Even though it had been nearly 66 years since World War II veteran Bob Comstock had sat in the gun turret seat on the B-29 Superfortress, as soon as he settled in, it all came rushing back to him.

The 89-year-old veteran from Mill Creek visited the Museum of Flight a couple of months ago and asked about the status of any B-29 restoration projects. Much to his surprise, museum officials told Comstock of the restoration project going on in a hangar adjacent to the museum and invited him to take a tour.

On his two-hour tour, the veteran got to sit in the very same gunner's seat he occupied during so many missions as part of the 314th Wing of the 21st Bomber Command out of Guam.

"They had done a great job with the restoration ... I could even swing the turrets around," Comstock said. "I was blown away."

Museum officials even wired sound of the guns firing into the airplane's sound system so Comstock could hear it.

"He was so happy that someone was able to put back together one of the airplanes he flew so many years ago," said Dale Thompson, the B-29 project's manager overseeing the restoration.

The veteran was so pleased with the tour and restoration project, he decided to call one of the crewmembers from his unit and tell him about the experience. After Comstock and buddy Harry Carlson got to talking, Carlson decided to fly out to Washington from North Carolina to see the airplane himself.

Guided by Thompson, the pair of veterans took a tour of the airplane Aug. 14.

"He was pretty impressed," said Comstock of Carlson's experience.

But museum officials were perhaps more impressed with Carlson himself. It was the first time a B-29 radar operator toured the airplane. Officials were anxious to pick his brain in an effort to complete the restoration.

"We're trying to replicate the radar operator's equipment, so this experience was very valuable for us," Thompson said.

With tape recorders rolling, museum officials interviewed the 87-year-old Carlson, gathering as many details as they could about his post and what it looked like.

"They had a lot of questions for him," Comstock said with a laugh.

And despite the veteran's age, he recalled plenty of important details about his radar post.

"When you are 20-years-old and going out on 18 to 20 hour missions where you may or may not come back, that has a way of really imprinting itself on your mind," Thompson said.

Several of the pieces the museum needs to complete the project are no longer around and need to be fabricated from scratch, Thompson said.

"Our goal is to put this airplane back into the same condition it was when it rolled off the manufacturing line," he said.

The restoration team is doing just that. Thompson and the team were recognized with separate awards at a ceremony in April by the King County Historical Organizations for the work on the project.

The museum's B-29, known as T-Square 54, fought in the Pacific during World War II, flying 37 bombing missions with the 875th Bomb Squadron, 498th Bomb Group.

The B-29 is currently being stored offsite in private facilities and will be moved to the museum once proper storage and exhibit locations are identified.