Doc the B-29 Superfortress and the sixteen-year restoration that dragged a bomber out of the Mojave Desert and back into the sky

B-29 serial number 44-69972, known as “Doc,” is one of only two Boeing B-29 Superfortresses still flying anywhere in the world. Built in Wichita, Kansas, in 1944, the bomber spent decades rotting in the Mojave Desert before a volunteer-driven restoration spanning sixteen years returned her to the sky on July 17, 2016. The project consumed hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and millions of dollars in donations — and it was accomplished almost entirely by retirees, many of them former Boeing employees who had built B-29s on the same Wichita production line during the war.

How Did Doc End Up in the Desert?

Like many warbirds from the Second World War, Doc became surplus almost as soon as the shooting stopped. She was shuffled through training and testing assignments before being sent to the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California — deep in the Mojave Desert. There, she sat for decades among other decommissioned aircraft the Navy had used for weapons testing.

By the time anyone thought to save her, she was in rough shape. No engines. No propellers. Windows smashed out. Sand drifting through the fuselage. To most observers, she was scrap metal.

Who Saved Doc?

In 1987, an aviation enthusiast named Tony Mazzolini from Cleveland spotted the derelict B-29 at China Lake. Where others saw a hulk, Mazzolini saw a bomber that could fly again.

Getting permission from the Navy to remove the aircraft took years of paperwork and negotiation. In 1998, Doc was finally disassembled and trucked out of the Mojave on flatbed trailers, making the journey back to Wichita — the city where she had been built more than fifty years earlier.

What Made the Restoration So Difficult?

The B-29 Superfortress was one of the most complex piston-engine aircraft ever produced. Restoring one presented challenges on a scale most people never consider:

Engines: Four Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone radial engines, each producing 2,200 horsepower. Each engine has 18 cylinders arranged in two rows, with 36 spark plugs per engine — 144 spark plugs total for the aircraft. Every cylinder required inspection, overhaul, or replacement, and finding usable engine cores meant tracking down parts from museums, collectors, and abandoned restoration projects across the country.
Propellers: Four 16-foot-6-inch Hamilton Standard four-bladed propellers, each requiring dye penetrant crack inspection on every blade, rebuilt hubs, and overhauled governors.
Pressurization: The B-29 was the first production bomber with a pressurized cabin. Every seal, gasket, and section of the pressure vessel had to be evaluated after decades of desert exposure. The crew tunnel connecting the forward and rear pressurized compartments over the bomb bays required complete restoration.
Electrical and avionics: Miles of original 1940s-vintage wiring, all compromised by fifty years in the desert. The instrument panel was rebuilt with period-correct gauges. Flight controls were rigged and tested. Hydraulic, fuel, and oxygen systems all had to be brought back from nothing.
Parts sourcing: B-29 production ended in 1946. The tooling was scrapped decades ago. Every corroded or missing component had to be fabricated from scratch or scavenged from other derelict airframes scattered around the country.

Who Did the Work?

The volunteer crew called themselves Doc’s Friends. Many were retirees — former Boeing employees who had originally built B-29s on the Wichita production line during the war. Some were in their seventies and eighties, showing up at the restoration hangar day after day, year after year.

The project ran on a shoestring budget funded by merchandise sales, fundraisers, and grants. There were stretches when it looked like the effort might collapse. Funding would dry up. Key volunteers passed away before seeing the airplane completed. The scope of the remaining work seemed impossible.

They kept going anyway.

When Did Doc Fly Again?

Ground testing and engine runs revealed a new wave of problems — systems that worked on the bench didn’t always cooperate when integrated into the airframe. The FAA had to certify a seventy-year-old bomber as airworthy, a process with no shortcuts.

Taxi tests came first. Doc rolled under her own power at Wichita’s Colonel James Jabara Airport, with volunteers lining the taxiway.

On July 17, 2016 — nearly three decades after Mazzolini first spotted her and sixteen years after she arrived in Wichita in pieces — Doc took off. The pilot was Charlie Tilghman, a retired Air Force B-1 and B-2 bomber pilot who had also flown Fifi, the Commemorative Air Force’s other B-29. He advanced the four throttles, and 1,812 cubic inches per engine came alive as Doc climbed into the Kansas sky for the first time since the Eisenhower administration.

Some of the original Boeing workers who had started the restoration were gone by then. Their work lived on in every rivet, wire, and fitted panel.

Why Does Having Two Flying B-29s Matter?

Before Doc’s restoration, Fifi — airborne since 1971 through the Commemorative Air Force (originally the Confederate Air Force) — was the only flying B-29 in the world. Out of nearly 4,000 B-29s built during the war, just one could still take to the air.

Doc doubled that number to two. The practical significance is real: these are old, complex, maintenance-intensive machines. When Fifi goes down for scheduled work, Doc can still fly the airshow circuit, keeping the history visible and audible. The sound of four R-3350s at full power is distinctive — deeper and more complex than any other piston engine noise, felt in the chest before it registers in the ears.

Where Is Doc Today?

Doc is based at her own facility near Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita. Doc’s Friends built a dedicated hangar and education center where visitors can view the aircraft, learn about the B-29’s role in the war, and meet the volunteers who made the restoration possible. She flies regularly on the airshow circuit.

The restoration of Doc took longer than World War II itself and cost more in adjusted dollars than the original aircraft cost to build. It stands as one of the most ambitious volunteer-driven aircraft restorations ever completed.

Key Takeaways

Doc (B-29 serial number 44-69972) is one of only two flying B-29 Superfortresses in the world, restored almost entirely by volunteers over sixteen years.
Tony Mazzolini identified the derelict bomber at China Lake in 1987; the aircraft was trucked to Wichita in 1998 and flew again on July 17, 2016.
The restoration required rebuilding four Wright R-3350 engines, fabricating or scavenging parts from a production line that closed in 1946, and satisfying FAA airworthiness requirements for a seventy-year-old bomber.
Many of the volunteer restorers were former Boeing employees who had built B-29s on the same Wichita line during World War II.
Doc is based at Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita and flies the airshow circuit regularly — a living memorial to the crews who flew B-29s in combat.