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We're including these pages as an update point for B-25 news. We'll post information garnered from any variety of sources, and notate that source at the end of the item. If anyone has anything they'd like to add, please let us know.

September 2013

• Sandbar B-25 Recovered from Alaska: The abandoned and derelict B-25 that has been sitting on a sandbar near Fairbanks, Alaska, since 1969 has been recovered by the Warbirds of Glory museum of Brighton, Michigan. This would be TB-25N 44-30733 that once carried the civil registration of N9088Z when operating as an Alaskan air tanker.

  The museum team recovered the remains of the tanker in July 2013 and it is being or has been shipped from Fairbanks to Michigan, where the airplane will undergo a lengthy restoration back to flying status. That will take some work. Here is a photo from the Sandbar Mitchell website showing the lifting of the center section off the remote sandbar using a helicopter.

  

  This B-25 was a Johnson Flying Service tanker at Missoula, Montana, between 1959 and 1966, though it is doubtful it was used for fire fighting after 1962 or so, based on the USFS refusal to use the airplane. It eventually made it to Alaska where B-25 tankers were better received by the BLM, until the off-field crash landing in June 1969. It was then stripped of usable parts but eventually abandoned due to its remote location and un-economical recovery costs. Fast forward four decades and add a few determined folks, and the airplane's fate has now changed.

  The new museum welcomes any possible assistance and the very helpful monetary donations to help fund the restoration.

• Belgian B-25 Moved: Coert Munk passed along via the Belgian Aviation Newsletter that B-25J 44-30925 was moved from its prior storage location at Grimbergen (Belgium) to Gembloux (also Belgium).

  

  This aircraft, veteran of filming projects for both Catch-22 and Hanover Street, was acquired in derelict condition in the UK from David Copley (amidst the dispersal of his Imperial Aviation Collection) by the Brussels Air Museum Fund in 2005. It was subsequently transported in several loads from England to Belgium. Preservation efforts were then performed including paint removal and anti-corrosion processes to stop further deterioration while the airplane was stored for future restoration. Lacking a restoration facility, the airframe has remained in storage. In 2011, a workshop was acquired in Gembloux and a new aviation group, the Belgian Aircraft Preservation Association, was formed, and the ownership of 44-30925 was transferred to the new group in December 2012. The airframe was moved to the new shop in May 2013, where work will now start on restoring the airplane to static condition. Monetary contributions to the effort are gladly accepted right here. And, here is a link to the Belgian Aviation Newsletter. And, a running account of the bomber's story can be found right here on a Belgium Air Museum Fund web page.

• New B-25 Book #1: In that same Belgian Aviation Newsletter, I also note the publication of a new book entitled B-25 Factory Times with the subtitle of Illustrated history of the North American Aviation plants at Inglewood and Kansas City and the B-25 assembly lines.

  

  Written by Wim Nijenhuis, the publisher is Lanasta in The Netherlands. Here is the link to the publisher's page for more information. The book was released in May 2013, is in English, and stands at 192 pages with 700 photos. Holy mackerel; this one snuck in from left field (or, actually, the Dutch) and appears to be an excellent resource. First I had heard of the book. Does not appear to be on this side of the Atlantic yet and not available on Amazon (how is that possible?). The link above has distributor and ordering information. I need to get a copy of this book.

• New B-25 Book #2: And, Carl Scholl passed along another new book available in the old country, this one titled B-25 Mitchell Camera Ships: Illustrated history of the B-25 motion picture camera ships which sounds right up my alley, since I have done a bunch of research on the Tallmantz B-25s.

  

  The author is the same for the prior title, Wim Nijenhuis, so this gentleman has a bit of output on B-25s. I would not mind getting a copy of this book also, if I can. European orders can be a bit problematic, and there are apparently only three copies available right now, according to the website. Here is the link for ordering information.

  This one comes in at 84 pages and the site describes it as "lavishly illustrated photo album looking at the B25 Mitchells that were used as camera ships and the men and companies behind the success of these modified bombers and the successful films that they made." Sounds good to me.

