Jeff, this very interesting. When I was in HS I worked for a company that had a B-25 used to fight forest fires. The pilot was a WW2 pilot and very good at dropping the slurry on the bulls eye. It was a beautiful yellow painted plane.
Very interesting. At first I thought James River in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mtns and flows 348 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. (I googled) So...different river but great story Jeff.
My dad help build B-25's. He started working at Boeing at the age of 16 and then he went into the army. He also in his life worked at Cessna. He always said, most young people can't do the basic math in their heads to figure out things in building airplanes and they have college educations. They also had a lot of women working at Boeing at the time of the war, a couple of his sister's did as well. The have a B-29 that some Boeing workers restored on their own time at Boeing called Doc, Doc the Disney character is on it.. A nice looking plane. The should of been able to find this plane with sonar. Does your family have a small explanation of why it went down, did they even give a sliver of a explanation of a possibility of what happened?
@Wow life: more than half of all B25s were manufactured in the KC area (Richards Gabaeur AFB or Fairfax). Inglewood, CA (North American Aviation) or Douglas in Seattle. For the most part, some orders were sublet to a few contractors. The very 1st ones were NA models with no tail # (basically a prototype/not technically a B25). Several letters followed later generations of the bombers such as "J" or "H", etc). Douglas is the only location associated with Boeing. Pretty cool. Which one of these did your father work? My dad started his company, "Big Irons" at RGAFB after the base became inactive.
My dad and his sister's worked at the Wichita plant. My dad worked there till he enlisted. He came back from the war and worked again at Boeing untill they put him on the night shift and with a family he didn't think it was working out. He then went to work for Cessna, where he retired. We grew up getting to go into Boeing and seeing the inside of the plant. They use to have a swimming pool there at the plant that workers family could use. My husband worked for Boeing for second part of his career. He got out of construction because of all the red tape and hoops. Had a couple rip him off and not pay for a big job he did. Got a court order for $90 dollars a month because they retired and had to file papers every month. He gave up and went to Boeing worked on 737's till he retired. So going inside the plant for families still went on when he worked there. The President's planes came in the Wichita plant for remodeling and upkeep. My husband also got to work on the military side and work on the presidential airplanes. He had top security pass and could not talk about what was on those planes. They planes had been completely remodeled near the end of Bushes term and then Clinton got elected and they didn't like the color or decor and Boeing complete remodel it again. We seen them take off and land at Boeing Wichita and set out on the tarmac. They don't fly them into Boeing in Wichita no more, I believe it's North Carolina now.
@@wowlife2169 sounds like you enjoyed growing up around there. I have so many great memories around aircraft. My dad worked for Braniff before they went under (before I was born). I have a pic of him working on the plane Bush Sr flew during the war. I'd always been proud of my dad and seeing that B25 arrive literally in buckets of scrap to its restored maiden voyage was the crowning achievement in my eyes. Had a blast showing it off at the air shows like it was my own lol. At the time (1980s) it was only 1/13 fully operational worldwide. It's currently at the TX air museum & has been repainted several times since the camo sky scheme in this vid's final photo. My son's middle name is also "Mitchell" after my fav warbird. Man, we could talk shop all day, @Wow life. Thanks for sharing.
What was really cool as a kid was actually getting to get inside the plane and sit in the cockpit and get your picture taken, some military planes, other commercial planes. My brother worked on the commercial remodel planes, moving seats, adding seats, replacing damaged, stained seats. He find coins from all over the world Boeing just let them keep them. So we saw some interesting money from around the world.
You can certainly be proud of your uncle. Another question is why was the air force flying an older, mostly unreliable aircraft when newer aircraft was available. Hmmm.
@Margie: you must be thinking of the B29 that had a history of engine failure. The B25 was very versatile & reliable with a strong record of dependability. As for age of airplanes, our Cessna was a 1942 and ran like a charm. And though I never knew my dad's brother, I've always been curious abt the whole situation. Thanks
Jeff, this very interesting. When I was in HS I worked for a company that had a B-25 used to fight forest fires. The pilot was a WW2 pilot and very good at dropping the slurry on the bulls eye. It was a beautiful yellow painted plane.
