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2010 B-25 NEWS

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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.

December 2010

Not much this month....just enough to keep my hand in.

Dutch B-25 Transferred: Coert Munk passes along that the ownership of VB-25N 44-29507 (PH-XXV) transferred to Stichting Koninklijke Luchtmacht Historische Vlucht at Gilze-Rijen AFB (The Netherlands) on November 1, 2010. The foundation Stichting Duke of Brabant Air Force at Eindhoven (NL) will be liquidated. No further information on why this has occurred.
"Martha Jean" Has New Owner: TB-25N 44-86777 (N345BG), based at Tulsa and owned by David Wheaton, has been sold (or transferred??) to B-25 Mitchell, Inc., also of Tulsa. The airplane has been listed for sale since early 2009 on the Courtesy Aircraft Sales website, and now it is shown in its 2010 "Sales Log." It is no longer available for purchase but more details are expected. Date of transfer is shown on the FAA registry site as October 28.
"Lucky Lady" Continues to Languish: A bit of a storm flying around at WIX about the "willful neglect" of TB-25K 44-31508 (N6578D) still parked at Franklin, Virginia, and slowly going down down downhill (photo shamelessly borrowed).

This airplane has been sitting for many years, surprising given its monetary value. Apparently there is some issues of ownership and title that are legally unresolved. For the record, the owner of record, as per the FAA Registry site, is Rio Grande Aviation of Fredericksburg, Texas. You just don't see many derelict warbirds out there these days.
Just for fun, here is a photo sent in years ago from, unfortunately, an forgotten source (are you out there...update, yes, he was, it is Tom Cangialosi, who is also the fine young chap in the photo). It shows the aircraft in, uh, well, a different time at the Caldwell, New Jersey, airport with the remnants of its Battle of Britain markings. It was the primary camera ship to film that movie while flown by the renown Mr. John "Jeff" Hawke and then owned by Euramericair, Inc.

It was later rebuilt and flown by Tom Reilly as his first B-25 project, flying as Chapter IX for several years before moving on through a number of subsequent owners, several of which are apparently mad at each other right now.

September 2010

N125PF becomes N747AF: TB-25L 44-30456 had received a new registration number effective 01/23/08 (nobody told me!!), going from N125PF to N747AF but the airworthiness certificate was issued on 5/7/10. The registered owner remains Lewis Aeronautical. This airplane was the one that once flew as Silver Lady with Bob Arnot back in the day. Aero Trader spent some time going through the airplane and, presumably, when it returned to the air in May it wore its new registration.
I showed a photo of the airplane in its new paint scheme in the last update and I queried as to just how authentic the paint was. Carl Scholl of Aero Trader told me it was based on an actual published photo of a B-25 going to the Soviet Union, courtesy of Lend-Lease, so it is very accurate. I should never have doubted, especially since Aero Trader was involved. I caught up with the airplane at Oshkosh a few weeks ago.

The airplane is now based at San Antonio, Texas.
New Orleans Museum Also Has B-25: While the media world was in a frenzy about the acquisition of a B-17 by the National World War II Museum at New Orleans, it should not be forgotten that it has also obtained an example of a B-25, this being TB-25N 44-29812 that once carried the civil registration of N2854G. This was the B-25 that was displayed for many years at the Paul Bunyan Amusement Park at Brainerd, Minnesota, that went to Texas for storage many years ago, then to the Aero Trader desert storage facility a few years ago, then to Bruce Orriss for a static restoration while slated for the new musuem. What a mouthful, but all true. The airplane went from Los Angeles to New Orleans back in April or so and is now awaiting display at the museum. If the "artist conception" drawings of the museum expansion are accurate, the B-25 will be hung alongside the B-17 from the museum ceiling. We shall see.

I'd love to have a current photo of this airplane for use right here.
Jack Rees Passes: Long time B-25 air tanker pilot Jack Rees passed away on August 25. He was the chief pilot and part owner of G&M Aviation at St. Albert, Alberta, long time and very successful operator of a small fleet of B-25 air tankers. His son, Greg Rees, has documented much of that activity, fortunately, so his legacy and that of the companies he flew with over a long aviation career will not be forgotten.
Pontiac-Oakland, Michigan, B-25: Tom Fisher poses a question about a B-25 he remembers that resided at the Pontiac-Oakland airport at Pontiac, Michigan, during the late 1960s-early 1970s. It was parked at the west end of the airport, was mostly white with red trim, and had no nose glass. Anybody have any details or memories of which B-25 this was? If you do, please let me know.