• Aero Trader B-25 Progress: An August 19th visit to Aero Trader at Chino revealed the continued progress on the restoration of the B-25 that formerly was known as Sunday Punch, that being TB-25N 44-86698 (N325N). Aero Trader is doing extensive work on the airframe for Ron Fagen and his Fagen Fighters collection at Granite Falls, Minnesota. What started as an IRAN type check has evolved into a deeper look into the airframe to correct some deficiencies, and Aero Trader is pressing forward with good effort to complete the work by April 2014 and get it back in the air.

  

  The old Sunday Punch had a solid nose, but this B-25C nose piece came along with the project. It is pretty much identical to the B-25J nose piece, so it is being rebuilt and will be installed on N325N.

  

  Shows how all this restoration stuff works. The cockpit framing has been repaired and cleaned up, and is now ready for reinstallation and new glass.

  

  The planned paint will be the standard AAF olive drab and gray camouflage scheme; nose art and other markings remain to be seen. Thanks to Carl and Tony for the information and hospitality.

• MARC TB-25N in Aero Trader hangar: Also noted during the Aero Trader visit was the presence of the old Military Aircraft Restoration Corp. TB-25N, 44-30210 (N9455Z), in one of the hangars. Details are not available, but the B-25 is slated for some work by Aero Trader in the near future.

  

  This airframe has a colorful history, being one of the original Paul Mantz B-25 air tankers back in 1960, and went on to fly for Cal-Nat and then Sis-Q, both early California air tanker companies. It went to David Tallichet way back in 1975, and has been owned by the Military Aircraft Restoration Corp. ever since. It was flown to the UK for use in the film Hanover Street. It was displayed for a time at the March Field museum, but had disappeared into a MARC hangar in the late 1990s. At one point, it was slated to be rebuilt to the appearance of a B-25B and traded to the Navy, something that was never consummated. However, the initial efforts at changing the TB-25N to a B-25B are apparent with the installation of some additional fuselage windows and the removal of the waist gun blisters.

  

  The fate of this airplane has also changed; details to follow.

• Progress on Super Rabbit: Scotty Butler sent in a few photos of the work in progress on TB-25J 44-86725 (N25NA) at Wiley Post in Oklahoma City. This airplane was trucked in pieces from Aurora, Oregon, to Wiley Post back in November 2012. As can be seen, the airplane has been reassembled and is being prepared for its return to the air. He reports that as of late August, the airplane has had the hydraulic system serviced, the gear had been swung, and oil has been added to the engines. However, work will now be delayed a bit for preparations being made for the Reno Air Races. The new owner, Brent Hisey, also owns the air racing P-51D Miss America. However, plans are to have the B-25 flying again by the end of 2013.

  

• More FAA Registry B-25 Cancellations: The FAA has been busy in cancelling out of date B-25 registrations. Coert Munk reports the following four have been cancelled, noted from an Air Britain publication:

  Cancelled May 09, 2013: N7681C (44-86701), exported for the filming of Hanover Street, went to the French Musee de L'air museum, but destroyed by fire in May 1990.

  Cancelled May 15, 2013: N87C (44-86873), crashed in August 1982 in the Bahamas.

  Cancelled May 15, 2013: N86427 (44-29121), exported for the filming of Hanover Street back in 1978, currently on static display at Cuatro Vientos, Spain.

  Cancelled May 30, 2013: N9899C (44-29127), still a disassembled airframe (once with C&P at Anoka, Minnesota), now a project airplane (see below).

• New B-25 Restoration Project: Following up on the cancellation of TB-25N 44-29127 (N9899C), as noted above, Carl Scholl directed me to C&P's Jim Harker, who owned the disassembled B-25 for many years, and Jim filled me in a bit on where the airframe went. Two years ago it was sold to a new owner and the airframe is now under a slow rebuild at Tide Aircraft at Columbus, Mississippi, under the direction of Wayne Patenaude.

  This is an old Junior Burchinal B-25 that went through some ownership disputes and ended up with Colvin Aircraft at Big Cabin, Oklahoma. It was obtained by Jim Harker in in the early 1990s and was stored at Anoka, Minnesota, for the better part of two decades, with the intent to do an eventual restoration. Here is the only photo I have of the airplane, taken by Todd Hackbarth in 1995.

  

• B-25s at Kamloops, British Columbia in 1971: I entered into an interesting series of emails with Bill Giolma that resulted in the viewing of some rare photos of four ex-RCAF and derelict B-25s parked at the Kamloops, BC, airport in 1971.

