Doc’s Friends continues to conduct flight tests to satisfy the FAA’s flight requirements to be able to bring the airplane on tour. The organization’s media relations and communications liaison Josh Wells said the airplane has flown more than 10 hours since it first took the skies in July after decades of restorative work. Wells said Doc has done multiple takeoffs and landings and is flying really well with no major squawks.

Doc is not expected to go on tour until the end of March, at the earliest. The next major hurdle for Doc is finding a permanent home. At the moment, the massive B-29 does not have a hangar, and maintenance has to be done on the ramp, Wells said. The team is also reluctant to run the engines once the temperatures go below 50 degrees, so there won’t be much flying going on over the winter.

Doc’s Friends hopes to build a permanent hangar soon, likely at the Wichita Dwight Eisenhower National Airport (KICT). Details are still being worked out and a significant amount of funding is needed, Wells said. If you would like to donate to the project, go to b-29doc.com.

This stunning video shows a recent flight of the stunning B-29, shot by Scott Slocum from Aero Media Group.

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Look up into the skies above Florida’s Spruce Creek Fly-In and you might be treated to a real blast from the past. Pilot Tim Plunkett took his Fokker Dr.I out for an aerial photoshoot over the weekend, resulting in the shots below. Photographer Gary Rosier took these photos of the World War I fighter replica from inside a Steen Skybolt owned by Plunkett’s neighbor at Spruce Creek.

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EAA AirVenture 2016 didn’t disappoint, drawing the airshow performers, historic airplanes, industry exhibiters and crowds for which Oshkosh is known. Here are some of the highlights from the weeklong event at Wittman Regional Airport.

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Moody skies and the occasional downpour weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of AirVenture 2016 attendees Thursday.

Highlights included military and warbird demonstrations and a performance by Red Bull Air Race champion Kirby Chambliss in his Red Bull Edge 540.

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The FAA has deemed the B-29 known as Doc airworthy, handing over the airworthiness certificate for the historic airplane, the first flight of which is “imminent,” according to restoration group Doc’s Friends in Wichita, Kansas.

“It’s been nearly 60 years since Doc has flown and 16 years since this majestic warbird arrived in Wichita to be restored, and now we are another major milestone closer to a return to flight,” said Jim Murphy, Doc’s Friends Restoration Program Manager.

With the FAA airworthiness certificate in hand, the restoration team will soon submit an official request to the U.S. Air Force and Pentagon to be granted access to use the non-joint-use runway at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita for test flight operations. Upon approval, the restoration crew can use the runway for high-speed taxi tests and other ground testing needed prior to first flight.

“The dream of getting Doc back into the air to serve as a flying memorial and museum to honor the men and women who served our nation in these airplanes, and those who built and maintained the fleet, just took a major step toward reality,” said Jeff Turner, Doc’s Friends Chairman.

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The Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit with 79 units across 25 states, restores, maintains and flies iconic warbirds, largely through the help of volunteers.

Through airshows and making rides in the WWII-era airplanes available to the public, the CAF aims to expose these pieces of aviation history to a wider American audience. Read the full story about the Commemorative Air Force here.

Photos from the CAF’s SoCal Wing at Camarillo Airport in California, whose fleet includes a P-51 Mustang, C-46F Commando, two SNJs and a newly restored PBJ-1J among others, can be seen below.

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Drivers, motorcyclists, bikers and pedestrians craned their heads to the skies as military trainers, combat fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft made their way over the city in a series of formations, commemorating the 70th anniversary of V-E Day (victory in Europe).

World War II was a special era in the history of aviation, the likes of which we will probably never see again. People from all walks of life got their hands dirty building, flying and maintaining airplanes to support the war effort. With the help of the masses, aircraft manufacturers were cranking out warbirds by the thousands, and engineers were busy maximizing the speed and agility of the airplanes.

When the war ended, the government swiftly canceled its pending orders, and thousands of airplanes that today would be considered rare and beautiful treasures were destroyed for scrap metal. Were it not for organizations such as the Commemorative Air Force, many of these historical machines would be confined to the ash heap of history. CAF alone has taken more than 165 of these historic airplanes of more than 60 different types under its wing.

Unlike many warbird museums, CAF’s main mission is to restore and maintain warbirds in flying condition. It all began with the one airplane that still to this day has been hailed as one of the most victorious and stunning ever to roll out of an aircraft factory — the North American P-51 Mustang.

