A visit to the great folks at Ezell Aviation

[ZRX61]

There will be a B25-C there shortly. The former Howard Hughes & now Hearst Foundation bird out of Fox Field in Lancaster Ca. It's slowly coming apart. They got the engines off this week & separated the aft fuselage from the front.

Very interesting to hear! Do they intend to restore it in executive configuration and fly it?

Yup, exactly how Howard had it. Even down to the tacky fake bamboo wallpaper that covers just about the entire interior apparently. Bomb bay was modified. The top is WAY lower than stock & Howards bed was on top of it. There's a bathroom at the back & under the horizontal is an large oxygen tank laid flat.

[Warbird Kid]

There will be a B25-C there shortly. The former Howard Hughes & now Hearst Foundation bird out of Fox Field in Lancaster Ca. It's slowly coming apart. They got the engines off this week & separated the aft fuselage from the front.

Very interesting to hear! Do they intend to restore it in executive configuration and fly it?

Yup, exactly how Howard had it. Even down to the tacky fake bamboo wallpaper that covers just about the entire interior apparently. Bomb bay was modified. The top is WAY lower than stock & Howards bed was on top of it. There's a bathroom at the back & under the horizontal is an large oxygen tank laid flat.

Cant say Im mad about this idea. It will be cool to see an executive B-25 restored as is. Especially since it was Mr. Hughes'. Still though... if I owned her, it would be hard for me not to restore her like this:

[Lynn Allen]

Wonder what Tarheel Hal is in for? They do most of their own maintenance down at LSFM...

PM sent

[Lynn Allen]

Taigh, what did you think of the new Tiger Moth there, just over from England??

Lynn

Hi Lynn,

Do you happen to know the identity of the Tiger Moth?

From Chris's picture; G-BJZF, a really nice stored Tight Moth. It still had the skid when it arrived and now has a tail wheel...

Lynn

[Lon Moer]

There will be a B25-C there shortly. The former Howard Hughes & now Hearst Foundation bird out of Fox Field in Lancaster Ca. It's slowly coming apart. They got the engines off this week & separated the aft fuselage from the front.

Very interesting to hear! Do they intend to restore it in executive configuration and fly it?

Yup, exactly how Howard had it. Even down to the tacky fake bamboo wallpaper that covers just about the entire interior apparently. Bomb bay was modified. The top is WAY lower than stock & Howards bed was on top of it. There's a bathroom at the back & under the horizontal is an large oxygen tank laid flat.

That's awesome! I wish the A-20 would have been done the way HH had it, too.

[JohnTerrell]

Lon, the restoration of the Howard Hughes' A-20 hasn't started yet (at least not as of last year), though I suspect that the intention is to have it restored to WWII configuration.

[Chris Brame]

I recall reading a report in Air Classics back in the mid-'70s that stated the Hughes A-20 had serious corrosion in the wheel well and wing root areas but was "possibly repairable" - can anyone verify?

[Lightjug]

Thank you so much for sharing those pictures Taigh