TYLER, Texas — Among all the planes you’ll see this weekend at the Rose City Air Fest, there’s one in particular that you should look out for. CBS19 got a special tour of a B-29 Bomber which is just one of two flying in the entire world!
"We're standing in front of one of two B-29s that were built in World War II, to bomb Japan, and other bombing missions. There were 3,970 of these built and this is one of about thirty that survived," said John Schauer, flight engineer for the B-29 Bomber.
The B-29 super fortress was the plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan that ended the war.
This one, nicknamed Doc, was found in a scrap yard in a California desert and took about 16 years to restore. Now, it’s only one of two still flying in the entire world.
"There's probably about thirty of these left in the world, and all of them are in museums," Schauer said. "And just two of them are flying now."
John is only one of eight people who can actually fly this plane, and he’s been flying both B-29s for about 24 years now.
"It's a real privilege to fly these. Every time I fly it I think the men that have come before me…as being 18 to 25 years old and flying these in combat. That's a sobering thought," Schauer said.
Schauer gave us a personalized tour of the B29 and explained what he does before he takes off.
"Pay particular attention to the engines before flight, check for massive oil leaks [and] yes, it leaks oil but that's normal. But you're checking for massive leaks, the condition of tires inside of the wheel, and check the exhaust pipes [to] make sure there's no clamps that have come apart," Schauer said.
Schauer then took us inside of the B-29 to showed us how he flies the plane.
"It looks roomy up here. But the ones with the gun turrets you can see the circle here. Yeah, it came down to about here. And this one came up to about here so there wasn't a lot of room navigator sat here," Schauer said. "We don't have the instrument panel that he used but he had a little instrument panel with airspeed compasses and whatever."
The Rose City Air Fest runs through Sunday, so make sure to stop by and watch one of the two remaining B-29 Bombers still flying in the entire world.