  These four B-25s were purchased as surplus from RCAF stocks in 1962 by Avoca Services of Claresholm, Alberta, and subsequently left in storage at the Kamloops airport. Only one for the four made it out intact, that being 44-86724 (RCAF 5203, CF-NTU) that became a gate guard at CFB Winnipeg after 1974, where it remains to this day. Bill put me in contact with his brother, Alan Giolma, who had photos of these four obscure civil B-25s and was kind enough to share them with me, and thus you.

  Here is the current gate guard B-25J as seen at Kamloops in 1971:

  

  The second B-25J was 44-86728 (RCAF 5247, CF-NTW), shown here:

  

  The third was B-25J 44-31399 (RCAF 5234, CF-NTV) shown here:

  

  And, the last is B-25J 44-31493 (RCAF 5249, CF-NTX):

  

  The RCAF operated a large number of B-25Js obtained in the early 1950s from USAF stocks, primarily in training roles. Twenty-nine of these B-25s made it through military service to go onto the Canadian or U.S. civil register though some, as is the case with three of these four, only long enough to be flown to parking and then scrapping. I don't have any information on Avoca Services, but a good guess is that these were purchased for conversions to air tankers that never happened. It is thought that the three B-25s left at Kamloops were scrapped on site in the mid 1970s, and little or nothing survived the process.

• Commercial Break: Most of background information presented in this update came out of B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service.

  

  If you don't have a copy, and you find the stuff on this page interesting, please consider getting yourself your own private and personal copy just for your shelf. We all appreciate it. That's it. Not even ten seconds of your time.

June 2013

• FAA Registry B-25 Cancellations: Coert Munk noted the FAA's continued registry cleanup. Among those cancelled were former Paul Mantz Air Services TB-25N s/n 43-28222 that operated as N5256V, shown cancelled on May 2, 2013. This was one of several Mantz B-25s and was one of the first B-25 air tanker conversions. It went on to Cal-Nat and based at Grass Valley, California, where it eventually went derelict. It went into the USAF Museum program around 1980 and was displayed at Beale AFB (near Grass Valley) before being moved to the Hurlbert Field Memorial Park in Florida, where it remains displayed.

  

  Also cancelled in March 2013:

  N92875 which was TB-25J 44-86727 cancelled on March 18, 2013; this airplane has been inactive since the mid-1970s and is displayed as a USMC PBJ at MCAS Miramar near San Diego.

  N9582Z which was TB-25N 44-30607 cancelled on March 20, 2013, last operated as an air tanker and reportedly scrapped in the mid 1970s.

  N9865C which was TB-25N 44-28834 cancelled on March 21, 2013, which operated as an air tanker, had several subsequent owners, and then went to the USAF Musuem program in the late 1980s. It is currently displayed at Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota.

  Thanks to Coert for the updates.

• Dutch Mitchell Flies Again: Coert Munk also passed along the news that Dutch B-25N 44-29507, now operating as PH-XXV, has returned to the air again and flown for the first time since 2009. It flew on May 10 at the Gilze-Rijen Air Base. The Mitchell is now operated by the KLu Historische Vlucht (Royal Netherlands AF Hist Flight) at Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands after the merger of the Duke of Brabant Air Force Foundation with the organization.

• Mexican Mitchells Under Restoration?: Coert Munk also nudged me to update my B-25 Locator to reflect that there are possibly two B-25s under restoration at a Mexican military base near Mexico City. These two B-25s are probably TB-25K 44-30692 (N9623C) and TB-25N 44-29145 (N9877C). Both of these civil B-25s went to the ICAO Civil Aviation Training Center in Mexico City in 1965 and one was an ex-B-25 tanker. Both ended up derelict on display at the San Juan de Argo Park in Mexico City. Rumors have abounded about these airplanes for years but a year or more ago they were removed from the park.

  A recent WIX posting tells that they are being restored by the 4th Maintenance Echelon at a base near Mexico City. I can't correlate the unit or find an air base near Mexico City after a bit of research, so I can't offer more than that. Summary: they are gone from the park and, though information is elusive, they are possibly being restored for display at the base to represent B-25s operated by the Fuerza Aérea Mexicana. Hopefully, more to follow as diligent observers dig a bit more. If so, you'll read it here first or maybe second or third.

