Moose Peterson reports.
It took flight February, 1945 and in June, 1969 it came to an end. The B-25J 44-30733 saw military life as a trainer and civilian life as a fire bomber. July of 2013, the B-25J took flight again underneath a sky crane that lifted it off the Tanana River sandbar where it has rested for the last forty-four years. Patrick Mihalek had a child age dream of working with warbirds and at age 30, now heads the Warbirds of Glory Museum that is taking the Sandbar Mitchell back to the skies.
Patrick and Todd have been incredibly busy since getting the Sandbar Mitchell back to the museum shop in Brighton, MI. The wing and Bombay section lifted off that sandbar has been completely inspected and pieces are coming off in the restoration process. The amazing cool thing about the process is that Patrick has enlisted this incredible group of high school students who are a major part of the labor force. Under the mentoring of Patrick, they start with a broom and work their way up to rivets. These young men come over after school and with all that youth and enthusiasm are really making great strides in meeting the ten year goal to having the B-25 airworthy.
For the months of December and January the team plans to remove the left nacelle, flap and landing gear castings and mounts, and auxiliary fuel bay panels.
It is really outstanding how this organization driven mostly with passion has made so much happen in such a short time. This includes their fundraiser efforts. They have got right now for pre-order the recently release book, B-25 Factory Times. You can also purchase pieces of the Sandbar Mitchell to help raise more needed funds. Head to their website and keep checking in, these guys mean business and before you know it, they will be honoring with 340th with an flying B-25J!
More from Vintage Aviation News
Fabulous work guys. So proud of you and proud to know you.