B-29 Flight Deck Video

Although the views outside the airplane are overexposed, this flight deck video of the CAF B-29 "Fifi" landing at OSH gives a pretty good feel for what it is like to land a Superfortress.




Fifi landing at OSH

In this video, the CP is on the controls and the AC is handling the checklists, radios and other crew coordination. The controls are manual (vs. hydraulic), so the airplane does take some "man-handling" to fly. The thing that I find most foreign is the fact that the pilot on the controls is not handling the power at all throughout the entire sequence. He calls out "manifold 24" when he wants the throttles set for 24" of manifold pressure. The Engineer, who is seated behind the CP position, facing aft, makes all of the actual adjustments. The Engineer on this airplane is one busy bloke. Each of those "manifold xx" calls by the pilot flying is for a power change. As the aircraft comes into the flare, he calls "ease 'em off", meaning roll the throttles gradually back to idle. As someone who is used to having the throttle(s) in my hand, that would be tough to get used to. I believe that in actual operations the B-29s did have throttle levers at the AC and CP positions and that they could take manual control.

The Fifi does carry scanners in the back, who act as eyes and ears for the primary flight crew, verifying deployment of landing gear, flaps, tail skid, etc. Flying this airplane is definitely a team effort, and this CAF crew looks to be well-practiced.

/Kevin Madore



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2016 11:09AM by KevinM.