First flight of B-29 bomber ‘Doc’ scheduled

The Wichita group restoring the Boeing B-29 Superfortress named Doc said Friday that the airplane is expected to make its first flight July 17.

“Hundreds of volunteers have spent thousands of hours working to restore this national treasure,” said Jim Murphy, Doc’s Friends restoration program manager, in a news release. “After 16 years of hard work, sweat, tears and tireless attention to detail, we are ready to fly.”

Doc’s Friends, the nonprofit group that owns the airplane, said the flight likely will happen in the early morning because of anticipated hot temperatures later in the day. It will fly from the non-join-use runway at McConnell Air Force Base in southeast Wichita.

It also cautioned that the July 17 date is subject to change because of weather conditions.

Doc’s Friends said it would provide details later where the public will be able to view the historic flight. The group said it will provide additional details on public viewing areas through the media and its website, b-29doc.com.

Volunteers have worked on restoring the Wichita-built bomber off and on since 2000. Boeing’s Wichita plant turned out 1,644 of the airplanes — best known as the bomber type that dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II in the Pacific.

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 2:42 PM with the headline "First flight of B-29 bomber ‘Doc’ scheduled."