Originally posted by Aslyfox do you know whether that specific B 25 saw action in a combat zone??
where??
The original Tondelayo was B25 airframe 41-30669, a model B-25D-20.
The plane served in the South Pacific. It was crashed a couple of times, recovered, repaired and returned to combat. The listing on pacificwrecks.com is unclear as to the disposition of the airframe postwar.
The airframe I flew is 44-28932, a B-25J-15/17-NC, currently owned by the Collings Foundation in Stowe, MA. The plane was delivered after the war, so it never saw actual combat missions. It was used as a military transport plane, then retired form military service. It saw duty as a fire bomber,
From the USAF serial number search database:
Quote: 28932 (MSN 108-33257) to MASDC Dec 1958. To civil registry as N3476G in 1959. Crashed at Minute Man Field, Stowe, MA Jun 10, 1987. Rebuilt. Name changed to Tondelayo in 2002. Was under restoration by Collings Foundation, MA as N3476G. Now listed for sale by Courtesy Aircraft. Flying since Nov 2005 in New Smyrna Beach, FL.
Lots of historical entries about Tondelayo mention the Doolittle Raid, but never confirm if the original Tondelayo participated.
Originally posted by Aslyfox regarding your "right seat" time
was it flying or were you just hogging the seat when it was grounded???
The right seat of an airplane is considered the co-pilots position. The seat has full controls, and the aircraft can be flown from wither seat. I had control of the airplane from the moment the wheels left the ground to the instant just before they touched the runway again. I did not operate the landing gear, and only had limited throttle control.
It went a bit like this:
The pilot, a commercial pilot who's day job is flying freighters for FedEx, discussed my experience, the cockpit controls, in flight communication protocols, and handing the controls back and forth during flight. He told me as soon as the plane left the runway he would hand over tome, and I was to "Take it up to 3,000 feet, turn left, and trim it for straight and level flight.
So I did. We took off on runway 16R, departure to the South, and after following the takeoff directions we were headed East. After getting the plane trimmed he asked where I wanted to go. I replied, "Well, I live about 30 miles that way", and pointed to the Northeast. The reply was, "Well, you're driving!"
Following the roads and highways below I navigated by the seat of my pants. Having logged lots of hours flying my mom's plane over the last 40 years I know my way around the region. I flew East along Highway 2 until I saw Monroe, then turned North along Wood's Creek Road. A few minutes later I saw a road that leads to a town not far from my home, Granite Falls. I was looking for a cell phone tower on a mountain a couple miles from my house. I spied one, then two, then three. Guess there are more than I can see from the house.
I spotted the house, and just before I turned towards it the guy asked about a road winding its way along a river below, with mountain ridges on wither side. I explained it is the Mount Loop Highway, a scenic drive through the wilderness that goes deep into the Cascade range from Granite Falls, then loops past the mining town of Monte Christo, turns to gravel and comes out at Darrington, a logging town about 50 miles to the North. He asked if there were any power lines along the road. I told him there isn't even electricity up there.
So he said, "Drop down between the ridges and follow the canyon."
And I did.
He said that flying at 270 miles an hour a few hundred feet above the trees down low is how these planes were meant to fly. Low and fast, below the radar, like running a sports car along a twisty road. In the turns sometimes the wings were perpendicular to the ground I was turning so hard. Pop up at the last minute, drop the bomb load, then turn and burn.
I was having the time of my life!
It was fun. At those speeds it didn't take but a few minutes to reach Barlow Pass (where the highway turns towards Darrington and a spur splits off to Monte Christo), then pull up with a wingover turn and head to my house. Once over my house, again, flying fairly low, I banked the plane into a slow turn over the house, right wing pointing down at the house, and gave him the controls. I grabbed my camera and shot a couple quick snaps, then took the plane back, pulled out of the banked turn and went back up to 3,000 feet.
He told me it was time to think about heading back to Pain Field, so I pointed the plane that way. I asked him how fast the plane would go. We had been cruising at 260 to 270, and he reached out and pushed the throttle levers fully forward. The radial engines jumped in speed, and the acceleration pushed us hard into the seats. I've driven a lot of very fast cars in my life and none have ever had that kind of acceleration. I watched as the speed indicator rapidly climbed. The plane was shaking and bucking its way through the air. When the needle was somewhere over 300 he pulled the throttles back and laughed, "OK, that's enough. This thing will go faster, but it is old and we don't want to rip the wings off."
As we settled back into cruising mode I heard him asking the tower for approach clearance. As the tower gave instructions for direction, altitude and speed I automatically adjusted the course as we made our way back. He took the plane back just before touchdown, we landed and I was drunk for a few weeks on the adrenaline rush.
Even today it gives me chills just thinking about it.
Last edited by Racer X 69; 03-19-2017 at 02:52 PM.