Warbird Information Exchange

The B-25 shown below was used for dropping sport parachutists in the early 1960's in Orangeburg South Carolina. Can anyone I.D. it? They advertised drops from 30,000 feet (bring your own supplemental oxygen).

The best possibility I could derive from B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service is that it might be s/n 44-28818 operating as N3449G and, later, N8197H. It is shown as being owned by Richard Bates of Orangeburg, SC, in the early 1960s. It disappears from view after 1969. There is a 1960 photo of the airplane in the book with none of the civil mods shown in the above photo so who knows.

Thanks AEROVIN, That is most likely the same airplane as the one pictured. The dates and location match up. Starting in the late 60's a number of twin engine long haul aircraft disappeared off of the civil registry as they went to South America to transport illicit materials. This B-25 is probably now one of the hundreds of planes in the drink off of the Bahamas or the Florida Keys. Having been a skydiver back in the 70's, I know of several jump planes (and pilots) that were never seen again after chasing the "big money".

i can't relate anything to the above post, but i can tell you of a a horrible b-25 / parachutist accident that occurred here in northern ohio in the 60's out of the wakeman airport, which occurred over lake erie. a b-25 took some parachutists out for a drop, can't remember the number of participants, but it was over 5, that's more than enough for this tragedy. they flew out of wakeman, which was then owned by the ortner bro's. the pilot of the b-25 proceded in low ceiling to the drop zone, the parachutists, bailed, & tragically it turned out to be over lake erie where they all perished.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

The worst I remember was the Loadstar owned by Bob Richardson who owned the MOF's B-17F. Full of skydivers, they all ran aft at the same time to do a mass jump completly f*cking the a/c's cg causing it to go out of control and crash. A couple got out but most all and the crew went in with the a/c.

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Don't touch my junk!!

I have flown right seat in a Lodestar dropping jumpers. The door is so far aft that on jump run when they line up at the door you must drop the gear to pitch the nose down, bring up the power and use all four arms in the cockpit to shove the yoke full forward. We referred to them as "Lodestalls"

Below is a shot of me in the bottom of the frame exiting the Lodestar that was reportedly used by Bob Buck during his weather flight experiments for the Army Air Corp during WWII