Siouxland Magazine - Volume 1 Issue 4

Siouxland Magazine | Enjoy / 62
FIFI – The B29 Superfortress will fly into Siouxland
By Jacques Robitaille and Pamela Mickelson
Get ready to rumble in Siouxland! The rumble of
engines from one of the rarest World War II bombers,
the B-29 Superfortress FIFI will be heard over the skies of
Siouxland in August when she visits Sioux Gateway Airport
as part of the AirPower History Tour of the Commemorative
Air Force. The event is being held in partnership with the
Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation.
The bomber is to be accompanied by a T-6 Texan and a PT-
13 Stearman.
The Boeing B-29 was the most advanced four-engine
bomber of WWII and featured many innovations such as
a pressurized cockpit, remote-control computerized firecontrol
system that operated four machine gun turrets,
and onboard radar. It was the most expensive weapons
project undertaken by the United States during the war,
costing more than $3 billion, which exceeded the cost of
the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb.
The bomber could fly higher, 31,850 feet, than any other
bomber of the period and had a top speed of 350 miles
per hour.
Superfortresses were used in the China-Burma-India Theater
and in the Pacific Theater of Operations where their range
could take the air war to Japan. Hundreds of B-29s at a time
would make the 3,000-mile round-trip from the islands of
Guam, Saipan, and Tinian on missions lasting anywhere
from 12 to 18 hours.
On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic
bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, the B-29 Bockscar,
dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Those two
missions led to the end of the war and the surrender ceremony
on the deck of the USS Missouri on September 2 with 525
B-29s flying overhead in a show of force.
FIFI is one of only two flying B-29s in the world. She was
acquired by the CAF in 1971 from the U.S. Navy Proving
Grounds in China Lake, California. After a three-year restoration
she began touring in 1974 and has been entertaining air show
audiences across the country ever since.
Known as the “Pilotmaker,” the T-6 Texan was an advanced
flight trainer manufactured by North American Aviation, the
same company that built the P-51 Mustang fighter. First flown
in 1935, the T-6 introduced new pilots to a complex aircraft
with more speed, 200-plus miles per hour, to prepare them
for the warbirds they would fly in combat in WWII. The T-6
was designed for an instructor and student, and had a closed
cockpit. Airshow fans may notice the T-6 serving the CAF as
an impersonator---several of the airplanes have been slightly
modified and painted as Japanese torpedo bombers and
fighters for the Tora, Tora, Tora re-enactment of the attack on
Pearl Harbor.
The Boeing PT-13 was the primary flight trainer for all
branches of the military during World War II. Officially named
the Boeing Model 75, this plane is almost universally known