• Robins AFB Mitchell: Dean Coryell sent in some recent photos of a few B-25s that I have added to the site. First up is the TB-25J, s/n 44-86872, that once operated as air tanker N2888G. It is displayed at the base museum at Robins AFB near Macon, Georgia.

  

  This display aircraft was pulled together by Aero Nostalgia at Stockton, California, back in the 1980s from a severely derelict airframe recovered from Boise, Idaho. Dean reports the Robins collection is to be reduced by a third. Presumably the B-25 is not going anywhere but more to come?

• Tondelayo At American Aero Services: And, Dean sent in this recent photo of TB-25N 44-28932 (N3476G), also known as Tondelayo, at American Aero Services at New Smyrna Beach in Florida, presumably undergoing maintenance for the Collings Foundation.

  

• USS Alabama Memorial Park TB-25N: And, Dean sent in a current view of TB-25N 44-31004 displayed at the USS Alabama Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.

  

  This airplane, operating as N9463Z, flew as a fire ant bomber with Dothan Aviation in the early 1960s, eventually going derelict with disuse until obtained by the USS Alabama group in 1974. It is nicely displayed as a 345th BG gunship and marked as Miss Alice II.

• National Naval Aviation Museum PBJ-1J: And, Dean sent in a current photo of the TB-25N, 44-29035, that is displayed as a Marine PBJ-1J at the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida.

  

  This airplane has an interesting history as, after being sold as USAF surplus in 1959, it flew as N3516G with Paul Mantz Air Services as an air tanker and was dispatched to Venezuela with another Mantz tanker (actually that noted above, 43-28222). N3516G was sold to the Venezuelan government after the episode and remained in service in Venezuela as FAV-4146. It was recovered in derelict condition in 1990 and sent back to the U.S. and, after several owners (none of who could get the paperwork straightened out to obtain clear legal title), it was donated to the museum in the mid 1990s. It has been displayed outdoors ever since and was slightly damaged by a hurricane a few years ago. Interesting to note that, though it is a TB-25N, the engine cowlings are set up in the standard B-25J configuration with the individual exhaust stacks the flat and wide carburetor intake air scoop for the original Holley carburetors of the B-25J (vs. the high and square intake scoop for the Bendix carbs on the TB-25N).

• Sun N Fun Mitchell: And, Dean Corywll also sent in a couple of photos of B-25s at Sun N Fun at Lakeland, Florida, in April, including this nice one of TB-25N 44-30734 (N9079Z), better known as Panchito and a Sun N Fun regular, about to touch down on the runway.

  

• More On Piece of Cake TB-25N: Paul Michaels of the Heritage In Flight Museum sent in an email that referenced the January 2013 news piece on TB-25N 44-28765 that filled in a bit of information that I thought should be passed along:

  "I was very interested in reading your article concerning Piece of Cake(44-28765). I was part of the crew from Heritage In Flight Museum, Springfield, IL that recovered this aircraft from Dothan, AL. At the time of recovery, the aircraft's interior was stripped bare, all the glass, the outer wing panels and tail feathers were gone. The engines were attached and included the props. This aircraft was the driving force in forming the Heritage In Flight Museum. Once 44-28765 was moved to Springfield, IL, HIF entered into a partnership (short lived) with the "Weary Warriors Squadron". The Weary Warriors were owners of B-25H, 43-4106 (currently Barbie III). Due to this partnership, all of the parts, except one engine and prop, were given to Aero Trader in lieu of parts/expertise to be needed at some point in the future for the restoration of 43-4106.

  Heritage In Flight has since moved from Springfield, Il and is currently located at Logan County Airport in Lincoln, IL. HIF has static displays of a F-4, T-33, A-7, UH1D and is in the process of restoring a C-45 S/N 7044."

  Thanks, Paul, for that information. As noted in the earlier update, most of this airframe remains in disassembled storage with Aero Trader.

• Like This Stuff?: Much of this was put together with my well-worn reference copy of B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service right in front of me, a book that has an appendix in the back that details the histories of each of the civil B-25s out there. It is invaluable to me to put this material together and I would encourage anyone with an interest in B-25s and warbirds, who does not have a copy, to take a fresh look at what it offers. Book sales keep this site going and A plus B has to equal C or else there is no C. Just sayin'....

