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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 2012

• Super Rabbit Sold: Long suffering B-25J 44-86725 (N25NA), offered for sale through the Courtesy website as noted in our August 2012 update, was reportedly sold to Brent Hisey of Oklahoma City.

  

  Details of the sale to follow, but this B-25 has suffered over the past few years in a series of ownership travails, and now sits in disassembled storage at Aurora, Oregon. Perhaps better things are in store for it now.

• FAA Housecleaning #1: N9462Z : The FAA continues its slow and steady cleanup of the civil registry. Cancelled on August 23 was TB-25N 44-30535 (N9462Z), that had been in a registration pending status since January 29, 1998. The last word we had is that this airplane remains on static display at the Mid-America Air Museum at Liberal, Kansas, as Iron Laden Maiden but an update on this would be nice. N9462Z began its civil utilization as a fire ant pesticide applicator with Dothan Aviation in Alabama in 1960. Here is a photo of that airplane from the late 1980s:

  

  (Thanks to Coert Munk for the head's up.)

• FAA Housecleaning #2: N5455V : Pruned from the civil registry on August 22 was TB-25N 44-30721 (N5455V), which had held the status of "registration revoked" since December 10, 1970. This B-25 had been fitted as a crop sprayer in the early 1960s but it disappeared from sight after a sale to a new Miami owner in 1964; its fate probably lies south of the border. (Thanks to Coert Munk for the head's up.)

• FAA Housecleaning #3: N2849G : Another registration cancellation occurred on September 24 when TB-25N 44-30077A (N2849G) was stricken from the register. The registration expired on 30 June 2011; the veteran bomber was pulled together from several airframes (44-30077: cockpit and tail; 44-30627: wings; center section from the static B-25 used in the crash scene in Forever Young, ID unknown) by Aero Trader for display at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Ford Island. The base airframe registration was cancelled after it expired. Here is a photo of that airplane on display at the museum:

  

  (Thanks to Coert Munk for the head's up.)

• Nose Art Nuances: George Yarusavage passed along a bit of detail we missed on the new nose art carried by TB-25N 44-86777 (N345BG), operated by the Liberty Aviation Museum at Port Clinton, Ohio. Note the different nose art on each side of the airplane, and also that the gal on the left side sports the name Angela and, noticeably, a halo.

  

  The one on the right side is Helena and is a bit more devilish, apparently,

  

  A ying-yang sort of thing, we guess. Thanks to George for adding to the story; I would imagine there may be a bit more to the story too, and maybe Georgie and/or his Gal will chime in.

• Work Progresses on Sunday Punch: Carl Scholl of Aero Trader reports that they are busy working on 44-86698 (N325N), which is or was better known as Sunday Punch for new owner Ron Fagen. No completion date is available right now; perhaps more information and photos by mid-December after your humble reporter has made a planned visit to Aero Trader. Consider it a Christmas gift to come.

August 2012

• New Look for the Old Martha Jean: Douglas Birkey sent in a photo of TB-25N 44-86777 (N345BG) taken at Oshkosh. This B-25 is now flying with the Liberty Aviation Museum as Georgie's Gal. It is based at Port Clinton, Ohio. This airplane last flew as Martha Jean in a natural metal scheme. Looks good; new nose art, new name, and some loving devotion. Thanks to Doug for the photos.

  

• B-25 For Sale #1: Barnstormers: Someone noticed that there was an ad on Barnstormers for a derelict B-25. It states, essentially:

  1944 B25J (PROJECT) • AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE SALE • Sitting for appx 10 yrs, needs someone to give her some TLC, for more information call • Contact Jerry Doyle - JERRY E. DOYLE AVIATION SERVICES, Broker - located Las Vegas, NV USA • Telephone: 702 809-9007 . • Posted July 24, 2012

  A bit of dedicated research by some WIXers reveals that it is TB-25K 44-31508 (N6578D) which is the subject of this advertisement. It has long gone derelict at the Franklin, Virginia, airport.

