EAA Facebook page reports and shows video of B-25H 43-4432 (N10V) , as Berlin Express, making its first post-restoration flight today (Saturday, April 20) after a four-year effort to return the airplane to the skies. This B-25 has been on static display at the EAA Museum for several decades but a decision was made in 2015 to get it back in the air. It reportedly will tour with the EAA B-17G, 44-85740 (N5017N), beginning this summer.
For those interested, this is drawn from B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service: 43-4432 was built as B-25H-5-NA and delivered on Feb. 4, 1944. Initial assignment was to Lowry Field, Colorado, arriving in late March 1944. After its military service, it was deemed excess to needs and transferred to the RFC at Altus, Oklahoma, in November 1945. Sold on June 25, 1947 to Joe Zeppa, Delta Drilling Company, Dallas, TX for $758.33. It went through a number of civil owners and received an plush executive conversion in the 1950s and flown by Husky Oil Company. Several other owners though the late 1960s when it was obtained for the movie work (one of 18 B-25s obtained for Catch-22). After the film it was sold to Dr. William S. Cooper, who later donated it to the EAA.
Tom Dionne