June 3, 2002 Pelican's Perch #56 Supplement:
Randy Sohn on the B-29 |
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June 3, 2002
FROM: Col. R. L. Sohn — CAF, Chief Check Pilot — Bombers
TO: Tina Stewart — Editor Dispatch, 15 Jan 94
Dear Tina,
I just received the Winter issue of the Dispatch, the publication
looks better each issue. Sometime I should show you some of the CAF stuff I've
saved going back to 1965 if you don't already have access to it.
While reading, I noticed a few things that caused me to reminisce about the
trip and the people. I thought I might add a few insights and corrections to
make things technically accurate.
In "Mail Call" Jack Myers mentions watching our activities at China
Lake Naval Weapons Test Center while preparing "Fifi" for the trip to
Harlingen. He mentions that records indicate the USN received several more B-29s
than were requested. I'd really like to know more about those records, we were
told at the time that the Navy had burned all the B-29 records since they were
not considered to be aircraft. That appears to be the reason the USN insisted
they didn't have any B-29s in their possession.
Vic Agather, however, kept insisting that they must have because Roger Baker
had seen them. Finding a B-29 was very important to the CAF, Lloyd Nolen's
vision of a completed collection could only be satisfied with this acquisition.
(I'll leave for another time or story just exactly what was Roger doing
on/over/in the vicinity of a secret military installation.)
In truth, everyone turned out to be partly right after all had been said and
done. The USAF had disposed of them in 1954 as "Government issued property
- aircraft" and the USN had taken them on strength as "Government
issued property — static ordinance testing devices."
So technically, the USN was right, they didn't have any B-29s. They did,
however, have nearly fifty "devices" appropriately identified on their
computer inventory lists as "targets." They had silently slept for
seventeen years, abandoned with controls unlocked, at the mercy of the wind and
the desert. As an aside, I once mentioned to our airline's chief pilot, Art
Hinke (USNR), how fortuitous it was that they were used as targets by the USN
instead of the USAF. Thusly allowing the CAF a choice of several relatively
unscathed airframes. I assume that observation will be good for several more
years of salty inter-service comments in the Officer's Club at Midland. (You
know, now that I give the matter some thought, the check rides did seem to get
tougher along about that time!)
At any rate, in large part due to the intensity of Vic Agather's perseverance
(another story), we finally did obtain an airframe, (#44-62070, tail # 31 while
at Randolph AFB) and after nine weeks of preparation, "Fifi" (yet
unnamed) was ready to leave for her new home. In the CAF tradition of first
things first, we purchased half a dozen spray cans, then masked and painted
"CONFEDERATE AIR FORCE" on both sides in 117º heat just in case it
might be the only time we ever flew her. I think the USN was very happy to have
someone else's markings on this derelict.
As Mr. Myers says, the numerous weapons firing ranges surrounding China Lake
NAS would become "hot" at 0800. The only communications was a portable
VHF radio hastily jumper wired to a spare terminal on the flight engineer's
panel. With the only navigational gear being a B-16 wet compass Lloyd Nolen
always claimed was "last swung over the Yalu River." I had an earnest
desire to "get gone." We were all highly trained, motivated and
equipped with freshly packed parachutes. We had spent a good portion of the
night pouring heavy weight non-detergent oil (only obtainable in quart cans in
Trona "just up that there highway over the next mountain towards Death
Valley") into the 80 gallon tanks.
Serendipity had intervened and the night before I had finally obtained a copy
of a flight manual for the B-29. In fact, a pre-flight picture hastily taken of
the flight crew shows it in my hand while we impatiently watched the nose wheel
changing process. You can imagine the consternation the nose tire caused when it
let go during the pre-start checklist. Well, never fear, this intrepid CAF
volunteer recovery crew had faced problems like this before. We had proud
traditions of the corps to uphold. (Doubters may refer to early CAF records
concerning the trials and tribulations of one M. L. "Lefty" Gardner
while single handedly saving various WW II fighters from Yankee smelters and
successfully returning them to the fledgling CAF at Mercedes.) In fact, a
perusal of the photo on page 64 of the hard cover 1975 CAF history book
indicates that Col. Culpepper, even while coping with the unrelenting pressures
of his daily duties at the Octagon, had providentially foreseen this exact
possibility. He had specifically charged Bruno Genarlsky and Bill Syfrett to act
as squad and brigade commanders of nocturnal scrounge and requisition units,
should exigencies of the service require. This well thought out process resulted
in a previously removed nose tire being carefully (it was the only one that
would hold air) selected and returned to service. It possessed a knobby type
tread pattern, providing some idea of its authenticity and vintage. Besides,
look at the bright side, the new one we had installed at vast expense had been
badly out of balance during the previous high speed taxi tests. And the old one
appeared to have a lot more experience too. At least more experience than most
of us did.
