B-25J-20-NC SN 44-29887

History

The B-25J-20 SN 44-29887 was delivered on November 14, l944. She was test flown on November 8, 1944 by North American test pilots Eddie Fisher and Paul Thornburg on separate flights. Both flights resulted in adjustments to the rigging. She was first assigned to administrative duty while attached to Lunken Field, Cincinnati Ohio. She was stationed here from November 1944 until October 1945. Lunken Field was used in support of the headquarters command of the Air District. In October 1945 she was transferred to Morrison Field, Florida where she was again assigned to base administrative duty for proficiency flying and utility work. In July 1946 she was sent to Brookley Field, Alabama where she was stored for a short time. She was later modified by removal of military hardware and assigned to the 3rd Air Force Headquarters in Seattle, Washington. At Seattle she was used as a staff transport for the 3rd Air Force Headquarters command and flew inspection crews and command personnel to assignments. In October 1949 she was reassigned to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio and the 2750th Base Unit where she remained for a total of six years. The 2750th Base Unit was an administrative supporting the base testing programs. In l955 she was modified with the Hayes conversion in Montgomery, Alabama and assigned to Eglin AFB Florida where she was used in weapons control tests and other electronic testing by the base administrative command. While still in the inventory of Eglin AFB she was retired in October 1957. In 1957 it was declared surplus and sold in a military surplus sales conducted at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The following summary of assignments are listed on her record card:

Base Assignments

One of the few B-25s that was not retired to Arizona in the late 1950s she remained at Eglin AFB, Florida when ownership was transferred to Les Bowman Engineering of Long Beach, California. Les Bowman Engineering obtained her along with two other B-25s for the price of $2,777.37 each. The other B-25s in this sale were N7687C and N7693C. They were all purchased for Lou Parson and the Bowman Company converted them to borate tankers. She was converted with a 1209-gallon capacity in two tanks, one of 558 gallons and the other of 651 gallons. She carried tanker number 91 and first flew in the tanker role out of Goleta Airport, in Santa Barbara, California on October 1, 1958. This was one of the first B-25 type used in a borate tanker operation in the United States. Parsons Airpark used her for the 1959 and 1960 fire seasons. In 1962 the B-25 type was banned from any further tanker duties by the US Forest Service. The grounding was due to B-25s being declared structurally unsafe for tanker operations as there had been a couple of fatal accidents with B-25 tankers. The US Forest Service leased her in 1962 for flight evaluations of the B-25 as a tanker. The US Army Aviation Test Division conducted this evaluation at Edwards AFB, California. Apparently not satisfied with the test the B-25s were banned for future borate use. After this evaluation flight she was sold to Hemet Valley Flying Service of California who removed the engines for installation on a PBY conversion. For the next several years she sat idle. In 1968 she received a new lease on life when Tallmantz Aviation of California purchased her for use in the movie "Catch 22". In the movie she flew with tailcode 6Y. At completion of the filming she along with the other 14 remaining B-25s used in the film were flown back to California for sale. From 1971 until 1979 she was part of the Wings of Yesterday Museum that was based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was painted in the desert tan colors of the North Africa campaign while with this museum. In 1979 Dr. John Marshall of Dunnellon, Florida obtained her. Dr. Marshall spent a great deal of time and money on bringing the aircraft back to full military appearance. She was one of the most authentically restored B-25s at the time. She was kept in the basic North African color scheme she had with the Wings of Yesterday museum and was painted in the markings of the 486th Bomb Squadron of the 340th Bomb Group circa 1943. A Vargas type pinup girl was painted on the nose and she was named "Carol Jean". After six years of ownership, Dr. Marshall donated the B-25 to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Today she is part of the new National Air and Space Museum annex at Dulles International Airport. Currently, she is in storage and not on display.

• Model: B-25J-20-NC
• Serial Number: 44-29887
• NAA Mfg. Number: 108-33162
• FAA Registration: N10564
• Mfg. Plant: Fairfax - Kansas City, Kansas
• Completion Date: November 13, 1944
• Delivery Date: November 14, 1944
• Status: Static
• Owner: Sithsonian
• Location: Chantilly, VA
• Website: https://airandspace.si.edu/udvar-hazy-center
• Notable info:

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.