Doc the B-twenty-nine Superfortress and the sixteen-year restoration that brought a Mojave Desert hulk back to the sky

Doc, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress (serial number 44-69972), is one of only two airworthy B-29s in the world. Built in Wichita, Kansas, in 1944, the bomber sat derelict at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California’s Mojave Desert for 40 years before a volunteer group called Doc’s Friends spent 16 years restoring her to flight. Doc flew again on July 17, 2016, from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita.

How Did a Desert Hulk Become a Flying B-29?

The B-29 that became Doc served with the 29th Bomb Group out of Guam, flying combat missions over Japan during World War II. After the war, she performed weather reconnaissance duty before being transferred to China Lake in 1956, where the Navy used B-29 airframes as target practice and ballistic test subjects.

Most of the B-29s at China Lake were beyond saving — bullet holes, collapsed landing gear, missing tails. But 44-69972 was in marginally better condition. The Mojave’s dry air and near-zero humidity had preserved the aluminum skin and structural bones far better than a humid climate would have.

Who Found Doc and Started the Restoration?

Tony Mazzolini, a quality inspector at a parts plant in Cleveland, Ohio, discovered the airframe in 1987. He had heard rumors about B-29s sitting in the desert and traveled to China Lake to see for himself. Mazzolini was no aviation mogul — just a warbird enthusiast who believed this particular airframe could be saved.

Getting permission to take the airplane proved to be its own marathon. The Navy owned the airframe, which sat on restricted military land. It took Mazzolini 11 years of paperwork, letters, and phone calls before the Navy finally released the aircraft in 1998.

There was a significant condition: the airplane could not be disassembled at China Lake. The fuselage had to come out whole. In 2000, the wingless, engineless fuselage was loaded onto a massive flatbed truck and hauled across the desert to the old Boeing plant in Wichita — the same facility where she had been built.

Who Were Doc’s Friends?

At Wichita’s Plant Two, a group of retired Boeing workers looked at the stripped-out hulk and volunteered to rebuild it. Many of these men had spent their careers building airplanes in that same factory. Some had worked on the original B-29 production line during the war.

They organized as Doc’s Friends, a nonprofit. The name referenced the airplane’s wartime nose art connection — during the war, a set of B-29s had been named after the Seven Dwarfs, and Doc was one of them.

The poetic symmetry was hard to miss: men in their seventies and eighties were running their hands along spar caps they might have riveted when they were nineteen years old.

What Made Restoring a B-29 So Difficult?

The B-29 Superfortress was the most technologically advanced bomber of World War II. At 141,000 pounds maximum gross weight with a 141-foot wingspan, powered by four Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone engines each producing 2,200 horsepower, this was not a simple restoration. It was an industrial project.

The Engine Problem

Wright R-3350 engines have not been manufactured since the late 1940s. Doc’s Friends had to locate four rebuildable cores scattered across the country — from boneyards, collectors, and through handshake deals in the warbird community.

Each engine required complete teardown and rebuild: 18 cylinders per engine, 72 cylinders total, each the size of a coffee can. New piston rings, new valve seats, every accessory overhauled or replaced. The reduction gearboxes alone weigh hundreds of pounds.

Propellers

The 16-foot-6-inch Hamilton Standard four-blade constant-speed propellers required individual blade inspection using dye penetrant and magnetic particle testing. At over 1,000 RPM, an invisible crack becomes a catastrophic failure.

Wing Spars

The center wing section carries the structural load of all four engines and the fuel. The team performed extensive non-destructive testing on every inch of the spars and fabricated repair doublers using original Boeing engineering data — stress analysis documents from the 1940s that some of the retired engineers had access to because they had worked on the original production line.

Pressurization System

The B-29 was the first production bomber with a pressurized cabin. Every seal, gasket, and check valve had to be replaced. While Doc would not fly pressurized, the structural integrity of the pressure vessel remained critical to the airframe.

Nose Glass

The B-29’s iconic greenhouse nose consists of multiple curved Plexiglas panels — every one of which was missing. New panels had to be formed using original tooling profiles, heated and bent to match the fuselage contour within fractions of an inch. Each panel is unique, and there is no off-the-shelf supplier.

Electrical System

Miles of wiring were rebuilt from scratch, with the additional challenge of integrating modern avionics — transponder and communications equipment required by the FAA — into 1944-era electrical architecture.

How Much Did the Restoration Cost?

The total restoration cost came in at approximately $4 to $5 million — remarkably modest given the scope. For context, a single new turboprop engine for a King Air costs over $1 million. Volunteer labor and donated tools made the difference.

Doc’s Friends funded the project through donations, merchandise sales, and events. There were dark stretches where money ran out or critical parts could not be found, and progress nearly stalled. Tony Mazzolini, who initiated the entire effort, did not live to see the first flight.

When Did Doc Fly Again?

On July 17, 2016, Doc lifted off from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita with experienced warbird pilots at the controls. It was her first flight in 60 years. Retired Boeing workers who had spent over a decade in the restoration hangar — sacrificing weekends, holidays, and birthdays — watched from the ramp.

Where Is Doc Now?

Doc is based at Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, housed in a purpose-built facility called the B-29 Doc Hangar and Education Center, which is open to the public. She flies regularly on the airshow circuit and occasionally appears in formation with Fifi, the Commemorative Air Force’s B-29 — the only time two flying Superfortresses can be seen together.

Out of nearly 4,000 B-29s built, only these two still fly.

Doc’s Friends continues to operate and maintain the aircraft. The Wright R-3350 engines demand extensive maintenance for every flight hour, and the volunteer crew keeps the airplane airworthy because they understand what a flying B-29 offers that no museum display can: the sound, the vibration, the smell of avgas and hot oil — a direct, visceral connection to history.

Key Takeaways

Doc (B-29 serial 44-69972) is one of only two flying B-29 Superfortresses in the world, restored by volunteers over 16 years.
Tony Mazzolini spent 11 years securing the airframe from the Navy before restoration even began at the original Boeing factory in Wichita.
Retired Boeing workers who built B-29s during WWII formed Doc’s Friends and rebuilt the aircraft using original engineering data, scrounged parts, and donated tools.
The restoration cost approximately $4–5 million, funded entirely through nonprofit donations and volunteer labor.
Doc has flown since July 17, 2016, and is based at Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, where the B-29 Doc Hangar and Education Center is open to visitors.