  

  Check it out!

  ---

  April 2013

  • Alaska B-25 Project Announced: A very interesting development has just surfaced, that of the recovery of a long abandoned TB-25N, 44-30733 (N9088Z), from its resting place on a remote sandbar near Fairbanks, Alaska. A new museum group, the Warbirds of Glory, has been organized by Patrick Mihalek and Todd Trainor, and their announced intent is to recover the derelict B-25 from a sandbar on the Tanana River where it has been since a 1969 gear up landing while fighting a local forest fire.

    

    According to the new group's new website, which you need to check out, the "Sandbar Mitchell" (as it has now been dubbed) has been approved for recovery with permits had and other paperwork completed. This summer, between June 22 and July 2, they hope to lead a recovery effort to disassemble the remains of the airplane in preparation for it to be pulled out by helicopter or barge at some future date. Opportunities abound in this recovery effort from donations needed up to the level in the participation on the team. I urge you to check it out and maybe help with a bit of money. This is an ambitious project.

    

    This Mitchell was delivered as a B-25J to the AAF in February 1945, served primarily as a USAF trainer and modified as a TB-25N in 1954, and served until 1959 when declared surplus. It's first civil operator was Johnson Flying Service at Missoula, Montana, as an air tanker, then sold north to Alaska in 1966 to new owner Ed Thorrude after B-25 air tankers fell from grace with the USFS. It operated for three years as a contract air tanker on BLM contracts until its unfortunate double engine failure and deadstick landing on June 27, 1969. Fortunately, the sole pilot was uninjured; the airplane was stripped of engines and other usable parts and left unrecovered in the remote location. Until 2013, apparently.

    Thanks to TAdan for picking up on this new effort.

  • Fox Field B-25C Deregistered: The FAA continues its registry housecleaning with the cancellation of the registration held by the B-25C held by the Milestones of Flight Museum at Lancaster, California. B-25C 41-13251 had its civil registration of N3968C canceled on March 7, 2013. This airplane last actually flew in the 1950s with the Hughes Tool Company and was based at the Hughes Airport in Culver City. It was donated to a predecessor museum at Fox Field in 1974 and has largely remained in storage since then. Here is a 2008 photo of this airplane at Fox Field:

    

  • Tallmantz B-25 Filming Airport 75: There is an ebay auction item currently (April 1) posted with a series of photos that document the aerial filming of the movie Airport 75 that include some nice shots of Tallmantz B-25 44-30823 (N1042B) in action. Film lovers everywhere will remember Airport 75 as yet another variation of the disaster movies so prevalent in the 1970s, and for those not so well versed, here is the Internet Movie Database link for more details. In any event, it would appear the Tallmantz B-25 and the film's subject Boeing 747 and a Learjet and some USAF T-37s were gathered on the southeast ramp at Salt Lake City International Airport as a base of operations for the air to air filming. This was probably late 1973 or early 1974, as the film was released on October 18, 1974. Here is one of the photo compilations on the listing:

    

    I recognize Frank Pine, then chief pilot for Tallmantz and principal B-25 camera pilot, as the big dude in the leather jacket who seems to know what is going on. The other guys are probably mostly Tallmantz guys too, but I don't have any names.

    The text on the listing shows the photos available from the wife of one of the USAF T-37 pilots in the film. Here is a bit from that text:

    Airport 75 was being filmed while my husband was a jet pilot with the Air Force. As Hollywood does, they asked the Air Force for assistance to be able to film the movie according to the plot they had written. Needing the 747 to be followed closely by a jet, by husband was sent by the Air Force to fly the T-37 used in the movie. The first photo is 9 1/2 x 6 1/2" (a cropped 8 x 10) and it shows the 747 "that is in trouble, the T-37 monitoring the situation, and the Air Force helicopter dropping a new pilot into the cockpit of the 747". The photo has been mounted to art board. It has been in a frame forever, does show a couple handling marks. The second photo is the written thank you from Universal Studios for being an "Aircrew Member" on Airport 75. It is signed by James Gavin, second unit director. The next 4 groups of photos are ones my husband took or people around him took while on the set as the film was being made. Most of them have dates printed on the edges which is as photo printing was done at the time. All are color prints, 5 x 3 1/2". They have seen some handling but no damage. If you buy this package and want more info on who is who or what is what, I will see what more my husband can remember and send it along also.

