Doolittle Raiders Reunion - 70th Anniversary, 20 B-25 flyover

Logan Hartke · April 20, 2012, 12:15:25 AM

Sorry I've been out of touch for the past couple of days, but I've been...busy.

This whole week I've been at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio for the 70th Anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Four of the surviving five crew members from the raid were there and were honored by a flyover of 20 B-25 Mitchells, the largest such gathering since World War Two.

On Wednesday, April 18th, I was fortunate enough to fly on a a B-25. It was the 70th anniversary of the raid and the 20th anniversary of the restoration flight of "Miss Mitchell", the plane I flew in. I was joined on the flight by a pilot from WWII who had logged 68 combat missions in B-25 Mitchells nearly 70 years before. The aircraft was combat-ready, one of only 2-3 Mitchells on earth with fully functional turrets in both positions.

If you're interested, I've uploaded some of the photos from the trip to a few Photobucket albums, including a lot more from the USAF Museum itself. I'll also post just a few of my favorites below, too. Enjoy!

Doolittle Raiders Reunion - Day 1
Doolittle Raiders Reunion - Day 2
Doolittle Raiders Reunion - Day 3

Cheers,

Logan

PR19_Kit · April 20, 2012, 01:56:41 AM

ASTOUNDING!

I didn't know there were that many flying Mitchells left in the world, the multi-ship flybys looked amazing. And as for actually FLYING on one, well my 'Green with envy' mode is FULL on!

Great piccies of a great day, especially that teasing one of the XF-85H Thunderprop, I didn't know THAT still exited either!

Mossie · April 20, 2012, 03:22:30 AM

Beautiful pics Logan and congratulations in getting a seat on one, fantastic!

CANSO · April 20, 2012, 07:37:01 AM

Quote from: Logan Hartke on April 20, 2012, 12:15:25 AM
I was joined on the flight by a pilot from WWII who had logged 68 combat missions in B-25 Mitchells nearly 70 years before. The aircraft was combat-ready, one of only 2-3 Mitchells on earth with fully functional turrets in both positions.

Very nice photos! Thanks!
BTW for the first time this year a B-25J in Soviet markings with a very American name was participating too - the newly restored "Russian Ta Get Ya". Kind of "What if", isn't it?

2 years ago I had the chance to fly in my all time favorite aircraft - a B-25 owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. Unforgettable!!!
But I never had the chance to fly with a WW II pilot in the same plane. Who was the person you met?

scooter · April 20, 2012, 08:18:17 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on April 20, 2012, 01:56:41 AMAnd as for actually FLYING on one, well my 'Green with envy' mode is FULL on!

Same here...

NARSES2 · April 20, 2012, 08:43:27 AM

It's the P-75 I Love

Spey_Phantom · April 20, 2012, 09:13:15 AM

nice pictures

the only B-25 i see here is the (sacreligiously) silver painted ones with the logo of an energydrink brand witch im not gonna bother naming.
seen it twice last year on the airshow circuit.

rickshaw · April 20, 2012, 11:53:30 AM

Must have been a seriously noisy event. Great! I am envious.

scooter · April 20, 2012, 04:18:30 PM

Quote from: rickshaw on April 20, 2012, 11:53:30 AM
Must have been a seriously noisy event. Great! I am envious.

But what a noise.

Logan Hartke · April 22, 2012, 07:06:17 PM

Thanks everyone! It was a fantastic time! I'm glad everyone liked the photos!

Quote from: PR19_Kit on April 20, 2012, 01:56:41 AM
ASTOUNDING!

I didn't know there were that many flying Mitchells left in the world, the multi-ship flybys looked amazing. And as for actually FLYING on one, well my 'Green with envy' mode is FULL on!

Great piccies of a great day, especially that teasing one of the XF-85H Thunderprop, I didn't know THAT still exited either!

Thanks, Kit! I did see a few shots that got more B-25s than I did from my vantage point, such as this one.

Did you look at the albums of the USAF Museum? I haven't seen those in Europe, but I am familiar with their collections, and I truly believe that the USAF Museum is the best historical aviation collection on earth. It really is fantastic.

Quote from: CANSO on April 20, 2012, 07:37:01 AM
Very nice photos! Thanks!
BTW for the first time this year a B-25J in Soviet markings with a very American name was participating too - the newly restored "Russian Ta Get Ya". Kind of "What if", isn't it?