A man by the name of Lloyd Nolen brought a group of former service pilots together to purchase one of these beautiful performers in 1957 in Rio Grande Valley, Texas. The group ponied up a total of $2,500, bought a Mustang and named it Old Red Nose — the airplane was recently restored to pristine condition and is actively flying. Soon after its P-51 purchase, the group added two Grumman F8F Bearcats to its fleet.

Out of around 300,000 warbirds built in the United States during World War II, only a small number remained by 1960. Concerned that these historic treasures would eventually be destroyed, the group worked swiftly with the ultimate goal of saving at least one of each warbird model from that era. In 1961, CAF, then named the Confederate Air Force, was formed as a nonprofit organization, and by the end of that year, the number of airplanes had grown to nine. “The membership voted to change the name in 2001 due to the fact that it did not accurately reflect our mission and was becoming a distraction to this mission,” explains Steve Brown, CAF’s president and CEO.

The first official CAF museum was opened at Rebel Field in Mercedes, Texas, in 1965, with one 26,000-square-foot building. Three years later, the organization had outgrown that facility and moved, taking the airport name with it to a new location in Harlingen, Texas, where CAF occupied three large buildings. Later, for many years, the organization was housed in Midland, Texas. But in 2015, its headquarters were moved to the Dallas Executive Airport right smack in the Dallas metropolitan area to be closer to a larger population of people, Brown says.

CAF has big plans for its new location, which will become the CAF National Airbase. “We’re going to build an aviation attraction unlike any other in the world,” Brown says. “What gives us that ability is that our airplanes fly. You may see an airplane inside on display, and later that day, you may see that same airplane outside of the building, loading up passengers to fly.”

“‘Everyone flies’ will be the mantra when you come to visit the National Airbase, whether it is a kid in a pedal plane, a teenager in a flight simulator or an adult loading up to take flight in the only flyable B-29 Superfortress in the world,” Brown says. The new location will also be accessible to faraway travelers, with Dallas serving as a top international and domestic airline hub.

But the headquarters is just one of many locations where you can experience CAF warbirds. The organization has what it calls “units” — wings, squadrons, detachments and airbases. There are currently 79 units in 25 states, each one started by local CAF members.

There are times when an airplane has already been donated directly to the new unit. If not, the CAF headquarters does its best to find an airplane for the unit. In most cases it may be something fairly simple, such as a North American T-6 Texan or SNJ. But the Southern California Wing, which formed 35 years ago and is based at the Camarillo Airport, was offered a Curtiss C-46F Commando — a heavy transport airplane — named China Doll.

The SoCal Wing was both dedicated and fortunate, says Pat Brown, one of the wing’s founding members who, today, serves as its public information officer. A member who was qualified to fly the massive airplane donated the funding required to get its two engines running. A team of mechanics went to Texas every weekend until the C-46 was ready to fly to California. China Doll became a huge draw at airshows, and the SoCal Wing had no trouble fundraising to keep the C-46F flying and growing its fleet.

Today, the SoCal Wing’s three hangars house 12 aircraft, including a P-51, Fairchild P-19A Cornell and Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat, as well as non-U.S. WWII examples, like its Supermarine Spitfire MK XIV and an original Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero. There is also a North American PBJ-1J B-25 Mitchell bomber that has been in restoration since 1993 and recently made its first flight in 23 years. With an extensive museum and gift shop, a brand-new 33,000-square-foot hangar and big plans for the future, the SoCal Wing is on its way to becoming an airbase, a status attained by only one other unit — CAF Airbase Arizona located at Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, Arizona.

So how did all of the airplanes and memorabilia at the SoCal Wing arrive? “It all just came to us,” Pat Brown says. “We had no idea. We thought we would support one airplane.” And once word spread of the bustling museum, donations and offers to take over the collections from other museums rolled in.

Airplanes maintained at the remote units belong mostly to CAF, with the exception of a few that are on loan. In cases where warbird owners or surviving family members can no longer fly and maintain their airplanes, CAF is there to help. In many cases, the airplanes are eventually donated to CAF.

Steve Brown’s goal with CAF is to allow these historic airplanes to impact all Americans, not just the aviation crowd. In addition to CAF units and the airplanes’ attendance at airshows, CAF’s Airpower History Tour flies the famous B-29 bomber FIFI along with five or six other warbirds around the country to teach people about World War II history and allow them to interact with the airplanes. “It’s like a traveling circus,” he says. “We take the airshow out on the road to places that may not have the wherewithal or the size to create an actual airshow.”