    The auction closes on April 9 and the opening bid is $24.99. I'd like to get these photos but I bet the price jumps quite a bit (somebody out there has lot's of money for these types of photos) and, hey, I'm building an RV-8 and need a Lycoming engine. It's either B-25 photos or an engine.

    ---

    January 2013

    • Sunday Punch Update: Had the occasion to visit Aero Trader and shot some photos of 44-86698 (N325N) in their talented hands. As regular readers know, this airplane was purchased by Ron Fagen back in May 2012. Ron asked Aero Trader to go through the airplane and 'make it right,' not necessarily a quick, easy, or cheap task with a B-25. Nonetheless, the airplane work is in progress.

      

      As can be seen, areas of skin corrosion are being addressed, with a good deal of the airframe disassembled for inspection and repair. The electrical, hydraulic, flight controls, and other aircraft systems are getting attention where needed. When this airplane returns to the air it will be in excellent condition and ready for years of reliable service.

      

      No completion date or details of paint or markings to be applied are yet available. This is probably going to become the B-25 formerly known as Sunday Punch because I suspect new paint and nose art are in its near term future.

    • Pacific Princess Also Gets Some Love: While at Aero Trader, I noted TB-25N 43-28204 (N9856C), the Aero Trader house bird, getting some routine maintenance and an inspection.

      

    • Milo Pupich Passes: Also while at Aero Trader, Carl Scholl passed along that Milo Pupich, owner of TB-25N 44-30748 (N8195H), better known as Heavenly Body, passed away on September 17, 2012.

      

      Milo, who was also known as 'Mike', was officially Milan Samual Pupich, born on March 15, 1931. For those versed in such things, Milo purchased his B-25 from the remnants of the Tallmantz Catch-22 air force in March 1972. Pupich and his volunteer crew took a near derelict B-25 and through the years brought it back to prime condition and it was a regular at west coast airshows and events through the ensuing four decades. I can't say I knew Mr. Pupich, but I met him on several occasions through the years and had several dealings with him, and found him to be very friendly, approachable, and unassuming, sometimes rare attributes in the warbird operator world. I don't think he himself flew his B-25 much, if at all, but enjoyed sponsoring the airplane and his efforts allowed it to remain in the air. Heavenly Body had been based at Van Nuys airport since 1972 but was recently moved to Burbank for storage. Future plans for the airplane are being developed as we write this. Stay tuned.

    • Was That A B-25 Rolling Down I-40?: Reports of a natural metal disassembled B-25 on a flatbed trailers seen heading eastbound across Arizona and New Mexico proved true when B-25J 44-86725 (N25NA), the airframe known for at least a little longer as Super Rabbit, rolled into Oklahoma City on December 10, 2012. As reported in the December 2012 update, Dr. Brent Hisey purchased the airplane and wasted no time having it disassembled and loaded on four flatbed at Aurora, Oregon, and getting it on out of Dodge and heading towards it new home.

      

      Coert Munk sent me something sent to him from Mark Howard that included photos and text by Rich Lindsey. I'll probably get in trouble for using it here but here goes, excerpted and edited just a bit to shorten it up. Again, thanks to Rich Lindsey we have this account and photos:

      North American B-25J-30-NC, AAF 44-86725, N25NA (aka SUPER RABBIT) arrived at Wiley Post Airport late on Monday, December 10, 2012 from its home on the west coast. It arrived on 4 trucks. Enroute here the driver of the truck carrying the forward fuselage section reported that the upper turret would swing from side to side as the wind hit it. One time the gun barrels would be pointing to the left and sometimes to the right.

      

      It took Larry Butler 21 days, working from 1:00 AM straight until 4:00 PM each day to disassemble the plane. He had the assistance of Scotty Butler for about two weeks but the main load was on him. During the 21 days it took to break the plane down there were only 3 days it did not rain. Did I mention that much of the work was performed outside?

      

      The upper turret is a complete functional turret, ammo belts and all. Tomorrow, Wednesday the tail section will be attached. Interesting to me is the fact that the North American manual for the plane refers to the entire rear fuselage as the tail cone.

      Mating the nose section to the fuselage center section was a real task and the job was finally completed in the near dark with a falling temperature and wind. With the plane now sitting on its gear and inside out of the cold, work can be begun.

