k5083 wrote:
gary1954 wrote:
Nathan wrote:
Miss HAP is my fav. Because she is an early version.
Early Version, I almost Choked on my coffee.......
Early Version, she is the sole surving example of the B-25 being the 4th production model to roll off the assembly line.
In historical value alone as the VIP Transport for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, and being the 4th production model B-25
she should be in the National Museum and N10564 returned to the air.
Problem is that although it
was an early version, those days are long gone. The bird hasn't been representative of an early B-25 since WWII, when it traded in its straight wings for gulls and got the VIP transport treatment. Ever since then it has been a one-off mutt. Just because it has the data plate of the 4th production B-25 doesn't give it much historical value if it is otherwise completely unrepresentative of an early B-25. OTOH, it was, when first restored in the 1980s, still very much in the Hap Arnold transport configuration, and had significance because of that. I have a nice Air Classics piece on it from that period with some good wartime photos of this plane and one or two of its VIP sister ships. Unfortunately, that significance too has been compromised by the change to a bomber nose. At least they haven't added turrets yet, and the fuselage looks pretty much intact. I don't know how much of the VIP interior remains, but I hold out the hope that the bomber mods are reversible and that someone, someday, can put the plane back into its wartime Hap Arnold configuration and paint job.
August
Problem is that although it “was” an early version, are long gone.
Really, Personally, I beg to differ by virtue of the fact that the aircraft is known by most, that it is the “Complete airframe” of 40-2168, allows it to continue to be an “early version”.
I cannot explain why the constant dihedral was taken out of the wings on this particular ship, other than the possibility of a directive to make the aircraft more stable for the VIP staff using the aircraft following Arnold’s connection to the plane.
This does not alter the fact that she is a B-25, the 4th of 9 built under the initial contract; the B-25A came along with the 10th production model of the NA62 Contract.
So she is an “early B-25” regardless.
The modification of the outer wing panel attaching angle fails to put it in the category as a one-off mutt.
It would be fair to say that 40-2168 is the sole surviving B-25 with a production modification carried through to the end of the B-25 type production run.
Anyone having knowledge it was Hap Arnolds VIP transport and ripped out the original interior, is or was, in my personal opinion, an absolute idiot. being oblivious to that fact, I could work around that and classify that person(s) as un-informed and must be forgiven.
I will concur on the addition of the bombardier nose, which should not have been re-installed on this airframe unless she was going into re-modification to return the constant dihedral to the wings.
Hopefully, no one will attempt to install any turret systems in Miss Hap, as the original B-25 did not have a turret "system" anywhere in the ship, as the B-25 had glass window that could be cranked down and a single gun was cranked up from its stowed position to create an aft dorsal gun.
The tail stinger was a clam-shell where the tail gunner sat on the floor and could traverse a single gun up/down, with restricted movement left or right.
But to not classify this airframe as an “early version”......nah, can’t agree with ya on that one August