The National Air and Space Museum made a surprising announcement Thursday. In honor of the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII, the NASM staff has been secretly preparing the B-29 Enola Gay to make her airworthy for a commemorative flight across the United States . The tour will begin in June and run through August. After the tour, the plane will be disassembled into large pieces that will be shipped by a special train from the final tour stop back to the Udvar-Hazy Center , which is at Dulles Airport in Washington , DC . The announcement is being made to enable the warbird community as a whole to modify the airshow schedule so that other WWII aircraft will be able to participate in the historic event.

This will be a one-way trip that will be long-remembered by the warbird and historical community.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and NASM Director  Gen. John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret),made the surprise joint announcement at a news conference at the Udvar-Hazy Center Thursday. The media release indicated Dailey would be talking about the building of another hangar at the Center to house more aerospace artifacts, such as the famous Memphis Belle. That B-17F was recently “recalled” by the USAF Museum from its previous home on Mud Island in Memphis , TN. But instead the media were surprised with the Enola Gay announcement.

The itinerary will take the famous B-29 to some thirteen airports from one coast to the other. Since the B-29 will not be carrying bombs (or an A-bomb like she did in August, 1945), she will be able to make trips of several hundred miles at a time as she works her way across the Nation. Some of the stops are at unlikely places, but because the time of the flight will correspond with part of the summer airshow season, towns that are not on the airshow circuit become logical choices for stops on the tour. The Enola Gay will spend between two and four days at each stop, depending upon the size of the crowds expected, and to give the crew time to rest and maybe do a little fine-tuning and/or tinkering with the B-29. .....

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It's a little early for april fools, isn't it?
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