‘What better way to learn about history?’: Restored WWII-era B-29 makes stop in Ogden

Seeing a historic artifact in a museum is one thing.

Seeing it, touching it, and in the case of B-29 Doc — a World War II-era bomber — flying in it, though, is an altogether different experience, says Sean Elliott, pilot of the craft.

"This is truly living history," he said. "We're not taking ground fire from Walmart. But it is that tactile experience that is another level of understanding, appreciation and respect for what the Greatest Generation did in these machines."

Doc's Friends, the nonprofit organization that operates and maintains B-29 Doc, brought the giant airplane to Ogden on Monday, part of a stop on a tour around the country aimed at fostering interest in the craft and, more generally, World War II. The airplane, known as the Superfortress, is one of just 1,644 B-29s made during World War II and just one of two that are still flying today.

"We want people to climb up inside, see it, touch it, get hands on with technology of the 1940s and get up close and personal," said Josh Wells, executive director and general manager of Doc's Friends. "What better way to learn about history than to have a 90,000-pound artifact move across the country and tell the story?"

It's not cheap to fly in the airplane, and tickets — which cost from $600 to $1,500, with just 11 seats available to visitors per flight — are sold out. But the craft, staying at Ogden-Hinckley Regional Airport, will be flying the skies around the city on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and it'll be viewable from the tarmac of the airport at times.

Numerous airplane and World War II buffs were on hand Monday when B-29 Doc arrived at the Ogden airport, including Eric Villadsen, of Roy. "For me, the significance is it made Japan stand up and surrender," he said.

The Museum of Flight in Seattle calls the B-29 "the most capable bomber of World War II," noting it could carry more payload and fly faster and higher than other airplanes of the era like the B-17. "Two modified B-29s dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, helping end the war in the Pacific," reads the museum's online description of the craft.

B-29 Doc actually served stateside as a training craft. In 1956, it was placed on a U.S. Navy target range in California, and then, in the late 1990s, restoration of the airplane began.

"On July 17, 2016, after 16 years of restoration, B-29 Doc roared back to flight," reads the organization's history of the airplane. "Since then, Doc has traveled to numerous air shows and is now serving out its mission as a flying tribute to the men and women who designed, built, maintained and served in the B-29 Superfortress to protect freedom."

Wells said without the B-29, which also served in the Korean War, World War II would have dragged on longer. Beyond that, he says, the airplane is emblematic of the Greatest Generation, the generation of men and women who fought in World War II or served in the effort to win the war.

"The B-29 was a technological marvel in the 1940s. It was the first all-electric aircraft. It was the first high-altitude, long-range bomber. It had all the bells and whistles," he said.

Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski was on hand for the arrival of the airplane. "It doesn't disappoint. This is a huge treat," he said.

Keith Jackson, of Layton, was also there and, as someone who lives near Hill Air Force Base, noted the planes he regularly hears flying the skies above his home. "I like the sound of jets flying over the house, so I'm drawn to it," he said.

The B-29 Doc travels to air shows around the country, and it came to Ogden from Great Bend, Kansas. It will next be headed to Southern California.