Restored vintage World War II bomber certified to fly

A restored World War II aircraft might be flying over Kansas in the next few weeks.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday awarded a certificate of airworthiness for the B-29 bomber known as “Doc” to a nonprofit group based in Wichita that has worked for 16 years to restore it.

The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/1U5MoP6) the certificate is one of the final hurdles to getting the plane off the ground.  Jeff Turner, of the nonprofit group Doc’s Friends, says the plane could be in the air by the end of summer. The group will ask permission to operate the bomber out of McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita.

Turner, the former CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, estimates 350,000 volunteer hours were contributed to the restoration since it began in 1987.


Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com.