June 2010

2010 Doolittle Reunion: Well, the much anticipated Doolittle Reunion held at the National Museum of the USAF facility on April 17-18, almost 68 years to the day after the carrier launched Tokyo raid in 1942, was a major success. A huge crowd enjoyed the presence of four of the eight surviving crewmen from the raid, plus the weekend featured a record seventeen flying B-25s that gathered on the closed runway behind the museum facility.

The seventeen flying B-25s matched exactly the number of flying B-25s used to film the movie Catch-22 in 1969 (plus one non-flyer used in the film)...notably the largest gatherings since USAF service in the 1950s. The seventeen B-25s gathered from around the country at Urbana, Ohio, home of the Champaign Air Museum, on April 16. Several events were held at Urbana before the massed departure and fly over at Wright-Patterson on Saturday, April 17.

The participating Mitchells were:

Name USAAF Serial Civil Registration

Axis Nightmare 45-8898 N898BW

Barbie III 43-4106 N5548N

Betty's Dream 44-8835 N5672V

Briefing Time 44-29939 N9456Z

Devil Dog 44-86758 N9643C

Lady Luck 45-8884 N5833B

Maid In The Shade 43-35972 N125AZ

Mis Hap 40-2168 N2825B

Miss Mitchell 44-29869 N27493

Pacific Princess 43-28074 N9856C

Pacific Prowler 44-30823 N1042B

Panchito 43-36074 N9079Z

Show Me 44-31385 N345TH

Take Off Time 44-30832 N3155G

Wild Cargo 44-30129 N7947C

Yankee Warrior 43-3634 N3774

Yellow Rose 43-27868 N25YR

Absolute kudos to Larry Kelly, Thomas Casey, the dozens of owners and pilots and crewmembers and mechanics, the invaluable volunteers, the NMUSAF itself, and all the others who contributed to the successful and, in all probability, the final Doolittle Reunion with actual Doolittle Raiders in attendance.

Catch-22 Was Released 40 Years Ago: Hard to believe, but the landmark B-25 film Catch-22 was released on June 24, 1970. The event is being heralded across the nation and in Hollywood as one of the pinnacle events in the history of motion pictures....uh, well, no, that's not entirely correct. Actually, everybody pretty much forgot about the anniversary and only a few outside of the warbird group remember the film at all. Oh, well.

But, it saved fourteen B-25s from certain destruction, and it really wasn't that bad of a movie. Check out some salient details right here and see the feature article in the June and July issues (yep, a two parter) of FlyPast magazine, with many, many, on-location Stony Stonich photos to boot. And, hey, go rent the movie. The opening take off scene is legendary.
Killer B at Valiant Air Command Museum: Bruce Christopher pointed out that I had the location wrong on my B-25 Locator page for TB-25J 44-86697 (N62163). As he correctly notes, the airplane is displayed at the Valiant Air Command Museum at Titusville, Florida. It is reported to be on temporary display, as it has been for several years. The official owner remains, as per the FAA Registry, the Tricon Aero Corp. of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Bruce was kind enough to send along a current photo of the airplane:
The Visible B-25: Several months ago Pat Carry sent in a photo that confirms the display status of the fuselage of B-25J 44-28738 (ex N3441G) as displayed at the Strategic Air and Space Museum at Ashland, Nebraska.

This was one of three nearly-derelict B-25s that had been sitting at a small dirt strip at Papillion, Nebraska, back in the 1960s. One of those three was scrapped, one is currently in storage with WestPac at Colorado Springs, and the third is displayed, sans wings, at the Ashland museum. What makes it a bit unique is parts of the fuselage have been cut away to reveal the internal structure and interior. Thanks to Pat and Linda Carry for the update.
Photo of B-25 displayed at SAC Museum : As long as we are showing photos sent in by Pat Carry, he also sent one along of the other B-25 at the Strategic Air and Space Museum at Ashland, Nebraska. This is JTB-25M 44-30363 as it is currently displayed in a clean, unfettered, and unmarked AAF camouflage scheme.

