What do “Star Wars” and a World War II-era bomber have in common? The greenhouse, that glass enclosure at the nose of the plane.
The B-29 bomber that inspired the design of the Millennium Falcon is on display and available for touring now at the Porter County Regional Airport. “Fifi,” as she’s affectionately known, was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps on July 31, 1945, only a week before the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.
“Steven Spielberg toured this aircraft,” said Scott Wilson, a crew member with Commemorative Air Force, the organization that takes Fifi to about 30 events every year. “He’s a big World War II fan and he copied it for the Millennium Falcon.”
Wilson sat in Fifi’s forward crew compartment Wednesday morning explaining the different crew positions – bombardier, pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, radio operator, navigator – to the family that had just climbed up. Grandfather Jim Grady, of Munster, and his daughter Lizzy Hufford and her four boys, ranging in age from 3 to 11, and also from Munster, listened and asked questions.
Despite being a WWII historian, Grady learned something new. “I didn’t realize, like the tubing, how they got from forward to aft,” he said of the crew transfer tube that allowed the crew to crawl from the front of the plane to the back where the bathroom was without losing pressurization.
The B-29 was the world’s first pressurized high-altitude bomber.
Grady did know that as well as the “Star Wars” connection. He wore a baseball cap with crossing red and green lightsabers embroidered on it.
His grandson, 11-year-old Evan Hufford, learned something too. “I just came out with him. It’s cool. I like planes. They’re fun. I was surprised to see the guns. Usually, they’re glass,” he said of the gun turrets.
After disembarking he and his brothers studied the 16-foot diameter propellers which had quite a presence in front of the four engines. Fifi boasts 18 cylinders per engine with a total of 144 spark plugs.
“So she never had time to go overseas and see combat before the war ended, but she was used to train crews that went overseas and served in Korea in other B-29s,” explained Todd Erskine, tour leader/scanner for Commemorative Air Force.
Erskine said approximately 4,000 B-29s were manufactured. He estimates only 20 to 25 remain in existence in museums. “Of those, there are only two that can fly and this is one of them,” he said.
Fifi has been touring the county since 1974 after being recovered from China Lake in 1971 where her kind were used as bomb targets in training exercises. “Fifi and the other B-29 were kind of parked on the perimeter and never got a direct hit and that’s why we have them today,” Erskine said.
George Saunders, of Merrillville, was also parked on the perimeter of the tarmac Wednesday morning, unable to climb up into Fifi because of a double hip replacement. His fiancee, Catherine Stephens, of Merrillville, brought the Vietnam veteran who served in the Army as a surprise.
The two have been watching a lot of WWII movies and documentaries lately and Saunders’ father Ben was a career Marine serving in WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. “That’s history right there,” Saunders said, indicating Fifi. “That’s what gave us freedom. All of the brave men.”
If you go: Tours of Fifi, the B-29 take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sunday at the Porter County Regional Airport, 4207 Murvihill Rd. in Valparaiso. Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for kids 11 to 17, free for kids 10 and under, and free for World War II and Korean War veterans. Information on booking flights on an AT-6, Stearman or RC-45J, which range in price from $150 to $800, can be found at http://airpowertour.org.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