For example, Jack Kern had spent the previous months working on the airplane
as the main contractor for the renovation. He had flown as a flight engineer on
one before and he had enough confidence to come along with me. Pretty hard to
not trust a mechanic who'll come along on the first flight of something he
worked on. "Unh, wait a minute, we've got a problem, Jack doesn't have a
FAA flight engineer license." "W-e-l-l, Roger, you've got one from
your early days as a second officer on pistons at United, seems logical to me
that the combination of you two guys would make everything legal." And
combining experiences isn't all bad. After all, the B-29's gear and flap systems
are the same as the B-17 I'd been flying since we bought it from Litton for the
CAF in 1967. I'd flown R-3350s on DC-7s and was the chief pilot of a C-97
Stratocruiser squadron in the Air Guard and those two probably fly about the
same. Speaking further of experiences, Darrell Skurich had probably experienced
just about every aeronautical experience an experienced USAF fighter pilot and
crop duster could experience and still be alive and, while you might think this
amount of experience would be enough to convince him not to go, he was still
willing to come along — just for the experience! "Mac" McCafferty had
a plethora of experiences. He'd spent years in the USN and followed that by
working on virtually every kind of farm implement made by almost every
manufacturer including John Deere, International, Case, Massey-Harris, Gleaner
and several others. Besides, he had made his presence essential by the act of
saving all the used nuts, bolts, cotter keys and other AN hardware leftover
during the process of getting the old bird ready for the ferry flight.
We had read the part of the flight manual that mentioned magnesium fires in
the engines and the likelihood of only having about a minute before the wing
burned off. Lacking both an intercom system between the front and rear
compartments and a fire warning system I thought prudence dictated devising some
sort of procedure to cover this eventuality. After taking another look at the
date of repack on everyone's parachutes we divided the leftover nuts and bolts
into two coffee cans. I gave one to "Mac" and one to "Lefty"
after conducting accuracy tests on who could throw the can farthest and
straightest through the bomb bay crawlway tunnel, the only connection between
the front and rear of a B-29. The objective was that if the back half of the
crew saw something really B-A-A-D while performing their duties as engine
scanners (necessitating testing the manufacturer's return policy on the freshly
packed parachutes) they would throw their can of bolts through the tunnel as
hard as possible and then LEAVE! The same procedure would be used by the front
end crew. The only difference being that if the back end crew hesitated overly
long in leaving after receipt of the can of bolts from the front end, they would
abruptly find themselves promoted to in-command status, we would have already
left!
Now, a paragraph of seriousness in wanting to correct the most prevalent
misstatement usually made in the retelling of this odyssey's history. This
occurs in statements and books by various persons including CAF members. Usually
they say something like "due to the highly secret nature of the naval
installation the crew was prohibited from making a test flight". This is
absolutely the reverse of the truth. The officials insisted on a test flight, I
demurred as politely as possible. They again insisted and I finally had to make
the point that as the aircraft commander I was charged with the responsibility
of making this flight as safely and as responsibly as I possibly could. If I
ever got the thing in the air I wasn't landing anywhere but in Harlingen as long
as I still had mostly three engines. We finally agreed that they could launch a
military Cessna 310 ahead of us as a chase plane and he could scan us from the
bottom side after takeoff. This they did, we made one farewell circle of China
Lake and left for Texas.
The rest, as they say, is history. For the flight log, one voltage regulator
fire, one split oil pressure line on the engineer's panel and some crew
dissension concerning navigational matters once we got back above Texas soil. I
still say that for better part of an hour or more they didn't speak English as a
native tongue under our flight path, "Lefty" says not so. We'll never
know, who am I to argue, he's been flying over Texas as man and boy. 6 hours and
38 minutes later with all engines running we were home where we circled twice
while Dick Disney came up to meet us with Milt Connell's SNJ. With Jack Purnell
photographing from the rear seat they preserved Lloyd Nolen's and "Old
Rednose's" image for posterity on our wing while flying over Harlingen in a
rain shower. 2 Aug 71 — Mission complete — Collection complete!