Airpower History Tour visitors can also experience warbirds in flight. Anyone can book a ride through airpowersquadron.org, with costs ranging from $75 to $1,795 depending on the platform.

Another educational program is the Rise Above Traveling Exhibit. The current exhibit is a fully contained movie theater that uses the example of the Tuskegee Airmen to educate visitors and inspire children to rise above any challenge to achieve their dreams, Brown says. More Rise Above exhibits are planned for the future.

Today, CAF supports about 13,000 members through several levels of membership ranging from $45 per year for students to $300 for a full supporting member.

However, membership dues only put a slight dent in the cost of restoring, maintaining and flying these historic airplanes, so fundraising is a major component of CAF’s operations. The units fundraise by bringing their airplanes to local airshows, charging admission for museum displays, hosting events and more.

CAF took to a new fundraising effort with its latest large restoration That’s All, Brother — a Douglas C-47 (known in the civilian world as the DC-3). A hugely successful Kickstarter campaign brought in $328,736 to date, and the project is currently going through a heavy engineering phase, removing corrosion and restoring the airframe — a project expected to take 3,000 man-hours to complete. CAF hopes to bring the C-47 to Europe for a celebration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019.

If it is your dream to take the controls of a warbird, you can. All you need to do is become a CAF Colonel (a $200 annual commitment), join a local unit and put in some volunteer hours. The return on investment — the ability to literally experience history — is well worth it.

“Many memberships will give you discounts on rental cars and all kinds of stuff,” Brown says. “But if you join us, your membership gets you the opportunity to give more of your time, effort and money to keep these airplanes flying.”

If you love warbirds and want to see them continue flying for the benefit of future generations, it’s a priceless investment.

See more images of the CAF SoCal Wing’s fleet. Photo Gallery

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In the next few weeks, divers will attempt to bring the Dornier Do 17 to the surface just off the Kent coast in southeastern England.

The complex recovery process of lifting the rare airplane out of nearly 60 feet of water might prove to have several challenges, said Peter Dye, the RAF Museum director. Divers will only be able to work in increments of 45 minutes, and several other factors come into play once an airplane breaks the surface. Salvaging is already underway — a platform is positioned over the wreck and divers have started to build a metal frame around the sunken plane to begin the operation.

The famous WWII bomber, nicknamed “the flying pencil,” was shot down during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Despite the struggle of battle and passage of time underwater, experts say the airplane is surprisingly undamaged.

Once the Dornier Do 17 is brought to the surface, work will begin to prepare the airplane for display at the RAF Museum in London. Should the operation be a success, the WWII bomber will be exhibited alongside a Hawker Hurricane fighter that was also shot down during the Battle of Britain, according to Dye.

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According to a report by Discovery News, parts of the fuselage and the propeller were found by a group of amateur researchers in the small city of Gusano, where it crashed on Sept. 6, 1944, killing RAF Flight Sergeant John Horsford and Warrant Officer John Watson. The men were buried in a local cemetery after the crash and, according to records, Horsford was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal posthumously. Researchers are now in the process of trying to contact related kin to reconstruct their story.

The Bristol Beaufighter Mk X was used as a torpedo bomber in World War II and was known by the Japanese as “Whispering Death,” due to its ability to sneak up on enemy targets. Nearly 6,000 Beaufighters were built, but today their surviving numbers are slim, with only six remaining around the world.

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The aircraft were packed in crates late in World War II and buried by British forces at the end of a runway in what was then Burma, because they were not needed as the war was winding down. They are expected to be found “in good condition,” and are thought to be worth up to $2.3 million each in flying condition.

The Mk XIV Spitfire is powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, a 2,050-hp follow-on to the classic Merlin. The -65 version of the Griffon powering the Mk XIV incorporates a two-stage supercharger and drives a five-blade Dowty-Rotol propeller.

Some 2,042 of the more than 20,000 Spitfires built were fitted with the more powerful Griffon engine, and only a handful of the 35 or so surviving Spitfires are Griffon-powered variants. World War II RAF pilot Don Healy of 17 Squadron, based in India, described the Mk XIV as, “a hairy beast to fly and took some getting used to.

Even with full aileron, elevator and rudder, this brute of a fighter took off slightly sideways.” However, Wing Commander (and Battle of Britain hero) Pete Brothers wrote, “It gave many a Luftwaffe pilot the shock of their lives when, having thought they had bounced you from a superior height, they were astonished to find the Mk XIV climbing up to tackle them head-on, throttle wide open!”

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