CAMARILLO : B-29 Visit Delayed by Engine Problem

The only B-29 Superfortress still capable of flying sat stranded on the Tarmac at a Texas airfield Monday, delayed from a visit to Camarillo by what airplane buffs call “a blown jug.”

Fifi, a World War II-era bomber, suffered a cracked cylinder and had to be grounded Monday, the day it was scheduled to arrive for a visit at Camarillo Airport, said members of the Confederate Air Force, the aircraft aficionados who restored the historic plane.

“The cylinders get overheated and they crack . . . The oil just leaks out of it,” said Joe Peetito, a maintenance officer for the Southern California wing of the Confederate Air Force, which is stationed at Camarillo Airport. “I don’t know if they can get away with a jug change or . . . if we’ll have to put another engine on it.”

Finding a cylinder would be relatively easy--such parts are found in more common planes such as the Lockheed Constellation, and can be procured from aircraft parts brokers, Peetito said. Finding an entire Curtiss-Wright 3350 engine will be next to impossible, he said. “This was an overhauled engine, and you don’t get any new engines,” he said. “These are all overhauls. You’ve got all used parts in these engines. Sometimes they just go.”

Although B-29s sometimes limped back from battle with only two of their four engines working, the Federal Aviation Administration prohibits such travel today. Fifi must stay on the ground until it is repaired, Peetito said.

Confederate Air Force members hope to have the plane repaired and fly to Camarillo by midday Friday, but nothing is certain, he said.