A CBS television crew happened to be on the airport on another project and
filmed the arrival. When they asked me during the arrival celebration how much
pilot time I had in a B-29 I was able to look at my watch and nonchalantly
reply, "six hours and thirty eight minutes".
Subsequently I figured out from flying the King Cobra and the Mustang, and a
studious observation of fighter pilots, that it was a lot easier to get a one
person crew (me) ready to go somewhere than six or more people so I made a swap
with Dick Disney. I gave him the B-29 flight manual and he gave me a P-47
checkout. Dick got the training program described in the CAF history portion of
this Dispatch set up and operating. On page 24 Chuck's last name is
misspelled, it should be Bronson. Both he and Joe were both very helpful as FAA
representatives over the years with the B-29 training programs we've conducted.
We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Sen. Barry Goldwater for his
stalwart support and help in the nearly superhuman efforts Vic Agather had to go
through with the USAF and bureaucracy to subsequently get the "no-fly"
clause removed from this aircraft.
Happily, "Fifi" still soldiers on in CAF service. In 1978 she
initiated the program now known as "Summer Tours" of various CAF
aircraft by successfully (financially, that is) touring Dayton and St. Paul. At
Oshkosh '89 I was able to take the Soviet crew from the gigantic Antonov 124
along with me in "Fifi" where I found that the aircraft commander,
Vladimir Tersky, had flown the TU-4 "Bull" (Soviet copy of the B-29)
over nineteen hours as a student test pilot.
Now, the disclaimers. Certain names have not been changed to protect the
innocent, there are none. Immunity has been granted by the Chief Check Pilot and
the Chief Check Pilot — Bombers. Also, I should mention that I have been
informed by competent legal counsel that the statute of limitations has long ago
expired
Best regards to all, see you in February — Randy
FROM: Col. R. L. Sohn — CAF Chief Check Pilot — Bombers
TO: Editor, CAF Dispatch 11 Jun 95 (8)
Dear Tina,
A few months ago when we were getting FIFI ready to go to Montreal you
requested that I write some of my thoughts on "what it's like to fly FIFI
on her 50th anniversary" for the next Dispatch. The word "unique"
(according to Webster — one of a kind) would certainly apply to her, especially
since the unfortunate demise of the "Kee Bird" in Greenland.
In the process of trying to decide on some sort of format for this article
one probably couldn't go too far wrong in following the example that "Buddy
Jo Freon" of the California Wing has used while expertly chronicling the
history of his favorite (the famed P-51) for the Dispatch. On the other hand I
may be handicapped somewhat by having flown the thing a fair amount over the
last 24 years since the China Lake recovery expedition so I can't honestly say
it's the best flying bomber.
Queen of the fleet? Undeniably! But this last of the completely muscle
powered manually controlled aircraft could never be accused of easy handling
flight control qualities. Boeing had experimented with a powered flight control
system on the earlier model 307 Stratoliner. However, from the conversations
I've had with those pilots it left something to be desired in the control
regime, even for those aeronautically primitive times, and wasn't used on the
essentially same B-17. Maybe you'll get some mail from retired TWA pilots about
this and that's great, maybe we can share their input. Anyhow, rather than write
this as a historian, I think I'll just try to share with the reader some
impressions and observations, trying to provide a little bit of a "you were
there" experience for them.
We've already discussed many times how FIFI was found and made ready for the
ferry flight home in 1971. I had talked extensively with several former B-29
pilots at North Central Airlines about the characteristics and idiosyncrasies I
could expect with this relic. In fact, I'd discussed with a couple of them
(whose abilities I held in high regard) the possibility of accompanying me on
this recovery of an artifact abandoned to the desert's tender mercies for the
preceding seventeen years. This usually resulted in a hastily offered "Unh,
Randy, I just remembered I've got an appointment, five minutes ago!" They
probably remembered all too well the engine fires and overheating, the failures,
the runaways and all those things that make good war stories — from a safe
distance and time. Seriously, they'd done their part — for real — and now it
was up to us to get the aircraft that would complete the CAF collection home in
one piece. And really, how could you say "No" to Vic Agather after
he'd put a small fortune of his own into seeing this project accomplished. Well,
actually, now that I give the matter some thought, half of it belonged to Fifi
(Mrs. Agather) but the esteem I hold for both of them would have made it
impossible to turn either of them down.
