AERO VINTAGE BOOKS

Current B-25 News
2007 B-25 News
2006 B-25 News
2005 B-25 News
2004 B-25 News
1999-2003 B-25 News

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.

May 2008 #2

• Extra! Extra!

  Okay, okay, stop the presses, or the electrons, or whatever. This one is too good to wait two months. John Voss just sent me a great photo of Paul Mantz's B-25H taken in late 1958 at Orange County Airport. This photo is just toooo cooool....

  

  Make sure you click on the photo to get the big one...besides being a nice shot of the B-25H, it is also just a great photo. Okay, here is a closeup of the nose and #1 engine, just for those freaks who like markings and detail. Far out, I say.

  

  John sent the following information about how he came to take the photos:

  "I took that photo back when I was 17 years old and had just received my drivers license. I borrowed my father's car, his Argus C-3 camera & associated hand held light meter and made a 20 mile drive to the Orange County Airport. Needless to say, the security guard quickly threw me out of the area. After I learned what he looked like and identified the car he drove I was able to make longer subsequent visits...prior to being thrown out. After a while he recognized me as familiar, always with a camera in hand and probably not a threat so he sort of left me alone. My only regret is that I didn't take more photos."

  What can I say? The photo speaks for itself. One word: cooool!

  We now return to our regularly scheduled boring day.

May 2008

• Word comes from Dave Shiffer that the group restoring a B-17G (see also B-17 News) at Urbana, Ohio, purchased TB-25N 44-28866 (N744CG) for the new Champaign Air Museum being in the process of being established. Dave reports that a large hangar will be built to house the B-25 and B-17 and a growing collection that hopefully will eventually be held by the museum. This B-25 last operated as Carolina Girl and was displayed at the North Carolina Aviation Museum at Asheboro until it was placed up for sale in 2006. The FAA file for the aircraft shows it still registered to Branson's Bombers, Ltd., of Greensboro, North Carolina. The paperwork has not yet caught up, apparently. Here is a recent photo of the B-25 (thanks to Dave Shiffer), now at Urbana.

  

• Ryan Keough sent in an update on B-25H 43-4106 (N5548N). The airplane is still owned by Weary Warriors but is now operated by the non-profit Warbirds Unlimited Foundation. It has been based at Falcon Field at Mesa, Arizona, for the past two years. It is now expanding a flight experience opportunity for those who would like to fly in the Mitchell. And yes, it is still for sale a little bit. Here's a nice recent photo of the airplane taken by Scott Germain:

  

  And, for more information, might I suggest you jump to this website.

• From a WIX posting comes the news that B-25N 44-30801 (N30801), the airplane operated by the American Aeronautical Fondation, and/or Challenge Publications, is getting new nose art similar to that it wore in the 1980s. It will remain as Executive Sweet. Here is a nice photo of the naked nose before the new, somewhat naked, lass is added:

  

  Actually, I saw a preview of the new nose art and she is more than somewhat.

  Update to the Update!! (added 5/1/08) Dave Green, who took the above photo, sent these in, taken after the nose art was completed. As can be seen, she was squeezed into something after all.

  

  For the artists among us, here is a closeup from the above photo:

  

• Media alert!! Great article by the late Frank Tallman in the latest issue of Challenge's Warbirds International on the making of the 1970 film Catch-22. What makes the article particularly noteworthy are- the great color photos of the various B-25s prior and during the filming effort that occurred in the winter of 1969 at Guaymas, Mexico.

March 2008

• B-25 Not For Sale Anymore: Provenance Aircraft Sales sold TB-25L 44-30456 (N125PF) in January. New owners, as per the FAA Registry website, is Lewis Aeronautical LLC of San Antonio, Texas. Date of the ownership change is recorded as January 23. Other information suggest that Rod Lewis bought both the Provenance F8F Bearcat and the B-25. N125PF was last displayed at the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon, and once operated as N43BA by Bill Arnot.

• B-25 Still For Sale: B-25H 43-4106 (N5548N), operated by the Weary Warriors Squadron at Aurora, Illinois, is for still sale, as noted below in the January update. However, the posted price has gone from "Make An Offer" to "$850,000 (make offer)". Whew! Check it out still here.

• B-25 Might Be For Sale: Rumor has it that B-25D 43-3318 (N25644) is for sale again. Owned by Paul Allen of Microsoft and other big things fame, it is technically owned by Vulcan Warbirds of Seattle and remains based in the United Kingdom at a hangar at North Weald. Rumours (note the spelling as a nod to our British friends) abound but they mostly say the airplane is just for sale. I'd like to add my part of the rumour and suggest that it is being purchased by Brad Pitt and the name will change from Grumpy to Jennifer. Hmmm....

• Thought I'd throw in an oldy-moldy photo..this of TB-25N 44-30737 (N9446G). This photo was taken in 1971 and believed shown here at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California. This airplane later went to the late Jr. Burchinal and then on to a company named wAr Aero at Schiller Park, Illinois. It crashed on August 6, 1976, near the Chicago-Midway Airport with the loss of three lives.

  

  All this comes from that fine book B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service on sale at many fine websites like this one for only $19.95.

January 2008

• Slim pickings for January, it being winter and all. However, a few items of interest.

• If you didn't catch the lengthy and quite interesting story of a drug running B-25, actually B-25H 43-4336 (N96GC) that was posted to the Aero Vintage Forum last month, I've added the story to the B-25 Anecdotes page. Good reading and just gives an idea about some of the stories behind these airplanes if one digs enough. Gary dug enough. Thanks to Gary for sharing.

• Also posted on the Reviews page is a review of the new DVD entitled The Bomber Reef documentary by Seawest Productions our of New South Wales, Australia. Walt Deas, one of the producers, sent along a copy and I found it fascinating and is highly recommended. It is available from the company at Seawest Productions, 20 Robinsville Crscent, Thiroul, New South Wales, 2515, Australia. The web site for more information is right here.

• Had to stop by South County Airport and see the new B-25 there, that being 44-30324 (N3161G) owned by Ken McBride. Ken will, indeed, be restoring the airplane at South County and is trying to get a crew of volunteers together to start the effort. Much work needs to be done, but it's nice to see those twin tails grace the airport.

  

• B-25 Still For Sale #1: news comes that B-25H 43-4106 (N5548N), operated by the Weary Warriors Squadron at Aurora, Illinois, is for sale. The aircraft is offered by Team Air, Inc. without a listed price. This is a "Make Offer" deal. This B-25H is the only "H" model currently flying. It's history is contained in detail in B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service but it was transferred from the RFC to a technical school in Oklahoma in 1945 and then went back to the federal government in 1951. It then went to the Bendix Corp. and sed as test bed until 1967. It went through several civil owners until it was obtained by the Weary Warriors in 1981. It underwent a decades-long restoration and rebuilding effort. It is finished in 1st Air Commando Group colors and flies as Barbie III. Distinctive about the airplane is the stubby cannon nose mounted, the only B-25 flying as such. The airplane is currently located at Falcon Field at Mesa, Arizona.

• B-25 Still For Sale #2: B-25L 44-30456 (N125PF) remains for sale by Provenance Fighter Sales at a "new reduced price" of $575,000. Rumor has this airplane coming out of Tilamook, Oregon, for Chino and, possibly, some mechanical work at Aero Trader, before heading to the company's base at Murietta, California.

Current B-25 News
2007 B-25 News
2006 B-25 News
2005 B-25 News
2004 B-25 News
1999-2003 B-25 News