Page 2 - Chapter Chatter EAA 78

CHAPTER CHATTER, EAA Chapter 78 2

January 5, 2017 – He was a legend. To hear the “Over 350,000-plus volunteer hours is all it took to put
stories of R.A. “Bob” Hoover’s life, one might think they over a million pieces back together,” T.J. said as he
were reading a movie script. Any one story is opened the crew hatch to allow us an opportunity to
interesting enough, but they are all details in the life of step back in time.
one man. He was a gentleman!
What we saw inside astounded us. I was invited to sit
in the pilot’s seat, at the controls of a brand new B-29
with less than 12 hours’ flight time on it and could not
help but stare ahead through the huge glass nose,
wondering what it must have been like to pilot one of
these bombers. All around us, everything we touched
and looked at transported us to 1945.

We hope you agree when you look at the photos that
accompany this short story. But we promise there will
be much more from EAA on Doc, with a feature story
about it first flights in a future issue of Sport Aviation.
For now, imagine being inside the photos, strap
yourself into this historic treasure, close your eyes, and
dream. With a little luck, you may even see two B-29s
together at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017.

CLICK THE PICTURE

Doc Checkup – My last Doc checkup was more
than two and a half years ago. Not a very smart or
health-conscious way to go through life if you want to
maintain a fit lifestyle. However, this checkup had
nothing to do with my blood pressure, pulse, or overall
health condition; this was about visiting the newly
restored Boeing B-29 Superfortress called Doc.
In early December 2016, myself and EAA
photographer Erin Brueggen traveled to Wichita,
Kansas, where we were invited to inspect, photograph,
and crawl through one of only two airworthy B-29s in
the world, which has been lovingly restored over the
last 16 years by a group of volunteers affectionately
known as “Doc’s Friends.”
The last time I laid eyes on Doc, it was completely
engineless, with a bare interior and a large hangar full
of pieces and parts that needed to be restored or
remanufactured, and re-installed. When I last spoke to
T.J. Norman, flight operations director/chief of
maintenance, he told me it was like “eating an elephant
— one bite at a time!”

Now, slowly gazing over the shining and meticulously
polished example of Boeing’s mighty World War II
bomber, sitting on the same ramp where it was built in
March 1945, I was amazed by not only its
transformation, but the accomplishments of a group of
dedicated volunteers.