So, there we were at China Lake NAS on an August morning with a hand held
radio and a flight manual acquired only a few hours earlier, six of us finally
ready and eager to be gone. Earlier, one whole day had been spent arguing with
the Van Nuys FSDO over my absolute need for a six man crew to accomplish the
mission safely and their equally strong conviction that three crew members were
enough for the ferry. Like almost everything else about this aircraft, the FAA's
knowledge of the unique fire problems of the B-29 and need for scanners was
extinct. We'd spent the previous several days running and high speed taxiing it
and were as sure as you could be of pulling the whole scheme off. Between the
DC-7, the B-17 and the C-97 Stratocruiser, I'd flown the engines, the systems
and the airframe. Looking at the bright side, once we got it in the air we'd
probably have close to seven hours to discuss the landing. We were very intent
on minimizing our ground operation time knowing that the B-29's engines were
chronic overheaters. The ground temp at 0730 (after the last minute delay caused
by the flat nosewheel tire) was already in the low 90s.
In retrospect, probably the most valid observance had been Pete Wahl's advice
that the B-29 would have a tendency to track towards the left if all throttles
were simultaneously advanced. He remembered a common technique had been to start
the takeoff with the airplane pointed somewhat towards the right side of the
runway. This allowed an earlier throttle application as you took advantage of
the left turning tendency. FIFI strongly displayed this tendency and here it
strongly resembles the P-51 in characteristics and rudder forces. In spite of
full right rudder from the beginning we were past 100 MPH before I was able to
use full throttles on the right side. I've often described the aircraft in
political terms as having "leftist" tendencies from the beginning.
Subsequently, we've worked on the rudder rigging and noticed improvement. You
have to remember these airplanes were abandoned in the desert winds with the
controls unlocked for many years. A definite raising of the nose to cause
liftoff at approximately 120 MPH is required. Left to its own devices a B-29's
nosewheel will remain on the ground, resulting in the mains levitating first,
especially if 25º flaps is used instead of the normal 15º. After takeoff the
most immediate requirement is to get as much airspeed for cylinder head cooling
as possible — right now — by holding it down. This is done at the expense of
altitude acquisition and is the exact opposite of everything we teach and hold
sacred in today's turbine air carrier operations.
Now fast forward almost seven hours to the landing at Harlingen. Lloyd Nolen
had met us over the field in "Rednose" to look us over from a tight
wing position. I've always regretted not asking him to describe his feelings
when he saw Confederate Air Force on the upper fuselage sides. We'd painted that
with spray cans in 117º heat the day before, not knowing if we'd ever be
permitted to fly the thing more than once. After a few circles we entered
downwind and encountered another situation that caused an abrupt rise in
adrenaline (at least mine). I called for gear down and assumed it would take
about the same amount of time it does in a B-17 or C-97. Wrong! I turned base
and both mains still weren't green. Visions of hand cranking or worse, a belly
landing after coming that far, started to intrude on my thoughts. Finally we got
the green lights and another characteristic became a known, along with the slow
retraction (which we would have noticed if we hadn't been so busy on takeoff).
This is a very similar situation to those of you that fly both the earlier
Bonanza and the Baron as concerns the different rate of gear actuation between
the two.