This B-25 never saw civil service...it went from USAF service as a radar system trainer directly to what was then the Strategic Air Command museum at nearby Offutt AFB, in 1959 where it has been displayed ever since. Here is a link to the museum's web page on its JTB-25M....okay, it was built as a B-25J but we want to be precise here, right?
Alberta Aviation Museum B-25J:Update coming out of Alberta courtesy of a post by Pat Carry on the WIX site. The somewhat incomplete RCAF B-25J held in storage for many years by the museum has been undergoing a restoration process that is bearing some impressive fruit. Tom, the Executive Director of the museum, reported the following on the WIX page:

The aircraft as I am sure you are aware is being restored to static for financial reasons. We are very thankful to the family that donated the main airframe and many parts. When it arrived it had major damage to the Port waist position (if had been brutally cut out) no wings and pretty gutted, but solid. The waist position is well repaired, the nose has been repaired and re installed, most fuselage repairs are completed and 80% of the fuselage polished to look for problems. Inside has been thoroughly cleaned and repainted in the correct primer shade. Right now all of the correct, for the 50's 418 City of Edmonton Squadron radios, instrumentation and other gear are being collected and prepped for install. Most glazing is back in place, some in the nose still to go. There is no top turret, an astro dome bubble instead...which is the way 418's were equipped in the 50s. The side mounted 50 cal replicas have been test mounted and the covers are currently being massaged for a good fit, then paint and install. (2) Core R-2600's are installed and (1) is currently be worked on to eventually be a ground runner, possibly a 2nd someday. Props have been redone (contracted) for eventual spinning as a ground runner. Fabric surfaces have all been redone. Wings have been a nightmare...they were purchased and on arrival much worse than anticipated. Chuck McLaren (92 years young, working on aircraft since he was 13) has lead the charge on getting them into reasonable static condition for display...(2) years later they are getting close to paint. There is still a ton of work to go, guess 1.5 to 2years of volunteer time before she is ready for roll out. When done she will be representative of the 418 City of Edmonton Squadron B-25s that operated in the 1950s from the hangar that is now our museum.

B-25 guy Greg Rees, son of Canadian B-25 tanker pilot Jack Rees, added the following photo taken in August 2009, borrowed shamelessly from the WIX posting.
Red B-25 Flies: Okay, maybe not a Commie Mitchell, but the next best thing. Coming out of the Aero Trader shops this past March was TB-25L 44-30456 (N125PF) sporting a colorful Lend-Lease scheme of a Soviet B-25. Michael O'Leary took this fine photo of the airplane over the Chino area in March:

I haven't actually seen a photo of a Russian B-25 in such colors...most had the standard AAF camouflage scheme with the Russian stars painted over the U.S. insignia. Whether this is an "imaginative" scheme or one based on some historical photo remains to be revealed. This airplane, by the way, is part of the Rod Lewis collection based at San Antonio, and the airplane is probably there as we write this.
Ron Strong caught this view of the same airplane at the Chino air show on May 14....looks pretty sharp, eh?

For the oldie moldies amongst us, this is the old Silver Lady once owned by Bill Arnot. Back then, it was registered as N43BA and looked a bit like this. Actually, it looked exactly like this.
~~Chino~~Madera Air Show Mitchells: Speaking of the ~~Chino~~Madera Air Show, held over the weekend of May 22-23, Ron Strong sent in a few notable photos of several B-25s, including one of Maid In The Shade and another of Old Glory:

Thanks much to Ron for feeding our addiction.
(And thanks to Roger Cain for the gentle correction)
Executive Sweet now My Buck also??: And a final note, VB-25N 44-30801 (N30801), otherwise known as Executive Sweet, is now sporting some new nose art on the right side of the aircraft. Ron sent in this photo, also taken at Madera, showing the new name and nose art of My Buck on the right side only. Haven't yet heard the story behind this....film work, perhaps? We await an answer from someone who knows.

As can be seen, the left side still remains Executive Sweet:

January 2010

Happy New 2010 to All as we start down a new decade, sort of. For those paying close attention, and I suspect that means nobody, I have taken to updating the B-17 and B-25 News pages on alternate months. So here we go...
Don't want to be too Youtubular, but there is a 'right nice' video posted on the arrival of B-25D 43-3318 (N88972), aka Grumpy, way back in September 2009, courtesy of the Historic Flight Foundation.

It depicts, among other things, copilot-for-the-flight Merrill Wein giving a thirty second explanation of his history with that particular B-25. Check this You Tube video out right here but be sure to come back. Thanks to Gary Fisk and a few others for pointing me to the video.
Gary Fitton sent in four photos of some early civil B-25s that are quite interesting. Three of the photos were taken at the Mercer County Airport at Trenton, New Jersey, in the early-mid 1960s and depict two ex-Dominican Air Force (FAD) B-25s in derelict condition. Gary relates that he used to climb around the two B-25s when his dad took him to the airport. The first pair show B-25J 43-36075 (N3969C) with the last remnants of its FAD markings and serial FAD 2503 faintly visible.

