FiFi
At about 11 AM on the 12th of June, 2012 – and during some initial flight testing of the restored B-29 bomber radio room – the initial HF in-flight radio operator’s position contact was made with FIFI using the call sign KC0TEG. At the microphone was W0GZV – Loney Duncan, retired Collins Radio engineer and executive who lives in the Dallas, Texas area. The aircraft had departed Addison Municipal Airport and was doing some qualification flying at relative low altitudes when the contact was made on 7204 kHz.
More Pictures Here…..
Through a stroke of incredible luck, this contact was made with K0CXX (operated by N7OTQ, Bill Carns – current President of the CCA) and involved 100% Collins Radio equipment at the ground end also. The transmitter in the aircraft position is, and was, the Collins ART-13 and the receiver was a BC-348R – all operating through a Collins 180S-1 antenna tuner into a fuselage to vertical stabilizer wire antenna. The ground equipment for the contact was a Collins R-390 receiver, a Collins 30K-5 that came out of an HF Air Traffic Control station and a 212Z-1 Collins audio mixer.
As many of you may know, FIFI is the last B-29 to remain on flight status. There are a relatively few more B-29s in static displays, but FIFI is the only one still operational. For more information on FIFI, please go to her website. For more information on the restoration of the radio room, click on the link at the bottom of the page.
FIFI and her radio operators are currently fighting a robust case of ignition noise from those monstrous round engines, but contacts are possible if you are patient and have a good signal in the flight area. Possible Contacts Times will be posted here on the FIFI Radio Contact Opportunity page as we get information and it will be kept as up to date as possible. Please be patient. Keeping FIFI in good flying shape, and the associated maintenance and ground and flight testing, are the top priority with the FIFI maintenance team, so radio operations and testing times are often variable. As we learn of these changes, they will be posted on the CCA reflector and here on the website (if we get them in time).
There will be some ground and flight testing around Addison the week of July 8th through 14th, and then there will be a long flight opportunity for contacts when FIFI flies from Addison, Texas to first Cedar Rapids, IA for her appearance there the 18th through the 20th. Probably the morning of the 20th, she will fly from Cedar Rapids to Appleton, Wisconsin for the EAA Oshkosh Fly-in. More information on these flights will be posted as soon as it is received.
There will be some ground and flight testing around Addison the week of July 8th through 14th, and then there will be a long flight opportunity for contacts when FIFI flies from Addison, Texas to first Cedar Rapids, IA for her appearance there the 18th through the 20th. Probably the morning of the 20th, she will fly from Cedar Rapids to Appleton, Wisconsin for the EAA Oshkosh Fly-in. More information on these flights will be posted as soon as it is received.
FIFI’s 2014 Air Show Flight Schedule can be found here.
She will usually be heard around the 7200 kHz area due to typical band loading and her antenna characteristics. I do understand though that she is now sometimes operating AM on 14.263 kHZ during tour legs and, hopefully sometime, our Sunday Afternoon Net – if the logistics can be worked out. If this materializes, we will post a procedure for working her here prior to the net. Please understand that the “radio operator” is also sometimes a crew member with other duties. Operation of the radio room then comes second to flight safety. On some legs there may be a dedicated radio operator on board. In either case, and if we have enough advance warning, schedules will be posted here on the website. If there is a last minute “heads-up” about a scheduled operation, then it will be posted to the Collins Collectors Association Reflector. If you are not a member of the reflector (you do not need to be a CCA member to be on our reflector), then go to the HOME page here and click on the REFLECTOR button on the tool bar at the top and enjoy.
The new radio room – which was restored in a joint effort between the Rockwell Collins teams from Cedar Rapids and Dallas and the FIFI CAF team – was dedicated to two World War Two B-29 Radio Operators, Red Irwin and Jim Smith, during a daylong ceremony and show at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, Texas. During the dedication ceremony this past Saturday, June 30, 2012, Commemorative Plaques for the first contacts were presented to W0GZV, Loney Duncan and KC0TEG, Paul Veenstra – both of Rockwell Collins, to FIFI( Neils Agather), and to Cedar Rapids Restoration Team Leader, K0DAS, Rod Blocksome. For more information on the joint Rockwell Collins Cedar Rapids & Dallas restoration team, please click on the Project Team link at the bottom of the page.
Also, on Thursday, the 28th of June, K0DAS, Rod, made the first in flight CW contact from the FIFI radio room with our noted Signal Magazine author, W5QN, Don Jackson. Congratulations to Don.
Click Here for Pictures of this Dedication Story