Pilot Al Benzing sits in the cockpit of historic B-29 “Fifi” at San Marcos Regional Airport, Texas during the 2021 AirPower History Tour on October 3rd, 2021. Before joining the Commemorative Air Force, Benzing flew commercial 757s and 767s. He now tours the country flying the B-29 and also its sister aircraft, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, “Diamond Lil”.
The name “Col. Victor N. Agather” is painted on Fifi in honour of one of the major forces behind getting Fifi back in the air in 1974. Agather was a WW-2 aviator who was involved in the development of the B-29 and served in the Pacific theatre. After the war, he worked as an investment banker but maintained an active interest in preserving history aircraft. He was instrumental in convincing the US Air Force to remove the no-fly clause imposed when CAF obtained the B-29 and was heavily involved in its restoration and with CAF in general until his death in 2000.
For the technically inclined...