For the helicopter guys...
OK, in 1993, Daryl Greenameyer (former Lockheed test pilot and millionaire daredevil) went to Greenland to get the derilict B-29 "Kee Bird" flying in ferryable condition. After months of work and enormous cash burn, they were ready to fly it off the rough dirt/ice of Greenland. But, the airplane burned-up immediately before it's first flight in 46 years. They left the gas-powered APU running in the back of the plane, and the bouncing-around due to the rough ground caused it to come loose, starting a fire.
My question: instead of making it flyable, would they have been better-off dismantling the B-29 wings and airframe, and hiring a Chinook, or Chinooks, to fly the wings, tail, and fuselage the 250 miles to the nearby AFB? Could it carry the fuselage and wings separately? Could a Chinook make the 250-mile trip to the AFB?
In other words, instead of making the B-29 flyable, would it have been better to airlift the major airframe sections the 250-miles, instead?
OK, in 1993, Daryl Greenameyer (former Lockheed test pilot and millionaire daredevil) went to Greenland to get the derilict B-29 "Kee Bird" flying in ferryable condition. After months of work and enormous cash burn, they were ready to fly it off the rough dirt/ice of Greenland. But, the airplane burned-up immediately before it's first flight in 46 years. They left the gas-powered APU running in the back of the plane, and the bouncing-around due to the rough ground caused it to come loose, starting a fire.
My question: instead of making it flyable, would they have been better-off dismantling the B-29 wings and airframe, and hiring a Chinook, or Chinooks, to fly the wings, tail, and fuselage the 250 miles to the nearby AFB? Could it carry the fuselage and wings separately? Could a Chinook make the 250-mile trip to the AFB?
In other words, instead of making the B-29 flyable, would it have been better to airlift the major airframe sections the 250-miles, instead?