By Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Flying history: restored B-25 flew 15 WWII missions

Jul 10, 2017 | 4:06 PM

LETHBRIDGE AIRPORT – Once upon a time, the plane was a crop sprayer, painted yellow. It would have been difficult to guess the role it once played.

Only after 28 years of restoration work did the North American Aviation B-25J look like its proud self again. The last still-flying B-25 that saw combat touched down Monday, July 10 at Lethbridge Airport, in preparation for the Lethbridge International Air Show on the weekend where it will be on display, with rides available for booking.

“Look on the side of the airplane, underneath the pilot’s windows,” Dick Carney of the Commemorative Air Force advised as he outlined the history of the plane. “You’ll see 15 bombs painted on each side. That is indicative of the 15 missions this airplane had in Yugoslavia and Corsica in World War Two.”

“They didn’t have the technology that the air crew have today. They just flew on a wing and a prayer, some of those people”

 

– Walter Huff

With pilot Jordan Brown at the controls, a group of media representatives got to experience flying in the vintage aircraft. Built for combat, not comfort, the plane is loud and cramped. Non-functional machine guns are mounted in the waist compartment windows and nose of the plane. Access is up a ladder and through a hatch.

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This B-25J was built in 1943. Earlier models of the plane had been modified and used to raid Tokyo in retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Brown explained it was a medium-range bomber, more maneuverable than the heavy bombers like the B-17 and B-24, or the Lancaster which was used by Canada.

One of the passengers Monday was Walter Huff. The 93-year-old Coaldale man was part of the ground crew for Canadian bombers, for an anti-submarine squadron. He was based in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

“They didn’t have the technology that the air crew have today. They just flew on a wing and a prayer, some of those people,” Huff said. Since flying on test flights during the war, this was his first trip aboard a vintage aircraft.

“Much similar. Only in this one you’re very cramped,” Huff said. He recalled the Canadian planes he worked on didn’t have side gunner positions, except for the Lancaster. He also said those planes weren’t metal, but fabric over a wooden skeleton. Even more similar were the Mosquito bombers Huff worked on while based in Holland.

The reason Huff wasn’t part of the air crew flying the planes, he said, was a high school football injury. A crushed nose prevented him from passing the physical exam.

“Thinking back… I say, maybe I was lucky not to be air crew, because there were 55,000 Canadian airmen who lost their lives in World War Two.”