The perspective from the pilot's seat deserves mentioning . Some pilots have
more trouble than others with the all-glass nose in front of them. Many pilots
attempting their first landing in FIFI have had trouble getting it on the runway
centerline. This in spite of telling them several times during the final
approach that they are lined up with the left gear out in the grass to the left
of the concrete. Normal landings can be made with either 80% or full flaps. The
aircraft has more of a tendency to land nosewheel first with full flaps and in
fact, the first landing at Harlingen occurred this way. We used to do our short
field landings this way with the C-97s, touching down precisely where we
desired, although the USAF certainly viewed it with a jaundiced eye. With 25O of
flaps as normally used in a crosswind it's fairly easy to strike the tailskid
bumper. Any scrape marks on this heavy iron forging requires a round of beer for
the crew! Threshold speed varies with weight but a good average is 120 MPH. Some
like to use two hands for landing, relying on the engineer to promptly set the
manifold pressure called for by the pilot. Others prefer controlling the
throttles themselves. The really important thing is to make the airplane assume
the attitude the pilot wants for landing, regardless of the control forces
required. A moderate amount of elevator trim applied prior to the roundout is
helpful. Some later B-29s had reversible props, however, this was pretty much a
mixed blessing considering the lack of nosewheel steering. The brakes are
powerful and are typically delayed to take full advantage of the runway length,
minimizing expense and wear. Brakes currently cost a lot, tires cost (each)
around a couple thousand. It might be noted here that the only hydraulic units
on the aircraft are the brakes, powered by a small electric motor driving a
hydraulic pump. This is the reason for the small auxiliary power unit (APU)
being available for taxiing, takeoffs and landings as the aircraft generators
fall off line at lower RPMs.
Some mention was made above of the flight engineer on this aircraft. This
person is arguably the most important member of the crew and, in truth, is the
only member of the crew requiring a specific professional rating on their FAA
certificate. Pilots do not possess a FAA type rating for the B-29 on our
certificate, instead we operate with a separate FAA Letter of Authorization.
This is because no B-29 was ever civil type certificated, leaving us to operate
in the Experimental category. The engineer reached the apex of his art on this
aircraft along with others of this vintage such as the B-50, the C-97
Stratocruiser and the Lockheed Constellation. The B-29 engineer's seat is
particularly difficult for a pilot acclimated individual because all throttles,
mixtures and controls are arranged 4-3-2-1, the theory being that the levers are
arranged in the same order as the engines for a person seated backwards. In
addition, the mixtures are moved to the rich position by pulling and to idle
cut-off by pushing. Vic Agather, who was there at the beginning, has said that
by the time they flew the second prototype they realized that the backwards seat
was a mistake. It should have been sideways but the whole program was on such a
rush basis that there simply wasn't time to change it.
Right at the beginning in 1971 we chose to disable the alternating current
(AC) electrical systems since it is rather nonessential for our limited
purposes. Obviously, doing so has removed the normal turbo supercharger control
capability from this aircraft. We do find ourselves somewhat limited in altitude
and higher weight takeoff capabilities due to this lack but the economic
compromise seems worthwhile. I did make one takeoff from Carswell AFB with
turbos operating, probably in the late seventies. We had found free gas and it
seemed too good of a deal to pass it up. Loaded to the gunnels with over 6000
gallons we set the turbo wastegates before start using the emergency direct
current (DC) control system and then took off with full power. After takeoff the
engineer opened the turbo gates with this system and we then proceeded back to
Harlingen with our booty.
This seems like an appropriate time to devote some attention to a few of the
memories and anecdotes experienced over the years while displaying this machine
to a nationwide audience. The most important thing I didn't know but learned
from listening to hundreds of people is that the wartime B-29 program involved a
vast, yet little known, cottage manufacturing effort. Many people have related
to me their small part in a program that was immense and complicated and whose
successful completion depended upon a multiplicity of small parts arriving at
any one of four different factories — and fitting perfectly! The Cornelius
brothers, who had been making beverage and bar service equipment, suddenly found
themselves developing and manufacturing the tiny air compressors used for
powering the bomb bay doors. Propeller blades were manufactured in the
Hippodrome on the Minnesota state fairgrounds. A pipe organ company had
experience in controlling air precisely through air valves so — who better to
design and build the bomb bay door actuators.
The USN burned the records and logbooks, however some of her history still
surfaces in bits and pieces from time to time. A former USAF mechanic wrote me
that he had been the crew chief on tail #33 at Randolph AFB, his friend was the
crew chief on #31 (FIFI). This was during the period when they were being used
to practice bomb Matagorda Island. He said that many Mustang engines were used
up trying to catch the B-29s at high altitudes. It is also true that a B-29 will
turn rather rapidly when rudder (in prodigious amounts) is used in conjunction
with full aileron. This was the technique used to duplicate Paul Tibbets quick
right turn when we were filming "The Enola Gay Story" around 1980.
