Pair of Special Visitors - B-25 and C-54

moose135

We have two special visitors drop in to the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport ahead of the upcoming Labor Day weekend. "Barbie III", a B-25H, arrived Thursday afternoon, and will be in town for about two weeks. The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation C-54 arrived today, and will remain through next weekend.

The B-25H is the rare "gun nose" version. In place of the glass nose and bombardier station, it has a solid nose with 4 50-caliber guns and a 75mm cannon. It was used primarily for ground attack and against Japanese shipping.









The C-54 is an airborne museum, commemorating the Berlin Airlift.











More photos of the B-25 here

More photos of the C-54 here

Vycor

Hey moose does it cost anything to get into the museum??? Do they let you on the runaway around the planes... as you know i pass it all the time in my travels, live a few towns over

moose135

Museum admission is $10, but they are only open Thursday - Sunday. You can get out on the ramp outside the museum (provided they aren't in the middle of moving aircraft) - the C-54 will be accessible, the B-25 will be making flights, so you may not be able to get right up close all day. I think the C-54 guys may charge something ($5 or so) to get inside - it's set up with a variety of displays telling the story of the Berlin Airlift.

SKnight

Cool pics! I love the old warbirds, especially the prop jobs.

Question, pic 4, what is that in front of the windshield? I can't make out what that is, obviously aircraft skin, does the panel open up like a car hood?

EDIT-DOH! Never mind! Just found the shot on your page with the hood up.

black mamba

Hi Moose,

You have some good pictures here. I particularly like the B-25. I've seen quite a few of them, but never one with the nose cannon. I got to go up in one a few years back. It had landed in Jacksonville ( with one dead engine ) at Cecil Field....an old Naval base.....which was then home to Black Shadow Aviation. Black Shadow was big in warbird restoration and put a new engine in the B-25. I had a good talk with the owner of the plane. Outside of having to replace an engine, he said the maintenance cost of keeping a B-25 in the air was enough to make a rich man cry.

Tom