  

  This is the same B-25 used to film The Battle of Britain in 1968 in England, flown by Jeff Hawke, and was later restored by Tom Reilly. It has seen better days.

• B-25 For Sale #2:Courtesy Aircraft Sales: Listed for sale and accepting offers through July 15th (sorry, too late guys) was B-25J 44-86725 (N25NA), better known as Super Rabbit. The gist of the Courtesy ad, found right here is this:

  NORTH AMERICAN TB-25N N25NA s/n 44-86725 Owner Accepting Offers Until July 15, 2012 Airframe: 3,925.5 TTSNEW Engines: Wright R-2600-29A/35 LH 203.77 hrs SMOH (1998) RH 265.05 hrs SMOH (1996) Propellers: Hamilton Standard 23E50/6359A-18 LH 192.05 hrs SMOH (1997) RH 192.05 hrs SMOH (1997) AD Inspection Last Completed in 2008 Exterior: Aluminum with Military Markings in Navy Blue. Front Fuselage Decal of “Super Rabbit” & Tail Rudder Decals. Dual Twin Check Gun Packs (replica). Windows are in Good Condition. Interior: Military Green Painted Steel with Framed Seating X 3 (some with Canvas Cushions).

  This airplane has had a trouble history over the past few years with ownership things going on, promises made, money spent, etc. etc. Hoping for better things in the future for an airplane that used to fly quite a bit while based in Oregon. This airplane is in disassembled storage at Aurora, Oregon. Go Rabbit.

June 2012

Hah! An early update. Okay, maybe it is either a late May update or early June update. I'll take June, so it's early. From the files....

• Twenty, Count'em Twenty, B-25s Make It To The Annual Last Doolittle Raider Reunion: In an amazing accomplishment, a large gaggle of B-25s made it to Ohio in April as part of the 70 Year commemoration of the April 1942 Tokyo raid led by Jimmy Doolittle. The B-25s participated in one event held at Urbana, Ohio, and in another event at the National Museum of the USAF at nearby Wright-Patterson AFB. Ovecoming a host of obstacles, not the least of which a huge fuel bill, the Mitchells were flown in from as far as California for the pair of events. One suspects that this annual Last Reunion may actually be the last reunion given the dwindling number of surviving Raiders. Kudos to all those who worked so hard to set this thing up and make it happen. There are lists of those B-25s that made it out there....sorry not to include it here but I'm also a bit short of photos of either event...

• FAA Registry Housecleaning #1: The FAA continues to go through its registry attic and de-registered long inactive files. Many of these aircraft, B-25s in this case, actually no longer exist but the owners never cancelled the registrations. One of the recent ones was TB-25N 44-31032 (N3174G), a Mitchell with a varied past that is currently displayed at the March Field Museum. N3174G was a veteran of at least two movies, Catch-22 and Hanover Street, and was last operated as a civil aircraft by the Military Aircraft Restoration Corp.

  

  A few open links in its title chain may have precipited the Tallichet group sending it into display status at March in the 1990s. In any event, its disuse caught up with it and the FAA cancelled the registration on March 2, 2012. Thanks to Coert Munk for passing this along.

• FAA Registry Housecleaning #2: Earlier in the year another B-25 had it's long dormant registration yanked by the FAA, this being TB-25N 44-30393 (N522D), which had prior history as RCAF 5201 and N92873. It's last registered owner was one Irving J. Banta of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the file carried the peculiar aircraft serial number of 45455V. Not much known about the use of this B-25 it came onto the U.S. registry in 1952 after being surplus from the RCAF. It was last somewhat active in the late 1960s though a peculiar 2005 WIX report had an airplane with that registration declaring a mayday somewhere in the Caribean. Who knows; maybe it was still active at that late date. Thanks again to Coert Munk for the report.

