... and here's a great example. Not one 'star' inaccurate.
North American B-25J-30-NC s/n 44-31504 Mitchell - Gate Guardian @ Hickam AFB - Bicentennial in Feb 1976
B-25J-30-NC SN 44-31504
Link here:
https://b-25history.org/aircraft/4431504.htmHistory
B-25J-30-NC SN 44-31504 was delivered on June 18, 1945. Accepted excess of military needs, she was initially flown to storage in Independence Field, MO. Never being assigned to active duty with the United States Military, she was moved to Pyote Field, Texas in August of 1945. In October of 1951, she was recalled for service with the RCAF and was sent to Brookley AFB, Alabama for modifications. The following summary of assignments are listed on her record card:
Base Assignments
Date Location Notes
06/21/1945 Independence Field, MO 4185 Base Unit - Storage
08/03/1945 Pyote AAF, TX 4141 Base Unit - Storage
07/27/1951 Pyote AAF, TX 2753 Air Storage Sqdn
10/02/1951 Brookley AFB, AL Maintenance to TB-25J
11/20/1951 To Canada T.O.S. RCAF 5218
On November 21, 1951, she was taken on strength with the RCAF and assigned the Canadian serial number 5218. Once received, additional maintenance and modifications were performed. She initially served in a training role as a pilot trainer for multi-engine aircraft crews. Later, she would be used in several testing programs with the RCAF. In early 1959, she was assigned to the Number 2 Air Observer School where she was used in crew training. Here she was used to train crews for the radar intercept role in joint cooperation with the USAF. Her primary use was that of a target aircraft for the radar equipped TB-25K and TB-25M aircraft. By October of 1960, she was retired to the storage facility at Lincoln Park, Calgary. She would be declared surplus and sold in February of 1962. The following summary of assignments are listed on her record card:
RCAF Base Assignments
Date Location Notes
11/21/1951 Saskatoon, SASK Training Command
10/06/1952 Edmonton, Alberta 10 TSU
11/20/1952 Saskatoon, SASK Training Command
04/17/1958 Edmonton, Alberta BAW 6rd
02/10/1959 Winnipeg, Manitoba No. 2 Air Observation School
10/07/1960 Calgary, Alberta Storage
02/16/1962 Calgary, Alberta Surplus
By February of 1962, she was sold to Canspec Air Transport of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In early 1962, she was sold to A.J. Warlick and J.E. Kowing of Seattle, Washington and her civil registration assigned of N9753Z. By May of 1963, she was sold to Flair, Inc. of Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. She was flown to Hawaii in 1964 for the filming of "In Harm's Way". After filming, she was stored at Honolulu, Hawaii. By 1971, she was reportedly used by a technical school at the Honolulu Airport. She was obtained by a local Air National Guard unit and restored for display at Hickam Air Force Base. In 1976, she was painted in a red, white, and blue color scheme that would later be removed. In 2001, she was moved to Ford Island with the intention of being restored for the newly announced Pearl Harbor Museum. It was discovered that she was too heavily corroded that restoration would be impractical. At that time, she was traded to Aero Trader as partial payment for restoration of another B-25 that is currently on display at the Pearl Harbor Museum. She sat in storage at Aero Trader's facility until 2016, when she was used as the major part of the restoration of a Russian lend-lease B-25. During her restoration, the heavily corroded center section was replaced with an unidentified center section that was discovered in a fire pit at Porterville, California. Portions of the tail section were replaced by B-25J-30-NC/PBJ-1J 44-31104 and B-25J-35-NC 45-8882. In October of 2017, she was shipped to Russia to be put on display in a new museum.
Model: B-25J-30-NC
Serial Number: 44-31504
NAA Mfg. Number: 108-37579
FAA Registration: N9753Z
Mfg. Plant: Fairfax - Kansas City, Kansas
Completion Date: June 18, 1945
Delivery Date: June 19, 1945
Status: Static
Owner: Russian Air Musuem
Location: Russia
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