Thanks, CANSO!

The pinup is very much a what-if, but the scheme looked pretty accurate otherwise (and attractive). I got a number of good shots of it, two of which I uploaded.

By the way, were you there or did you just grab those shots from another site?

Quote from: CANSO on April 20, 2012, 07:37:01 AM
Quote from: Logan Hartke on April 20, 2012, 12:15:25 AM
I was joined on the flight by a pilot from WWII who had logged 68 combat missions in B-25 Mitchells nearly 70 years before. The aircraft was combat-ready, one of only 2-3 Mitchells on earth with fully functional turrets in both positions.
2 years ago I had the chance to fly in my all time favorite aircraft - a B-25 owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. Unforgettable!!!
But I never had the chance to fly with a WW II pilot in the same plane. Who was the person you met?

I'm sorry to say that I don't remember his name, but I did grab a couple of shots of him.

Quote from: Nils on April 20, 2012, 09:13:15 AM
nice pictures

the only B-25 i see here is the (sacreligiously) silver painted ones with the logo of an energydrink brand witch im not gonna bother naming.
seen it twice last year on the airshow circuit.

Is it actually painted silver or is it just bare metal? I don't like the big sponsorship logos on planes like race cars, but it is expensive to run the warbirds and I am thankful they're putting the money up to restore, preserve, and operate them.

Quote from: rickshaw on April 20, 2012, 11:53:30 AM
Must have been a seriously noisy event. Great! I am envious.

Yes it was, but I watched it with a smile on my face! Sort of like this:

Cheers,

Logan

PR19_Kit · April 23, 2012, 12:17:46 AM

Quote from: Logan Hartke on April 22, 2012, 07:06:17 PM
Thanks, Kit! I did see a few shots that got more B-25s than I did from my vantage point, such as this one.

Did you look at the albums of the USAF Museum? I haven't seen those in Europe, but I am familiar with their collections, and I truly believe that the USAF Museum is the best historical aviation collection on earth. It really is fantastic.

I tried to look at the USAF Museum albums, but my system and Photobucket don't agree with each other and the screens always lock up.

No matter, I've been to the Museum back in the 90s, but never saw the Thunderprop at that time. My buddy and I managed to get into the cockpit of the B-36 there, mainly on the strength of my living under their approach path when they flew into Brize Norton in the 50s, and the guide of the aircraft had made more than one of those approaches!

You may get some competition on 'the best historical aviation collection on earth' front from us Brits, almost our entire Island is a 'historical aviation collection'.

Logan Hartke · April 23, 2012, 12:44:53 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on April 23, 2012, 12:17:46 AM
I tried to look at the USAF Museum albums, but my system and Photobucket don't agree with each other and the screens always lock up.

No matter, I've been to the Museum back in the 90s, but never saw the Thunderprop at that time. My buddy and I managed to get into the cockpit of the B-36 there, mainly on the strength of my living under their approach path when they flew into Brize Norton in the 50s, and the guide of the aircraft had made more than one of those approaches!

You may get some competition on 'the best historical aviation collection on earth' front from us Brits, almost our entire Island is a 'historical aviation collection'.

That's no good. Have you tried a different browser? There really are some gems in there. The museum's changed a lot in the past 20 years and is set to change a lot more in the next 10. The Thunderscreech is in the R&D section on the base itself. As for getting in the cockpit of the B-36, now you have me envious!!! That's one of my favorite aircraft and I've only ever been in the bomb bay.

I really want to make my way "across the pond" to check out Bovington, IWM, and the myriad of aviation museums in the UK alone, but if memory serves, the USAF Museum is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, to say nothing of the quality and rarity of the actual exhibits.

Cheers,

Logan

NARSES2 · April 23, 2012, 01:05:35 AM

I'm hoping to get to the USAF museum next time I visit my friends in California. Make a detour on either the way over or back

jorel62 · April 23, 2012, 02:48:52 AM

I was there on Monday the 16th for the unteenth time...... Wish I knew you'd be there.

wagnersm · April 23, 2012, 04:00:45 AM

Outstanding pictures.

I'm happy that you were able to get a ride on one of the aircraft. I was able to fly on 'Liberty Belle' once when she was in Winston-Salem. It was a blast.

BTW, two of your photographs show a silver 4 engine aircraft, looks like it may be a DC4. Is that what it is? Thank you.

Steve