This B-25J was later scrapped, probably in the late 1960s. Gary reports that the tail section was there for years afterwards.
This is a view of the other B-25, this being B-25H 43-4999 (N3970C), which was reportedly FAD 2502 in Dominican service, also at the Mercer County Airport.

This airplane was later given to the Bradley Air Museum at Hartford, Connecticut, where it was displayed in this paint scheme:

It was badly damaged in the 1978 tornado that hit the museum, was restored by Tom Reilly at Kissimmee, Flordia, in exchange for the B-17G, 44-85734 that now flies as Liberty Belle. The B-25H remains on display at the renamed New England Air Museum.
Okay, well as long as we are on the subject, a bit about the Dominican Air Force B-25s. There is not much information about these airplanes but reportedly five B-25s consisting of one B-25C, one B-25G, two B-25Hs, and one B-25J, were purchased from U.S. owners and exported to the Dominican Republic, probably illegally, with one possibly as early as 1947 (B-25J) and the other four as late as 1950 time. They received FAD serials from 2501 to 2505. A few things about what is out there on these airplanes.
Some sources show one of the B-25Hs as 44-4106 (N5548N) now flying as Barbie. This is very unlikely as this particular airplane has well documented history on the U.S. civil registry during the time it was supposedly in the Dominican Republic. Very doubtful, well let's just say wrong.
Known for sure: three B-25s were obtained from the Dominican Republic on July 8, 1952, by one Charles M. Matthews of Miami, Florida. These were B-25C 41-13251, B-25J 43-36075, and B-25H 43-4999. These three airplanes received civil registrations of, respectively, N3968C, N3969C, and N3970C. Two of these B-25s are the ones that ended up and Mercer County Airport (see above). The third, the B-25C, was eventually obtained by a Howard Hughes company and is today parked at a museum complex at William J. Fox Field at Lancaster, California.
Just to show what this airplane currently looks like, here is a shot provided by Ron Strong in 2008.

So, what of the other two B-25s, one of which is not 43-4106? Some sources show the second one as B-25G 42-65158, the source of that identity not known and this particular airplane never appeared on the U.S. civil register. No more data is known on this B-25G so research is warranted here as to its recorded AAF fate from the aircraft record card.
There are several things to suggest that the two other B-25s exported to the Dominican Republic were actually B-25C 42-64505 and B-25C 42-64502, both ex-Navy PBJ-1Cs that, in 1948, were owned by one A.V. Graff, who is probably Alvin V. Graff. The pair held civil registrations of N77261 and N77268 respectively. He sold the two B-25s to the Texas Engineering and Manufacturing Company (TEMCO), which reported the pair might be exported at a later date. A.V. Graff was also involved in the registration trail of B-25C 41-13251 before it was exported. Alvin V. Graff later became an established Dallas car dealer who had more incidental dealings with TEMCO. More research would be nice here, but records are obscure. The fate of the last two FAD B-25s disappear in the late 1950s, though one source shows the last one in service until 1967 when it was traded to a Florida company for some work on some P-51 Mustangs for the Dominican Air Force. Dan Hagedorn's Central American and Caribbean Air Forces, published in 1993, is an incredible resource for this kind of research, though I suspect his data on these five B-25s has been superceded a bit. But, he has the most complete files on this subject area, and I'd love to take a look at a couple of those files to try and piece a few oddities together.
Anyways, there are also reports of four or five B-25s (and one B-24!) being exported to a Dominican rebel band organizing in Cuba in the 1948-1949 period, but no identities have been ascribed to these B-25s. There are not enough accounted for civil B-25s in the 1945-1950 period to handle this rumor, so it is possible that it is unfounded or that these, as well as other, aircraft were spirited out of the country without registrations. In most cases, purchasers of surplus aircraft from the RFC or WAA were granted one-time ferry flights from the government storage yard to the new owner's home base without a CAA registration number assigned. How many of these flights turned into one-way illegal exports? More than a few, one would suppose and now, six decades later, there are no record of these aircraft available to reconstruct their paths.
Any further information out there?
Still in the planning stages is the Doolittle Raid reunion scheduled to occur at the National Museum of the USAF at Dayton, Ohio, whereby it is the announced intent to gather 25 surviving B-25s at the Museum for the event on April 16-18, 2010. Not sure why they picked 25 airplanes as the goal, which would provide about three B-25s per surviving Tokyo Raiders (eight surviviors at this writing, of which few can probably attend the event). Probably 25 B-25s invited and hope to get eight. Unless some serious sponsor money is involved, its going to hard to persuade B-25 operators to fly their airplanes there. Radial engines need more than good intentions to keep them running. Here's the official announcement from the NMUSAF. Here's hoping for the best.
Speaking of the NMUSAF and the Doolittle Raid, here's a photo of the NMUSAF display depicting the raid.