• Dutch B-25 Update: Speaking of Coert, he also reports that TB-25N 44-29507, once operated as N320SQ with Duke of Brabant Air Force, donated to the Royal Netherlands AF Historical Flight, had the first inspection by the Dutch FAA on April 24, 2012, and will receive soon the first CoA as PH-XXV. This veteran will be the only non US-registered flying B-25 worldwide (after the loss of F-AZZU in May 2011) Oops...clearly incorrect as the Canadian Warplane Heritage's B-25 has been Canadian registered for years..thanks to Brad MacKay for correcting me).

• B-25 Forward Fuselage for Sale On ebay: A strange item appeared in early May offering the fuselage from wing forward for sale on ebay. The offering said it was available at Bristow, Oklahoma, which is the last reported location of TB-25N 44-86844 (N3453G), of ex yellow water park Air Kahuna fame. Here is a view of the B-25 fuselage as offered, borrowed from the listing.

  

  And this photo of the disassembled fuselage taken at Roanoke, Texas, in 2005 would certainly suggest these are the same airplanes.

  

  Curious, as this B-25 remains registered to the Jerry Yagen group at Virginia Beach, Virginia. The B-25 fuselage did not sell, by the way, as it did not meet the unknown reserve bid. Last I saw the bidding had stopped in the $2,500 range. Not much left of the airplane. You can check out the ebay listing right here for as long as they keep it available.

  A real reporter would have called and talked to the seller and done other stuff to chase this down, but I've been pretty busy and this stuff you are reading is free anyways and you get what you pay for.

• B-25 Sunday Punch Sold: TB-25N 44-86698 (N325N), better known as Sunday Punch and long based at Santa Rosa, California, apparently has a new owner in Ron Fagen of Granite Falls, Minnesota.

  

  The FAA registry site does not give much in the way of details right now; standing by for more. The airplane is or was at Aero Trader at Chino getting some maintenance work peformed.

• Georgia Mae Update Photo: Ken Holston was kind enough to send in a fairly recent photo of Wiley Sanders' TB-25N, 44-86785 (N5262V), also known as Georgia Mae taken at Troy, Alabama, last year. He noted I was lacking a photo of this airplane on my B-25 Locator page, and so I was. Not any more. Thanks, Ken.

  

January 2012

• B-25 Limited Type Certificate Ownership Changed Hands: I must have missed this one over the last two years, but in December 2009 the ownership of AL-2, the Limited Type Certificate for the B-25, changed hands.

  Before going further, I should explain that the limited type certificate program was established by the CAA, predecessor of the FAA, back in 1946 to authorize the use of surplus military aircraft under less restrictive operational requirements than available with an experimental certificate. In the world of aircraft certification, the development of civilian production aircraft is under the jurisdiction of specific regulations that outline basic standards of design and performance, and it has been this way since the 1920s. When the requirements are met, the aircraft is awarded a type certificate and if the manufacturer builds the aircraft to that standard, then the aircraft can operated under a standard airworthiness certificate.

  Military aircraft are not developed to meet civilian requirements, so when surplus military aircraft became available in large numbers at the end of World War II, a method was provided to allow these aircraft to bypass all the normal certification requirements and allow operations of the aircraft in a more limited basis than a standard certificate, but much more so than would be available with an experimental certificate that limited the ability to carry passengers and how the airplane could be used.

  Under the limited airworthiness process, an operator who desired to operate a surplus warplane such as the B-25 would modify the aircraft as needed to meet the CAA requirements for instruments and lighting and whatever else the CAA requested, and the CAA would consider the aircraft performance and operating requirements, and if approved, would grant the operator the limited certificate along with a set of operating limitations and other requirements. The operator became the owner of the limited type certificate, but other operators who desired to operate the same model aircraft could also apply for a limited certificate under the same provisions.

  The first limited certificate, LTC-1, was awarded to Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) and applied to the B-17F and B-17G. TWA modified a surplus B-17G for international route development, and all subsequent B-17F and B-17Gs with the limited certificate have used the one owned by TWA. For the B-25, the Shell Aviation Corp. desired to operate B-25J 45-8830 for a program, possibly at the behest of Jimmy Doolittle for Shell Oil. It was granted LTC-2 also in December 1946 and held ownership of the LTC for over six decades, though it was transferred to parent company Shell Oil in December 2000. LTC-2 was at one point redesignated by the FAA as AL-2.

