History Overhead: B-29 Superfortress ‘Doc’ lands in Abilene

Note: All historic images of ‘Doc’ are courtesy of ‘Doc’s Friends’ non-profit organization

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – A B-29 Superfortress nicknamed ‘Doc’ landed safely at Abilene Regional Airport earlier today, soon to perform at the Dyess Wings over West Texas Airshow this Easter Weekend. KTAB/KRBC caught up with Chief Pilot Mark Novak for a look inside the historic aircraft and into its decades-long journey from the assembly line to today.

“There were just under 4,000 B-29s built during WWII… This is a Wichita-built bird… It came too late to go over to the war. Became part of a radar calibration squadron,” Novak explained.

Constructed in Wichita, Kansas, in 1945, Doc served alongside a number of other B-29’s, a squadron known as ‘The Seven Dwarfs’, in many non-active combat roles for the U.S. Air Force. Novak says it was in 1956 that the Airforce gave a large group of B-29’s, including Doc, to the Navy to be used as target practice.

For 42 years, Doc sat on that target range in the Mojave Desert. The condition of the aircraft visibly deteriorated over that time. Then in 1987, a man by the name of Tony Mazzolini rediscovered Doc. He hatched a plan to restore the old war bird and began contacting the appropriate government agencies.

In 1998 Mazzolini and his group were able to gain possession of Doc, it was then that they began the difficult task of towing the decades old fuselage out of the desert. It would be two more years until doc saw any more activity. For Mazzolini, the restoration proved too difficult and the project was taken up by the group now known as ‘Doc’s Friends’, a non-profit that still owns the aircraft today.

“Our group got control of it in the year 2000. Broke it into seven big pieces, trucked it to Wichita,” said Novak.

A massive transportation effort saw the aircraft disassembled and taken back to Wichita, Kansas on flat bed trucks. Now sitting just a few hundred feet from the site it was constructed, Doc was ready for restoration. ‘Doc’s Friends’ spent the next 16 years getting the historic plane airworthy once more and in 2016 it took its first flight in over 60 years.

“I tell everybody that flying the airplane is like driving a pickup truck on a gravel road.” Novak said.

As Chief Pilot, Novak has had the pleasure of flying Doc to airshow after airshow in cities across the country. He makes up a crew of 6 that it takes to operate the plane. While it is a large task to bring such an old plane to the skies, Novak says the educational and historical benefit of their operation far outweighs any difficulty.

“If this airplane was sitting in a museum. My thing I like to say is 1/10th of 1 percent would come to a museum to see it…Our mantra is, we want to honor the men who flew them the women who built them. We want to educate. And we also want to connect with the next generation.”

Doc will be overhead for the Dyess Air Force Base Air Show on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20. Novak shared that private flight opportunities are now available for purchase on the Doc’s Friends website. Local availabilities are scheduled for Thursday, April 17, and Monday, April 21. Proceeds from private flights support the maintenance and operation of the plane and the non-profit organization that owns it.