"Peachy" preservation

In 1972, a B-29 made a somewhat lengthy trip to its new home at Pueblo Airport. It was parked behind a hangar and reassembled for display. Due to poor security, however, vandals did some serious damage to its interior and airframe.

A group of concemed citizens (many of them veterans) formed the Pueblo Historical Aircraft Society to protect and restore the aircraft. One of the most pressing needs was to make the plane weathertight. To do this, they had to replace the horse-collar-shaped bombardier's window in the aircraft's nose. Using wood, the team duplicated the window's framework and then used this jig and an industrial oven to mold a piece of 1/4-inch Plexiglas to the required shape.

Instrument gauges were rebuilt, and accuracy was maintained to the point of ensuring that the size of the letters and numbers on the faces were correct-not an easy task because no stencils of the right size were available. Using the reduction feature on a photocopier eventually soived the problem.

Over 50 placards were manufactured and affixed in the correct locations, to give the feel of authenticity to the once-ravaged flight deck. The mind-numbing polishing of the exterior was partially done by people sentenced to community service for minor offenses. The result is an impressive B-29.

To view the cockpit and flight deck, you now have to be accompanied by a Museum member. This will hopefully keep Peachy (originally Laggin' Dragon) from being vandalized again.

-Rob Andrews

Copyright Air Age Publishing Jun 1998
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