More about ‘Doc’ – B-29 Superfortress

It’s been a long journey from a desolate desert location to a new home for Doc, one of only two B-29 bombers on Earth that still flies above the earth. For those who don’t know Doc, it is a B-29 Superfortress, a bomber aircraft that was a key tool in the Allied victory in World War II. Doc is a native East Wichitan, one of 1,644 aircraft built at Boeing’s facility during the war. That site is now part of the Spirit campus.

Doc was built in December 1944 and delivered to the United States Army Air Corps in March 1945. Because Doc was built toward the end of the war, it was never sent overseas. Instead, it served a non-combat role as a training plane. By 1956, most B-29s were retired from service. B-29s went out of active military service in 1960.

Its tail removed, Doc was placed in the desert with other B-29s and used as target practice for missile systems. Most of the other planes were destroyed.

Tony Mazzolini found Doc in the Mojave Desert in 1987. Twelve years later, Mazzolini and a team of others obtained Doc from the government.

In 1998, Doc was towed from the desert. In May 2000, Doc returned home to Wichita, arriving in sections on several flatbed trailers.

Volunteers began restoring the historic plane, not far from where it came off the assembly line a little more than a half-century before. Much of that work was done at Boeing Military on the east side of Oliver.

In 2013, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Doc’s Friends was formed to oversee the restoration project and make sure it was completed. Thousands of volunteer hours, before and after Doc’s Friends was formed, went into making the plane airworthy. Doc’s first flight took place on July 17, 2016. Doc was part of eight air shows in 2017, drawing large crowds. In September of that year, a groundbreaking was held near Eisenhower National

Airport for a new hangar and education center. Construction began in March 2018.

Doc rolled into its new $6.5 million home in November 2018.

And on Jan. 26, 2019, an open house was held to formally welcome the community to Doc’s new home.

Many dignitaries were on hand. Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell spoke, as did Sedgwick County Commissioners David Dennis and Pete Meitzner. Spirit Aerosystems president and CEO Tom Gentile talked to the crowd of hundreds. So did Mazzaloni, who played such a key role in bring Doc back to its original glory.

Connie Palacioz of Newton, one of the original “Rosie the Riveters” who worked on the Wichita assembly line as young women during World War II, cut the ribbon at January’s open house.

For more information, visit Doc’s Friends on Facebook or visit the website, www.b29doc.com.

A NATURE MINISERIES: Dogs In The Wild

Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Feb. 8 – Feb. 22

• February 8: Meet The Artic Wolf, the talkative Dhole, the Fennec Fox and the Maned Wolf.

• February 15: Discover the secrets of the canids’ success; how Black-Backed jackals leap skyward to catch prey, and more.

• February 22: Join the researchers making ground-breaking discoveries and going to extraordinary lengths to save Wild Canids around the world, from endangered Wolves to injured African Wild Dogs.

PBS Kansas Celebrates

Kansas With New Documentaries in February

Sunday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.: Kansas From Above Kansas is a land of transitions. From east to west, landscapes dramatically change. From the prairies and the wide-open spaces, to the rugged bluffs and canyons. From the hills and rivers, you’ll see so many spectacular sights, and learn fascinating details about the place we call home. See our state from a whole new perspective as you go on an aerial journey across Kansas landscapes in a film shot and produced by Kansans, for Kansans!

Sunday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m.: Kansas Wild Edge: The Great Outdoors

It’s not about Africa or Australia or exotic places most of us will never go: There’s a wild edge right here at home in Kansas -- a place where nature’s secrets await discovery just outside our doors. America’s heartland brims with beauty and natural wonder -- a step or two is all that is needed to enter this fascinating world. Veteran wildlife and nature photographer, forester and entomologist Mike Blair has spent a lifetime filming and sharing Midwestern hide-a-ways deflecting misconceptions about traveling elsewhere to view earth’s finest. In “Wild Edge: The Great Outdoors,” Blair provides a surprising sample of nature’s goodness often hidden in plain sight.