B-25J-25-NC SN 44-30363

History

The B-25J-25 SN 44-30363 was delivered on January 17, 1945 as one of many excess B-25s that were sent direct to storage from the North American factory in Kansas. On January 9, 1945 she was flown by North American test pilot Wink Cantrell for 210 minutes during a flight to Great Bend, Kansas to test fire the machine guns. She was not used actively until 1954 nine years after being built. After WW II she was moved from her storage at Laurel Field, Louisiana to South Plains Field, Texas and then later to Pyote Field, Texas for storage. Withdrawn after six years at Pyote AFB she was converted to a TB-25L model, a designation for an advance pilot trainer. She was converted in 1951 at Birmingham, Alabama but the aircraft was used little and remained in storage until June 1953. At this time she was flown to Culver City, California for another conversion this time to a TB-25M model. The TB-25Ms were updated versions of the TB-25K, the radar intercept trainers and had all the modifications of the K models with the addition of the newer E-5 radar fire control system. After conversion to a TB-25M she was assigned to the training base at James Connally AFB Waco, Texas in June 1954. Connally was the major USAF radar intercept training facility at this time and she spent most of her active duty at Connally. However, she was also used in special radar bombardier training program. Further advanced radar systems testing was done when she was transferred to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio where she was assigned to the Research and Development program. At Wright-Patterson the aircraft received the test designations of ETB-25M and JTB-25M. While at Wright-Patterson she was outfitted with new test equipment and a radar dome was attached where the top turret had been and this dome remained on the aircraft well after retired and placed into museum status. When orders came for the retirement of the B-25s from active duty with the Air Force, she was not flown to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona for storage. Unlike so many of the other remaining B-25s in the Air Force inventory she was sent to the Strategic Air Museum at Offutt AFB at Omaha, Nebraska for display at the museum compound. The following summary of assignments are listed on her record card:

Base Assignments

She stayed on outside display at this museum in its last USAF colors and markings for over 25 years. In l986 she was given a facelift. The old test radar dome was removed and replaced with a top turret. She was repainted in a general desert camouflage scheme circa l943 of the North Africa campaign. Members of the Great Plains Wing of the Confederate Air Force and museum supporters did much of maintenance. The museum moved its collection to a new home just south of Offut AFB in 1995. In 2001 she was on inside display at the new museum building. She was restored to resemble one of the Doolittle Raiders aircraft from that raid in 1942 and is displayed in these colors today.

• Model: B-25J-25-NC
• Serial Number: 44-30363
• NAA Mfg. Number: 108-33638
• FAA Registration: Never Registered
• Mfg. Plant: Fairfax - Kansas City, Kansas
• Completion Date: January 15, 1945
• Delivery Date: January 17, 1945
• Status: Static
• Owner: Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum
• Location: Ashland, NE
• Website: https://sacmuseum.org/
• 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.