Today she tours the country for static display and selling rides to lucky guys like me.
The engines are modified Curtiss-Wright R-3350s similar to those used on Skyraiders, Sea Fury's and AC-119 gunships.
Four radial engines rated for 2400 rpm at 44 inches mp provide 8000 horsepower for takeoff. Full power then brake release takeoffs are quite a ride.
My friends with dozens of takeoffs in a DC-3 know how much fun a radial engine launch is. This would be the best one I have ever been on. The engine run up after takeoff clearance was four pit bulls on a leash looking at a steak.
Brakes released and - sitting sideways - I was shoved very hard into the left side of my seat belt. I only had a few cat shots during my time in the Navy and this compares. We were airborne in no time.
The Superfortress cruised over Lake Pleasant - north of Phoenix and we were able to wander around the back of the plane - checking out gunner and spotter positions within the aircraft. It was all over way too soon.
I had seen the B-29 flying into Phoenix overhead last Monday during a round of golf. I remarked to the guys I played with. Do you know what that is? Some did. A remarkable piece of history - built to win a war and now maintained by very good people. If you have the opportunity to ride or just see it up close, don't wait.
Fifi and the other B-29s were the most ambitious and expensive weapon system of World War 2 - costing more than the atom bomb. It is sobering to think how much money went into those two projects and the amount of destruction they caused.
I spent the few minutes on final approach last Thursday thinking about the engineers that started the B-29 project on blueprints, the workers (mostly women) who put the plane together and then the crews that flew them thousands of miles from home - the billions of thoughts and prayers these people had and what must have been a common theme - a wish for peace and a return to normalcy for a country they loved. Nearly all those people are gone now. I am forever grateful for their efforts.
