Historic Plane Collectors to Exhibit a B-29 at Camarillo Airport : Aviation: The group rescued the Superfortress in 1971 and restored it to original condition. The display will continue through June 29.

If traffic is stopped this morning on the Ventura Freeway near Camarillo, blame the Confederate Air Force.

When the group brought a vintage B-24 bomber to Camarillo Airport two years ago, freeway commuters climbed out of their cars to get a better view. Today a World War II-era B-29 Superfortress--an even bigger plane than the B-24--will alight for its only appearance in the Los Angeles area this summer.

The plane, named Fifi, is the only B-29 still flying. The only other B-29 in existence is the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. That historic plane is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Fifi’s visit is sponsored by the Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force, a nationwide group of aircraft aficionados dedicated to preserving and flying historic combat planes.

The Confederate Air Force found Fifi more than 20 years ago, languishing at the remote China Lake Navy base in California’s high desert. Built in 1947, the plane never saw combat but was used for training until the late 1960s. Then it was left in the desert sands for target practice.

In 1971, Confederate Air Force members rescued Fifi and restored it to its original condition. It is now the flagship of a historic air force numbering more than 140 vintage combat craft.

“It’s the last of its kind,” said Tom Cloyd, 61, one of only five pilots qualified to fly the B-29. The plane is on the California leg of a West Coast tour that will include Modesto, Oakland and several other cities.

“When you have one of a kind, it draws people,” Cloyd said. At past displays, World War II crew members and their families have driven 150 miles or more just to see Fifi, he said.

Measuring 99 feet from tip to tail, with a wingspan equivalent to nearly half a football field, Fifi will be hard to miss. Its propellers are 7 feet, 10 inches tall. Local Navy Seabees had to install a special 84-by-84-foot reinforced parking place for the 135,000-pound plane.

“I think there will be a very large crowd” to see Fifi, said Nona Makinson, operations manager for the Ventura County Airports Department. “We are excited that the only one left is coming to our area.”

First tested in 1942, B-29s did not see combat until 1944, but they proved to be decisive. With 10 .50-caliber machine guns, a 20-millimeter cannon and the capacity to carry more than 20,000 tons of explosives, the B-29 was responsible for most of the major bombing runs over Japan during World War II.

Fifi is expected to arrive at the airport at 10:30 a.m. and it will leave June 29. In addition to the B-29, the Confederate Air Force’s Southern California Wing will display its own collection of vintage planes, which include a P-51 fighter and a C-46 transport.

The public may see the B-29 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day of its visit. A $5 donation will be requested to help keep the plane flying--which costs up to $2,500 an hour, said Ventura resident Ed Thomas, 66, a semi-retired financial planner and member of the local group.

The B-29’s tour will end in August with a 50th anniversary celebration in Seattle, home of the Boeing Corp., which designed the plane.