@Duke49: yep, they were sturdy planes and used for many tasks like you mentioned to dusting DDT. Thanks for watching.
Very interesting. At first I thought James River in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mtns and flows 348 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. (I googled) So...different river but great story Jeff.
My dad help build B-25's. He started working at Boeing at the age of 16 and then he went into the army. He also in his life worked at Cessna. He always said, most young people can't do the basic math in their heads to figure out things in building airplanes and they have college educations. They also had a lot of women working at Boeing at the time of the war, a couple of his sister's did as well. The have a B-29 that some Boeing workers restored on their own time at Boeing called Doc, Doc the Disney character is on it.. A nice looking plane. The should of been able to find this plane with sonar. Does your family have a small explanation of why it went down, did they even give a sliver of a explanation of a possibility of what happened?
@Wow life: more than half of all B25s were manufactured in the KC area (Richards Gabaeur AFB or Fairfax). Inglewood, CA (North American Aviation) or Douglas in Seattle. For the most part, some orders were sublet to a few contractors. The very 1st ones were NA models with no tail # (basically a prototype/not technically a B25). Several letters followed later generations of the bombers such as "J" or "H", etc). Douglas is the only location associated with Boeing. Pretty cool. Which one of these did your father work? My dad started his company, "Big Irons" at RGAFB after the base became inactive.
My dad and his sister's worked at the Wichita plant. My dad worked there till he enlisted. He came back from the war and worked again at Boeing untill they put him on the night shift and with a family he didn't think it was working out. He then went to work for Cessna, where he retired. We grew up getting to go into Boeing and seeing the inside of the plant. They use to have a swimming pool there at the plant that workers family could use. My husband worked for Boeing for second part of his career. He got out of construction because of all the red tape and hoops. Had a couple rip him off and not pay for a big job he did. Got a court order for $90 dollars a month because they retired and had to file papers every month. He gave up and went to Boeing worked on 737's till he retired. So going inside the plant for families still went on when he worked there. The President's planes came in the Wichita plant for remodeling and upkeep. My husband also got to work on the military side and work on the presidential airplanes. He had top security pass and could not talk about what was on those planes. They planes had been completely remodeled near the end of Bushes term and then Clinton got elected and they didn't like the color or decor and Boeing complete remodel it again. We seen them take off and land at Boeing Wichita and set out on the tarmac. They don't fly them into Boeing in Wichita no more, I believe it's North Carolina now.
@@wowlife2169 sounds like you enjoyed growing up around there. I have so many great memories around aircraft. My dad worked for Braniff before they went under (before I was born). I have a pic of him working on the plane Bush Sr flew during the war. I'd always been proud of my dad and seeing that B25 arrive literally in buckets of scrap to its restored maiden voyage was the crowning achievement in my eyes. Had a blast showing it off at the air shows like it was my own lol. At the time (1980s) it was only 1/13 fully operational worldwide. It's currently at the TX air museum & has been repainted several times since the camo sky scheme in this vid's final photo. My son's middle name is also "Mitchell" after my fav warbird. Man, we could talk shop all day, @Wow life. Thanks for sharing.
What was really cool as a kid was actually getting to get inside the plane and sit in the cockpit and get your picture taken, some military planes, other commercial planes. My brother worked on the commercial remodel planes, moving seats, adding seats, replacing damaged, stained seats. He find coins from all over the world Boeing just let them keep them. So we saw some interesting money from around the world.
You can certainly be proud of your uncle. Another question is why was the air force flying an older, mostly unreliable aircraft when newer aircraft was available. Hmmm.
@Margie: you must be thinking of the B29 that had a history of engine failure. The B25 was very versatile & reliable with a strong record of dependability. As for age of airplanes, our Cessna was a 1942 and ran like a charm. And though I never knew my dad's brother, I've always been curious abt the whole situation. Thanks
Yes, probably. Thanks.