Cool flyover - AR15.COM

Hometown » Texas

Site Notices

Posted: 5/15/2023 3:04:26 PM EDT

I don't know if it was FiFi or Doc. But I'm 99% certain a B-29 just flew over the house. And low. Talk about a rumble.

ETA: Yep... it was FiFi. I looked up her tail number and plugged it into FlightAware. She just passed over the north end of Lake Ray Hubbard and is heading NE (corrected from NW) at 2200 ft. Looks like she came out of Redbird.

ETA2: And now it looks like she might be headed back this way. I may put the big lens on the camera.

ETA3: Looks like she's landing out in Greenville at Majors.

ETA4: Well, I was wrong. They didn't land. Maybe a touch and go? They circled back to the north then started angling WSW. Maybe heading back to Redbird now. They've got a storm on the east side of Lake Ray Hubbard they have to skirt. They're doing goofy things with speed and elevation. If you want to follow along - https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N529B

ETA5: Good grief. Now they're lined up on Runway 17 again.

ETA6: At this point, with 6 orbits around Greenville Major, I'm gonna guess someone was shooting approaches. They are headed back in the general direction of Redbird now. It will be interesting to see what they do about the storms in the area. We had some spicy weather just north of us about 15 minutes ago, and I'm pretty sure they don't want to punch through it.

Posted: 5/15/2023 9:36:56 PM EDT

[#1]

"FiFi" is a real beauty and glad to see she is still flying.

Now that "Doc" has doubled the number of flying B-29s you can't automatically assume "Oh - that's a B-29 up there - Must be "FiFi"!

Shame so few of such a significant aircraft survived .

Sometime Soon I'd really like to see if I can get a ride on her.

Are "Warbirds" still allowed to carry passengers? I had heard that after the Collings Foundation B-17 "9 oh 9" crashed in Connecticut and the FAA investigation that followed - that the FAA had "suspended" paying for Warbird flights.

Anyone know if this is still the case or not?

Bigger_Hammer

Posted: 5/16/2023 12:51:57 AM EDT

[#2]

She's about to start touring.
https://www.airpowersquadron.org/

Posted: 5/16/2023 9:02:39 AM EDT

[#3]

Quote History

Quoted:
She's about to start touring.
https://www.airpowersquadron.org/

View Quote

And their first stop is..... wait for it......

Greenville, TX.

Now it makes sense. I thought maybe they were just doing some training that's easier to do outside of Class B airspace. But it appears that they won't be doing Ride Alongs in her.

Posted: 5/16/2023 9:49:41 AM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:

And their first stop is..... wait for it......

Greenville, TX.

Now it makes sense. I thought maybe they were just doing some training that's easier to do outside of Class B airspace. But it appears that they won't be doing Ride Alongs in her.

View Quote

That's disappointing.

My son & I flew on Texas Raider before her destruction in the mid air collision.

Bigger_Hammer

Posted: 5/16/2023 11:56:03 AM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
That's disappointing.

My son & I flew on Texas Raider before her destruction in the mid air collision.

Bigger_Hammer

View Quote

The FAA has gotten into everyone's business on ride-alongs. Saw something awhile back about B-17s getting "benched" because of fatiguing in the wing spars. If there had been guests on Raider when the mid-air occurred, there would have been holy fucking hell to pay.

Posted: 5/16/2023 2:18:47 PM EDT

[#6]

I'll be in Greenville this weekend for the show, works out perfect as I recently moved to the area.

Sadly I was in Duncanville last year at the show when Texas Raiders went down - took my great nephew to his first air show.

I was fortunate enough to take a ride on Nine O Nine in 2016, was an amazing experience.
I hope they keep these birds flying and offering rides - safely - they are truly mobile museums.

Posted: 5/16/2023 11:00:55 PM EDT

[#7]

I knew Diamond Lil the B-24 was going to be in Greenville this weekend, FiFi will be a bonus.

They will also have Ike's Bird, and the DC-3 Ready For Duty plus whatever else flys in.

Watching ADS-B and the other radar sites Greenville and Texoma Regional (Perrin Field) in Denison get lots of war bird traffic when they are doing FAA certs and training flights. Texoma has a new terminal and a nice second-floor observation deck. I caught a couple of fire bombers working out of there last month with a little F-5 thrown in for good measure.

