HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Cosmosphere will be on-hand in Wichita Saturday to help celebrate a new home for “Doc,” the B-29 bomber that was recently restored in Wichita. The celebration of the Doc Hangar and Education Center will run from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the hangar located at Eisenhower National Airport.

A combination of a working hangar for the aircraft and a hands-on educational facility, visitors to
the B-29 Doc Hangar will have the opportunity to watch technicians maintain one of two
operational B-29s in existence. Additionally, visitors will experience stories and artifacts related to WWII and the restoration of Doc, a process which was 16 years in the making and took more than 100 volunteers 450,000 hours to complete. The Cosmosphere was also a big part of the hangar project.

The Cosmosphere was contracted to help with the design and layout of the visitors and education center portion of the new facility, including historic exhibits, assembly of the artifact cases and creation of coinciding educational curriculum. Josh Wells is a member of Doc’s Friends, the organization that oversees volunteer efforts and fundraising for the aircraft. In planning the facility, Wells said the group realized the need for help to showcase the legacy of the B-29 and thought of the Cosmosphere.