What evolved into the summer tours of the CAF's aircraft, along with those of
many other museums, all started in 1978 when Vic Agather asked if I could
arrange some sort of mini-airshow involving the B-29. His idea was to minimize
the flying (and associated expense) and just make the airplane available to the
public. I still recall the elation I felt when George Wedekind of the Dayton
Airfair agreed to underwrite $3000 of the anticipated $7000 gasoline costs if
we'd stop in Dayton on the way to St. Paul. In a frantic month and a half I
approached several TV and radio stations here in the Twin Cities to try and make
this idea work. I also remember being so unprepared for the obvious question
regarding more information that I blurted out our home telephone number during a
TV interview. There simply wasn't any other number available, good bye to
tranquillity for the next month. Phillips Petroleum also had some questions in a
telephone call to my home phone from their Bartlesville billing office
concerning whether I had really intended to put several thousand dollars of av-gas
on my 66 charge card! Oh well, all's well that ends well, from this has sprung
the annual Southern Minnesota Wing's Downtown St. Paul Airport show, along with
all the other tours mentioned above.
A rather vivid memory is Oshkosh 89. When we arrived we saw a gigantic Soviet
Antonov AN 124 towering over everything on the show ramp. A compressed history
of the ensuing details would show that during one of the afternoon airshows the
Antonov landed and then, during reversing, displayed the American flag from the
co-pilot's side window. This was extremely impressive to the crowd since, at
that period in history, relations between our two nations had only shown the
beginning of a thaw in their historical confrontation. A short while later I
happened to be involved in a discussion with Bob Hoover on another matter when
the perfect idea of how we could suitably respond suddenly occurred to me. If I
could find a Soviet flag we could then display both the American and the Soviet
flags to the crowd while giving the Soviet crew a ride on the biggest U. S.
showplane there! The only problem was how to get immediate General Staff
approval since I knew that surely someone, somewhere, would be bound to object.
I'll always remember Bob's quiet statement as I contemplated the impossibilities
of ever dealing with the logistics and obaining their approval in time. He said,
". . so sometimes you just need to act on your instincts, otherwise you'll
rue the day forever, wishing that you had!" So, on an impromptu basis we
issued the invitation, Mike Heuer of the International Aerobatics Club came up
with the only Soviet flag within several hundred miles and we flew the show. I
let Vladimir Tersky, aircraft commander of the Antonov, fly FIFI and I couldn't
figure out for the life of me why he could almost make this airplane talk after
only a few minutes at the controls. Later the interpreter explained to me that
we were more alike than I knew. Vladimir's age, experiences and background
almost matched mine, word for word. While he was a student at the Russian
equivalent of our Edwards test pilot school his instructor had given him his
class assignment — to test the Russian copy of the B-29. He had spent 19 hours
flying the Tupolev TU 4 "Bull". As Paul Harvey says, "now you
know the rest of the story!" We finished with the airboss requesting a
taxiing parade lap up and down the runway in front of the crowd (even delaying
the missing man formation) while displaying flags of the two nations from the
cockpit windows. The subsequent offer to come along with my new friend while we
flew the gigantic Antonov in the next day's airshow was the icing on the cake!
In the pits at the Reno races it's pretty common to see blackboards with
chalked answers to the most commonly asked questions of the day by passerbys. If
I were to do the same it'd probably look like this...
Greatest thrill? — flying with and requalifying Paul Tibbets at Harlingen in
1976 and watching this pro take to the B-29 like a "duck to water".
Paul hadn't been in a 29 since flying the "Enola Gay" at Orchard
Field, Chicago in 1949.
Greatest disappointment? — that Eddie Allen, famed Boeing test pilot, didn't
survive the B-29 test program during the war years so I could have talked to
another one of my heroes.
Most common misconception? — that the Seattle crash that killed Eddie and
his crew aboard the second prototype was caused by an engine fire. Very few
people realize that a testing manometer line installed in the wing leading edge
was involved with ignited fuel vented from the wing fuel tank.
Randy Sohn, #308
P.S. I know, I know! It's Buddy Joffrian but the first time Clay Lacy told
me over the phone that they'd meet us at March AFB when we interviewed Gen LeMay
it sounded the other way to me. Anyway, he writes great stuff about aviation
history!
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