Attached File

Posted: 5/17/2023 7:13:57 PM EDT

[#8]

@hrt4me got video of FIFI taking off from Redbird today. Intelligent people will be able to find the video without a link from me.

Posted: 5/19/2023 4:29:45 PM EDT

[#9]

Shes in the air again today

Posted: 5/19/2023 5:10:00 PM EDT

[#10]

FiFi and Diamond Lil will be in Greenville tomorrow.
I noticed an A4 doing touch and goes at Texoma Regional today also.

Posted: 5/19/2023 9:33:02 PM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:
FiFi and Diamond Lil will be in Greenville tomorrow.
I noticed an A4 doing touch and goes at Texoma Regional today also.

View Quote

EDIT: I'm seeing several sources saying FiFi will not be there tomorrow. Sorry for the bad info.

Hopefully, they will let us get closer to the L-26 Ike's Bird than they did last year in McKinney. Looks like a cool ride.

https://www.ikesbird.org/greenville

Posted: 5/20/2023 8:05:04 AM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

EDIT: I'm seeing several sources saying FiFi will not be there tomorrow. Sorry for the bad info.

View Quote

Fifi isn't on the schedule for Greenville but like others I saw her flying over my house yesterday (just outside of Commerce) and am hoping she makes a special appearance.

Posted: 5/20/2023 11:49:08 PM EDT

[#13]

was a good show today in Greenville

Posted: 5/21/2023 1:09:58 AM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
was a good show today in Greenville

View Quote

It was. The B-24 was 2.5 hours late because of the low ceiling and the DC-3/R4D didn't make it because of the weather. They had booked all of the flights so it was in and out while it was there. I was going to go up in the L-26, AKA, Ike's Bird, the smallest Air Force One but it sold out before I could get a flight. The C-45 looked like a cool ride too.
I haven't been through my photos yet but I'll post anything that looks good. The two Gyro/copters that showed up were rather cool-looking things. I left around 1 pm or so, did the two L-39 jets ever make another appearance?

Posted: 5/21/2023 4:37:39 PM EDT

[#15]

Nice show.
C1 Trader

Attached File

Ike's Bird. L-26 Smallest aircraft to be called Airforce 1.

Attached File

Attached File

C-45

Attached File

Diamond Lil B-24

Attached File

Posted: 5/21/2023 4:40:25 PM EDT

[#16]

Attached File

L-39

Attached File

Attached File

I need some help on this one.

Attached File

Posted: 5/21/2023 9:55:37 PM EDT

[#17]

@Gopher

Last two are a Cessna 190 or more likely a 195

Bigger_Hammer

Posted: 5/21/2023 10:06:06 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
@Gopher

Last two are a Cessna 190 or more likely a 195

Bigger_Hammer

View Quote

Thanks.
Cool looking bird and that one was slick.

Posted: 5/21/2023 11:14:48 PM EDT

[#19]

Nice pics, @Gopher. Thanks for sharing those.

Posted: 5/22/2023 7:18:41 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/1670/DSC_0215__2__JPG-2824265.JPG

L-39
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/1670/DSC_0209_JPG-2824266.JPG
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/1670/DSC_0211_JPG-2824267.JPG

I need some help on this one.
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/1670/DSC_0161_JPG-2824269.JPG
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/1670/DSC_0160_JPG-2824270.JPG

View Quote

I agree - a really nice little show.
Obviously not as big as the Duncanville show but far less hassle and way easier to get close to the planes.

Speaking of planes here are a few you missed.

Posted: 5/22/2023 11:46:33 AM EDT

[#21]

L-39s fly-over at Commemorative Air Force (CAF) show in Greenville, Texas (Majors airfield)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR_gfoxcMyM

Posted: 5/22/2023 11:49:38 AM EDT

[#22]

Attached File

Posted: 5/22/2023 11:51:40 AM EDT

[#23]

Attached File

Posted: 5/22/2023 11:53:35 AM EDT

[#24]

Attached File

Posted: 5/22/2023 11:55:27 AM EDT

[#25]

Attached File

Posted: 5/22/2023 12:14:16 PM EDT

[#26]

I am fortunate to be down at Dallas Executive every week, so I routinely get to see FiFi and Diamond Lil, and I often just go over and talk to them and they let me climb all throughout the bombers... here is a long video I took last Fall