Warbird Information Exchange

Bomber buff is busy collecting 'big toys'

By JON ENGELLENNER
McClatchy News Service

 STOCKTON — Jim Ricketts is
doing what he always wanted to
do: collect World War II bomb-
ers.
 "They are big toys, and the
can rule your lives," he conced-
ed while conducting a tour inside
a four-engine B-17. "It's a differ-
ent kind of commitment. You
can spend a fortune, but it’s
worth it."
 Operating in a cavernous
hangar built during World War
II at the Stockton Airport, Ri-
cketts and his wife, Jan, hope
someday to open a warplane
museum, They call their compa-
ny Aero Nostalgia.
 They don't have a fortune to
spend, so they are content to
restore old "warbirds," take
part in airshows and swap
planes, parts and airplane histo-
ry with collectors and military
museums all over the world.
 The hangar holds a dozen
planes in various stages of re-
pair, including the Ricketts'
twin-engine B-25 bomber. It’s
getting a nose-repair job.
 Outside is another B-25, being
tuned up for a flight to Australia
and a place in the Imperial War
Museum.
 When mechanic Rusty Steele
fired up its No. 2 engine, ears
began ringing all around the
airport.
 The B-25's cockpit had a war-
surplus look and smell. The
dozens of gauges and toggle
switches were original and au-
thentic, and so were the noise
and vibration as Steele ground-
tested the motor at 1,900 rpm.
 It can get much noisier, Steele
shouted above the roaring en-
gine, It takes both 1,700-horse-
power motors revving at 2,600
rpm to get the bomber off the
ground.
 The B-25 is Ricketts’ favorite
Warbird. Jimmy Doolittle liked
it, too. He took 16 B-25s on his
Tokyo bombing raid in April
1942.
 Ricketts, 38, has a B-24 and a
B-29 on his shopping list — a
considerable list for a civilian
pilot who until a few years ago
was operating an auto body shop
and searchlight advertising
outfit in Contra Costa County.
 A B-17 Super Fortress, fully
restored, is worth as much as $500,-
000, Ricketts pointed out. Through
the work he plans to put into it, Ri-
cketts will become half-owner of the
B-17 now in Stockton.
 There isn’t much room for more
airplanes in the 125-by-200- foot han-
gar which dates from the days when
the Stockton airfield was a military
installation. Besides the B-17 and the
B-25, there is a gull-winged PBY, a
twin-engine sea patrol plane with a
106-foot wingspan. There is a silver
Lockheed 12A, like the one Amelia
Earhart flew; a Beech 18, the civil
version of a C- 45; an FJ-2 jet, a PT-
26 trainer; and a P-63 King Cobra, a
midengine fighter in which the pilot
straddles the driveshaft to the prop.
 Sitting among the dozen warbirds,
Ricketts’ B-25 awaits repair of a nose
section crumpled in a Nevada crash
landing. Although damaged and
grounded, the B-25 has the look of
being airborne.
 This one is named "Dream Lover"
and has a top speed of 280 mph. It is
one of about 100 left of the or(i)ginal
10,000 built in World War II at a cost
of $150,000 each.
 "It’s just a solid airplane," Ri-
cketts said. "It burns 125 gallons of
100-octane fuel at cruising speed, but
it can burn 450 gallons an hour if you
really pour it to it."
 Restoring the planes is one thing;
flying them is something else, Ri-
cketts added.
 "It’s fun to have them, but when
you go thundering down the runway
breathing fire, it’s a world all its
own."