually, the bombardier was the most important person on the crew. The pilots merely took him to the target so the bomb toggler gets the best seat.
I'm impressed by the skill of the air crew flying this great old War bird. I was thinking while I was watching this about the air crews that went up day after day to bomb Japan or Germany. Truly the Greatest Generation.
The Greatest Generation, probably would have all gotten vaccinated in the first 48 hours after the government recommended it as good for the country. Today - The Least Great Generation.
@@rideon6140 yes they would have..and back then the govt would have tested it properly, and not just used it to kill off the population..in the name of profits...after the politicians invested in big pharma to push the agenda..so they could get richer off it.
Got to fly in a KC-97 while in the Air Force in the 60s and the cockpit layout was very similar to this. FIFI is based Ft. Worth about five miles from our house and flies over a couple of times a month.
BOMBS AWAY! AMAzing ride,,,THANKS FELLAS!
WW2 Legend ❤
Thanks so much for sharing this 👍🇺🇸
Cracking! So roomy & a deathly hush. The 'stick' is such a primitive thing. The engineer deals with all the dials & the Skip just plays with the stick thing. Simple.
Gotta love it when the planes going one way and the tiller is pointed the opposite way.
What a beautiful view of B-29 cockpit.
Thanks for watching!
Cockpit like the Millenium Falcon in Star Wars, they should make commercial airlines nowadays with this view. :-) Great Video :-)
Amazing just amazing. I was blown away by the scary view, but totally impressed with the crews flying skills.
Incredible !
It’s amazing we made that in the 40s
the sound the engines make at take off is awesome
Lovely descending sound on the landing rollout. Thanks for sharing.
I worked at a house and there were B29 pics all over the house, the owner I became friends with her husband was on crew with the Enola Gay, I sat for a while and was beyond fascinated with great stories!
I've never been inside a B-29 but I have sat in the cockpits of B-17's and B-24s....the interior of this aircraft is like a two bedroom condo compared to those two aircraft. The amount of space really surprised me, most WWII aircraft are very cramped. The B-29 really did ring in a new era!
It's strange though to watch a PIC flying an aircraft without manipulating or even having access to the throttles, pitch controls etc.
I flew in Navy P2V's in the 70's out of Okinawa, I loved the nose seat.
Nice video! The B-29 aka DOC files over my place all the time. I've got some really good pictures of Doc flying. I live 1 mile away from Doc's Hanger, Education and Visiting Center here in Wichita, Kansas. There's only two airworthiness B-29's in the world, FiFi and Doc.
Such a great video! Great Dads flying an iconic bird!) Love it!) Thanks!
Waaawwwww l ambiance qui doit y avoir à l intérieur de ce cockpit doit être magique !!!
Incroyable voyage dans le temps
Merci beaucoups!
That’s amazing!!! One of me all time favorite bomber of all times. Hardcore pilots and crew he flew them back in the day Thank you armed forces
Absolutely brilliant!!
Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it!
Sir. We've just had a message on the CRM113 ! Tranlsates to Wing Attack Plan R.
Is that you, Goldie? How many times have I told you, no horsin' around on the airplane.
Purity of essence, Mandrake!
Nice reference, but Maj. Kong was flying a B-52, not a B-29.
With FiFi and Doc being the only two remaining flight worthy B-29's left is truly awesome and yet sad at the same time and I'd sure love to see a B-50 return to flight condition to show the lineage of the B-29 line.
Great cockpit footage, I am amazed just how big the B29's cockpit is.
Thanks for watching. There was plenty of space for us to move around and observe the crew.
Most uneventful landing............ever. Awesome job 👍👍
The landing was so smooth I didn’t feel or hear a thing.
👍
Well it's noisy with engines running so we can't tell otherwise. And you certainly won't feel anything? Unless you have a special app!
What a beautiful piece of history.
amazing skills to fly a Machine like this !!!! Thanks for sharing
This is when America was America with it industrial might and engineering talent. Most things in this plane was cutting edge technology that had to be designed and produced from scratch. And all made here in USA. If it was made today, it would either fall out of skies like 787max or it would have the label “designed in USA, but made in China”.
The original aircraft as delivered was lees than acceptable. From WIKIPEDIA - "Changes to the production craft came so often and so fast that in early 1944, B-29s flew from the production lines directly to modification depots for extensive rebuilds to incorporate the latest changes. AAF-contracted modification centers and its own air depot system struggled to handle the scope of the requirements. Some facilities lacked hangars capable of housing the giant B-29, requiring outdoor work in freezing weather, further delaying necessary modification. By the end of 1943, although almost 100 aircraft had been delivered, only 15 were airworthy." The full story is here. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress
The cocpit looks like what you see on the YT freighter.
What a dream to pilot this, you guys are lucky all right.
I've actually been on board that same aircraft but didn't get to fly in her. It was on display in manassas Virginia at the airport there when I got climb up into the bomber "FiFi" and sat in the left hand seat during the tour I got th take of the B-29 Superfortess "FiFi"
Brilliant ❤️ Posting , Appreciate your time ❤️🙏
I am Japanese. My grandmother died in a bomb dropped by this bomber. May b29 fly in the peaceful sky forever.
Боже как это круто)что восстановили такой старый самолет)правда он как и Ту -4 очень неуклюжий)но очень классный! Спасибо за видео
Пожалуйста. Спасибо за просмотр.
Pozhaluysta. Spasibo za prosmotr.
extremely powerful influential aviation figures of all time in history
Thank you for posting this perspective!
Despite having 1k likes you still get 1mill views keep the good work up
Love the responsiveness (not!) Of the control inputs!!! 90 deg of wheel on and a s l o w response about 10 secs later!!!
Yeah - he was definitely sawing on the wheel during the entire approach.
That's the difference between newer hydraulics controls vs CABLE actuated Control surfaces.. Pilot FLIES much more by muscle input and feel!
Incredible and awesome 👍👍