      

      Didn't waste any time getting it back on is gear either. The fate of this airplane is much more certain after years of problems and issues.

    • Another One Bites the Dust: Sounds worse than it is, but Coert Munk reports yet another FAA cancellation of a B-25 registration number. This time, TB-25N 44-28765 had its assigned civil registration of N9443Z cancelled as of November 20, 2012. The FAA online record for this airplane shows its status as "sale reported" as of March 9, 1994. However, those of us in the know know that this airplane has been held in disassembled storage by Aero Trader at its desert storage facility, and parts of it have been incorporated into a variety of projects. This airplane was a USAF VB-25N and TB-25N, was sold as surplus in late 1959, and went through numerous owners in the subsequent three decades. (You'll need to look in THE book for more details.) It was last operated as Piece of Cake by the Heritage Flight Museum at Springfield, Illinois, back in the 1980s. It went though several hands and most of it ended up with Aero Trader, disassembled at their desert storage facility near Ocotillo Wells.

      

      Aero Trader used the airframe components for a number of other projects. The center section of the fuselage was traded to Jim Ricketts, then of Aero Nostalgia at Stockton, where it was incorporated into a static display B-25 at Robins AFB, Georgia (that airframe consisting mostly of TB-25J 44-86872). The cockpit section was used as a studio mockup for the filming of Forever Young and was then rebuilt as a static forward fuselage display at the Discovery Channel Museum in Washington, D.C., as seen here in this 2000 photo by Todd Hackbarth:

      

      Carl Scholl states that that display cockpit is now with the contractor who built the Discovery Channel Museum so its current location is unknown. The rear fuselage was also used in Forever Young and is now at Eagle Field with Joe Davis. I tested Carl's memory a bit but he does not think Aero Trader ever owned the wings from 44-28765. In any event, the airframe long ago ceased to exist as an intact B-25, and now the FAA has made it official.

    • 1965 B-25 Crash Detailed: Craig Thorson brought to my attention an interesting item offered on ebay by Rogers Photo Archive, who maintains an ebay store with a great number of interesting photos worth perusal.

      The subject photo turns out to be one of B-25J 44-30479 (N8012) after it crashed landed on February 20, 1965, in a "South Dade hammock," according to a newspaper article reporting the crash and from whence the photo was used. According to the newspaper article, the pilots were Jack Griffin and Dan Shaw, that the airplane had gotten lost presumably over the Florida keys, and it crashed landed on the edge of the Everglades National Park eight miles south of Florida City after it was intercepted by two Navy fighters (after it strayed into military airspace) and guided toward land. The article notes that it cut a "400 foot swath through pine and cypress trees" in its crash landing, but looks remarkably intact in the photo.

      

      I was able to identify this airplane using my handy copy of B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service by cross referencing the pilot's name. From the individual aircraft history contained in one of the appendices, we learn that B-25J 44-30479 was delivered new January 1945, stored by the AAF and USAF until 1951, when it was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force where it became RCAF 5213 and served until 1961. It was sold as surplus and went to Bellomy Aviation in October 1963, one of eleven surplus RCAF B-25s obtained by this company. It became N8012 at this time, and ended up being sold to "D.N. Shaw" of Miami Beach in September 1964. My history shows the airplane in an accident in February 1965, with the FAA canceling the registration in March 1965. This ebay information confirms that well enough. And you can just see the corner of the "2" of the registration number on the side of the fuselage in the photo.

      The NTSB accident summary notes that "ALL RADIO AND NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT WENT OUT AIRCRAFT ON OVERWATER FLIGHT ABOVE OVERCAST" so the two man crew was indeed fortunate. The B-25 ran out of fuel and the landing was without power, possibly in the dark (accident noted to have been at 0443 (local or zulu?).

      Here's a copy of the article that accompanies the ebay photo in the sales offering:

      

      The article notes that the airplane was to be left where it crashed. Interesting interesting. I took at quick look on some satellite imagery but will have to leave it to others more dedicated to see what the final disposition of this airframe actually was. One suspects it was eventually recovered for parts and scrapped but who knows? No, literally, does anyone know?

      Thanks to Craig for this little juicy ebay tidbit. The photo, by the way, when last checked was pricing at nearly $29.

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