B-25J-15-NC 44-29035

History

B-25J-15-NC 44-29035 was delivered on August 24, 1944. She was first test flown by North American test pilot Wink Cantrell on August 21, 1944 for 150 minutes. Her first assignment was to Brooks Field, Texas directly from the factory in Kansas City, Kansas. Originally intended for pilot training, she was placed in base storage at Brooks Field as excess inventory. She was recalled and transferred in April l945 to Enid AAF, Oklahoma for pilot training. She served here through February 1946. She was then transferred to Turner AAF, Georgia and later Scott AAF, Illinois where she was once again used for pilot and crew training. Transferred to Chanute AAF, Illinois in September 1946 she was used in the technical training program by the local base unit. In May 1950 she was sent to Robins AFB, Georgia for maintenance. In November 1950 after the maintenance at Robins and additional updating at Brookley AFB Alabama she was sent back to Chanute for operational training. In March l951 she was assigned to Norton AFB, California. Here she was used by the Inspector Generals Group as an administrative transport. She remained with this unit from March 1951 until June 1957 when she was transferred out shortly before retirement from the USAF. The last assignment for her was a brief stay at Bolling AFB, Washington, D.C. in 1957 where she was attached to the 1100th Mission Support Group before being flown to Davis-Monthan AFB for storage later that year. She was declared surplus in April 1958. The following summary of assignments are listed on her record card:

Base Assignments

She was sold in July of 1959 to National Metals Company. Initially purchased for scrap, she was spared this fate and was purchased by Paul Mantz Air Service for air tanker work between 1959 and 1960. Les Bowman Engineering Company of Long Beach, California modified her in 1959 into a borate tanker. During her short tanker life she flew as tanker #82. In May of 1960 she was sold to the Venezuelan Agriculture Department for continued work as an air tanker. She was noted as Tanker #1 while in Venezuela. Work assignment in Venezuela was in support of the government forest fire control program. She was operated by the Venezuelan Air Force, the FAV, as part of the FAVs B-25 fleet. Information available while attached to the FAV indicates she was used in a variety of roles by the government. The Venezuelan Agricultural Department sponsored its tanker operations but they also used the aircraft in testing other government projects. Most tanker/spraying assignments took place in the more remote areas of southern and eastern Venezuela. Although serving with the FAV she was never operated as a bomber. She was assigned to FAV No. 40 Bombing Squadron for maintenance and organizational purposes. Although limited details exist on its use it was actively operated for over 10 years in Venezuela in both government and military programs. Any original FAV military serial number is not known but she ended her FAV military days as FAV serial 4146. From 1972 to 1992 she sat in open storage at Palo Negro Air Base near Maracay, Venezuela. After years of sitting idle and several efforts to recover her, she was finally released and recovered in l992. Steve Detch of Georgia returned her to the United States in September l992. She was obtained by Dave Tallichet of California and Anthony Mazzalini of Cleveland, Ohio for a static restoration. She was intended to be converted to a B-25B configuration to commemorate the Doolittle Raiders as the aircraft was destined for display at the US Navy Museum in Pensacola, Florida. In 1995 the planned rebuild was put on hold and the aircraft was eventually moved to Beaver County airport near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the restoration continued. At this time she was rebuilt as a Marine version the PBJ. After restored she was moved to the US Naval Air Museum in Pensacola on display as a PBJ-1D in markings of VMB-413 with the MB 22 markings. In 2017, she was restored to the original plan of Jimmy Doolittle's B-25B and is currently on display.

• Model: B-25J-15-NC
• Serial Number: 44-29035
• NAA Mfg. Number: 108-32310
• FAA Registration: N61821
• Mfg. Plant: Fairfax - Kansas City, Kansas
• Completion Date: August 22, 1944
• Delivery Date: August 24, 1944
• Status: Static
• Owner: Naval Aviation Museum
• Location: Pensacola, FL
• Website: https://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/

This page represents the most current information we have on this aircraft. The information above was last updated 09/2020 with information provided by Bob Haney. Our goal is to have the most current and correct information possible. If you have any information about this aircraft not listed here or see anything posted in error, please contact the B-25 History Project so we may update our records.