Corporate Pilot
Well-Known Member
I did not get this email until 4/11. Did not believe it and just researched it. It is a joke released by Aviation News Network on 4/1. Thought I would pass it on.
NASM Announces National Tour For Enola Gay
Famous Airplane Will Fly Again, Thanks To Extensive, Secret Renovation
The National Air and Space Museum made a surprising announcement
Thursday. In honor of the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII, the
NASM staff has
been secretly preparing the B-29 Enola Gay to make her airworthy for a
commemorative flight across the United States. The tour will begin
in June and
run through August. After the tour, the plane will be disassembled into
large pieces that will be shipped by a special train from the final tour stop
back to the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is at Dulles Airport in Washington,
DC. The announcement is being made to enable the warbird community as a
whole to modify the airshow schedule so that other WWII aircraft will be able
to participate in the historic event.
This will be a one-way trip that will be long-remembered by the warbird
and historical community.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and NASM Director Gen. John R. Dailey,
USMC (Ret),made the surprise joint announcement at a news conference at the
Udvar-Hazy Center Thursday. The media release indicated Dailey would be
talking about the building of another hangar at the Center to house more
aerospace artifacts, such as the famous Memphis Belle. That B-17F was
recently “
recalled” by the USAF Museum from its previous home on Mud Island in
Memphis, TN. But instead the media were surprised with the Enola Gay
announcement.
The itinerary will take the famous B-29 to some thirteen airports from one
coast to the other. Since the B-29 will not be carrying bombs (or an
A-bomb like she did in August, 1945), she will be able to make trips
of several
hundred miles at a time as she works her way across the Nation. Some of
the stops are at unlikely places, but because the time of the flight will
correspond with part of the summer airshow season, towns that are not on the
airshow circuit become logical choices for stops on the tour. The Enola Gay
will spend between two and four days at each stop, depending upon the size
of the crowds expected, and to give the crew time to rest and maybe do a
little fine-tuning and/or tinkering with the B-29.
The stop at Omaha, NE will be special, because the Enola Gay, while
designed by Boeing, was one of the 531 B-29 Superfortresses
manufactured by the
Glenn Martin Aircraft Company in Omaha. Col. Paul Tibbets, her chief pilot,
picked her off the assembly line himself, and named her “Enola Gay,” in
honor of his mother.
The stop at Salt Lake City, UT will include a special recognition of the
crew of the Enola Gay, and every other B-29 crew in the 509th Composite Bomb
Group. B-29 pilots trained for their top-secret bombing mission at
Wendover Air Force Base (now closed), about 60 miles from Salt Lake City.
The anniversary tour was conceived when the Enola Gay was undergoing a
complete restoration that began in the 1980s. Under the orders of the NASM
administrators, everything on the Enola Gay was restored to airworthy
condition. Wright R-3350 radial engines were test-run in the Garber
facility one
at a time in 2001, and NASM personnel explained to curious neighbors that
the racket the whole neighborhood had heard a few nights in a row was caused
by blown mufflers on a rented auxiliary generator that they had to use
during a “wiring problem”. In all, the restoration crew kept the actual
condition of the Enola Gay secret for over ten years.
Exxon Mobil and AeroShell will sponsor the national tour. Exxon has
donated all of the fuel and AeroShell will donate the oil, and Enola Gay will
need lots of both. "We're proud to be able to give America one more chance to
see this flying piece of history," Dailey said. "If it wasn't for this
airplane, America might not be the country she is today."
Itinerary:
* Andrews Air Force Base in DC
* Philadelphia, PA
* Richmond, VA
* Indianapolis, IN
* Lawrence, KS.
* Ft. Leavenworth, KS
* Omaha, NE
* Odessa, TX
* Longmont, CO
* Salt Lake City, UT
* Davis/Woodland/ Winters, CA
* Astoria, OR
* Yakima, WA
NASM Announces National Tour For Enola Gay
Famous Airplane Will Fly Again, Thanks To Extensive, Secret Renovation
The National Air and Space Museum made a surprising announcement
Thursday. In honor of the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII, the
NASM staff has
been secretly preparing the B-29 Enola Gay to make her airworthy for a
commemorative flight across the United States. The tour will begin
in June and
run through August. After the tour, the plane will be disassembled into
large pieces that will be shipped by a special train from the final tour stop
back to the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is at Dulles Airport in Washington,
DC. The announcement is being made to enable the warbird community as a
whole to modify the airshow schedule so that other WWII aircraft will be able
to participate in the historic event.
This will be a one-way trip that will be long-remembered by the warbird
and historical community.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and NASM Director Gen. John R. Dailey,
USMC (Ret),made the surprise joint announcement at a news conference at the
Udvar-Hazy Center Thursday. The media release indicated Dailey would be
talking about the building of another hangar at the Center to house more
aerospace artifacts, such as the famous Memphis Belle. That B-17F was
recently “
recalled” by the USAF Museum from its previous home on Mud Island in
Memphis, TN. But instead the media were surprised with the Enola Gay
announcement.
The itinerary will take the famous B-29 to some thirteen airports from one
coast to the other. Since the B-29 will not be carrying bombs (or an
A-bomb like she did in August, 1945), she will be able to make trips
of several
hundred miles at a time as she works her way across the Nation. Some of
the stops are at unlikely places, but because the time of the flight will
correspond with part of the summer airshow season, towns that are not on the
airshow circuit become logical choices for stops on the tour. The Enola Gay
will spend between two and four days at each stop, depending upon the size
of the crowds expected, and to give the crew time to rest and maybe do a
little fine-tuning and/or tinkering with the B-29.
The stop at Omaha, NE will be special, because the Enola Gay, while
designed by Boeing, was one of the 531 B-29 Superfortresses
manufactured by the
Glenn Martin Aircraft Company in Omaha. Col. Paul Tibbets, her chief pilot,
picked her off the assembly line himself, and named her “Enola Gay,” in
honor of his mother.
The stop at Salt Lake City, UT will include a special recognition of the
crew of the Enola Gay, and every other B-29 crew in the 509th Composite Bomb
Group. B-29 pilots trained for their top-secret bombing mission at
Wendover Air Force Base (now closed), about 60 miles from Salt Lake City.
The anniversary tour was conceived when the Enola Gay was undergoing a
complete restoration that began in the 1980s. Under the orders of the NASM
administrators, everything on the Enola Gay was restored to airworthy
condition. Wright R-3350 radial engines were test-run in the Garber
facility one
at a time in 2001, and NASM personnel explained to curious neighbors that
the racket the whole neighborhood had heard a few nights in a row was caused
by blown mufflers on a rented auxiliary generator that they had to use
during a “wiring problem”. In all, the restoration crew kept the actual
condition of the Enola Gay secret for over ten years.
Exxon Mobil and AeroShell will sponsor the national tour. Exxon has
donated all of the fuel and AeroShell will donate the oil, and Enola Gay will
need lots of both. "We're proud to be able to give America one more chance to
see this flying piece of history," Dailey said. "If it wasn't for this
airplane, America might not be the country she is today."
Itinerary:
* Andrews Air Force Base in DC
* Philadelphia, PA
* Richmond, VA
* Indianapolis, IN
* Lawrence, KS.
* Ft. Leavenworth, KS
* Omaha, NE
* Odessa, TX
* Longmont, CO
* Salt Lake City, UT
* Davis/Woodland/ Winters, CA
* Astoria, OR
* Yakima, WA