  The ownership of AL-2 was obtained by S and R Aviation Services at Chino, California, on December 30, 2009. I'm going out on a limb here to presume that S and R Aviation Services is held by Carl Scholl and Tony Ritzman since the mailing address is the same as Aero Trader and these are the B-25 guys. Not far out on a limb, I guess.

  Anyways, long story short: Aero Trader owns the limited type certificate for the B-25. If you would like to read or obtain a copy of the actual Limited Type Certificate Data sheet, those friendly FAA folks have made it available.

• Owner of B-25 Limited Type Certificate Issues Service Bulletin: In a related matter, S and R Aviation Services issued a Mandatory Service Bulletin for all operators of B-25s under its Limited Type Certificate AL-2 on December 21, 2011. This service bulletin requires a detailed inspection of the main Landing Gear Shock Strut Drag Arms for cracks. The inspection includes using red dye penetrant to detect cracks. If cracks or other defects are found, the Drag Arm must be replaced...no repairs of this part are authorized. The first inspection is required within 90 days of the service bulletin issuance (or by March 21, 2012) and then, each 500 hours of service subsequently. Additionally, a visual inspection is required each 100 hours of service or annually.

  Here is a nice schematic provided by Aero Trader...err, S and R Aviation Services in the bulletin. Clicking on it will enlarge it.

  

  The reason noted for the issuance of the service bulletin was that the drag arm failed on a B-25 causing the gear to collapse in a forward direction with subsequent damage to the aircraft. This would be in reference to the incident with TB-25N 44-30734 (N9079Z) Panchito back on September 4, 2011, at Georgetown, Delaware, in which the right landing gear collapsed during landing rollout. This B-25 is currently under repair and will fly again.

  Tony Ritzman has been a party to the NTSB and FAA investigation of the Panchito incident. He is a also Designated Airworthiness Representive (DAR) for the FAA, and he wrote the Mandatory Service Bulletin as part of the findings of the investigation.

  Now, then, this issuance from the holder of AL-2 is a Mandatory Service Bulletin, but it is not an FAA Airworthiness Directive. There is a difference: the service bulletin is essentially the manufacturer (in this case, S and R Aviation Services) telling the operators that this is now a required inspection item. It does not have the teeth of an Airworthiness Directive which, by federal regulation, requires compliance. Common sense would suggest that all B-25 operators will follow this service bulletin and make this now required inspection of the landing gear. Legally it might be a bit more complicated than that but, fortunately, if you are doofus you probably don't have a B-25 anyways.

  (Thanks to Coert Munk and Carl Scholl for this update)

• Will the Mandatory Service Bulletin Effect the Doolittle Reunion?: So, is this Mandatory Service Bulletin going to effect the annual Last Doolittle Raider reunion scheduled for April 17-20, 2012, at the National Museum of the USAF (Dayton, Ohio)? Good question, but on the face of it, the inspection process is not particularly complicated, nor does it require substantial disassembly or reassembly of other components to get to the landing gear parts that need inspection. Museums and/or operators on very tight budgets or limited maintenance support might find the inspection a show stopper, but the reunion remains a good three months away. The bigger obstacle, in my opinion anyways, will to be to find a fuel sponsor. The stated goal is to get twenty-five B-25s on the ramp at the museum for the event. More information about the current plans for the reunion can be found right here.

Current B-25 News
2017 B-25 News
2016 B-25 News
2015 B-25 News
2014 B-25 News
2013 B-25 News
2012 B-25 News
2011 B-25 News
2010 B-25 News
2009 B-25 News
2008 B-25 News
2007 B-25 News
2006 B-25 News
2005 B-25 News
2004 B-25 News
1999-2003 B-25 News