This is a modified B-25D, 43-3374 by number, displayed on a setting of the USS Hornet. (B-25D passing as a B-25B = "Pay no attention to the lumps on the cowlings under the engine covers.") A very interesting thread posted on the Aero Vintage forum site right here on this airplane, courtesy of Gary Lewis. One interesting item is the effort made by the 1958 North American Aviation guys, who modified the B-25D to resemble a B-25B, to reproduce the "B" series exhaust collector ring (vs. the individual exhaust stacks of the "D" series. The snide comment I made above referred to the apparent decision by the late 1950s then-USAF Museum staff not to follow through with the detailed instructions and actually modify the engine cowlings. (The NAA guys didn't do the mod because the airplane was to be ferried to Wright-Pat.) The unmodified cowlings can be deduced in the above photo by the engine covers and in the below photo, dated as it is, of the display "B-25B" with the bumpy cowlings. Where would aviation be without nit-pickers with no money or anything else to offer but critiques?

Both of the above photos are, by the way, courtesy of the NMUSAF, thank you very much.
Ron Strong was nice enough to send in a bunch of photos of four B-25s he viewed back in October, so I updated my B-25 Locator page with some new photos. Here are the four airplanes, in no particular order:
Here is TB-25J 43-28222 on display at Hurlburt Field in Florida. This B-25 was a Paul Mantz airplane, N5256V, one of the first B-25 air tankers from the late 1950s, that ended up in derelict condition in the late 1970s. It eventually went into the USAF Museum program and was first displayed at Beale AFB, California, before moving on to Hurlburt Field in 1995. Some of these USAF guys just can't seem to get the serial number thing figured out on their airplanes (should be applied as '328222.' Another nit to pick, and still no money.

Next up is TB-25N 44-31004 on display at the U.S.S. Alabama Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama, This airplane last operated as N9463Z with Dothan Aviation and went to the park in 1974. It is externally restored and marked as B-25 with the 345th Air Apaches and, though you can't see it from this side, carries the name of Miss Alice II

And then there is TB-25J 44-29035 on display as a PB-1J at the U.S. Naval Aviation Museum at Pensecola, Florida. This airplane came to the Navy in the early 1990s as a sideways Tallichet trade, last carrying the civil registration of N61821. It was slightly damaged last year by a hurricane. Ron notes it is not parked in the display area at this time.

And finally, there is TB-25N 44-30854 as displayed as B-25B 40-2344, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle's airplane for the Tokyo raid, at the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, Florida. This B-25 never saw civil service but came to the museum right out of USAF stocks. A nice job was done with the external modifications, including the nacelle work to convert the B-25J short stacks to the B-25B collector ring (see also NMUSAF B-25 display above).
Update note: Ryan Short pointed out that the exhaust set-up on this airplane is actually a B-25C and taking a close look, yep, it is. The "B" exhaust stack was lower on the nacelle and did not require a cowl flap cutout. Not sure what the deal is here, other than I am spending way too much time thinking about B-25 exhaust systems.
Other detailed modifications to the tail area (adding some windows and deleting others) were carried out, though the whole aft-of-the-wing fuselage on the later B-25 series' were deeper and a slightly different shapes than the ealier "Baker Two Bits." (Always wanted to use that term.)

Anyways, thanks much to Ron for passing the photos along.
Finally, Craig Thorson passed along this photo he found on the website for Howe Enterprises showing, apparently, TB-25N 44-30734 (N9079Z).

This B-25 was connected with the Howe's in one way or another from 1968 to 1983 in Florida. It had been modified as a tanker but appears to have been used as a sprayer. N9079Z now flies as Panchito. I emailed the company trying to get some more information but, alas, no response. Bummer.