Berlin Express B25 Mitchell Tour

Being invited to take a free flight on any airplane is always

exciting especially when that plane is a historical military aircraft.

The flight on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, out of the Anoka

County Airport in Blaine was a media flight to promote the

tour of a North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber used

during the second World War.

Arriving at Atlantic Aviation at the north end of the airport,

the tour started with a briefing of what to expect on the flight.

"It will be cold and loud. If you look out a window and see

smoke, that is normal don't panic, if you see flames, that is

not normal please alert the crew," said pilot Michael Kopp,

who has been flying for 45 years. All the pilots who rotate flying

this plane are volunteer members of the Experimental

Aircraft Association. The plane tours weekends during the

spring, summer and fall, and it was flown 21 times over two

days during AirVenture in Oshkosh.

Climbing aboard meant climbing one of two sets of stairs; one

opened from the side, and the other one was an opening in

the belly that came up right behind the cockpit. There are

very few seats on board; it was built for a crew of five: pilot,

cannoneer/navigator, engineer/gunner, radio operator/gunner

and tail gunner. For the tour there are eight spots, three

volunteer crew members and five passengers. The volunteers

helped the passengers buckle the heavy-duty seatbelts that

include shoulder harnesses. There are two waist gunner seats

complete with windows with the machine guns sticking out of

them and a large box of ammunition feeding both guns.

Time to fire up the twin engines. It was loud, earplugs were

needed, there was a lot of clanging and shaking, and it took a

while to warm up. Finally taxiing to the runway, building up

speed and the take-off was a success. Once up in the air the

passengers were invited to get up and explore the plane.

Walking or just moving about the inside of the very tight

quarters was challenging; getting down on hands and knees

to crawl through a tight portal to the tail gunners seat at the

back of the plane felt like a test of ability. Sitting there holding

the gun handles, looking around at the ground below was like

taking a step back in time. Then crawling back through the

tunnel, to get to the front portal, means having to climb up

onto the seat, then over the back of the seat right behind the

pilots, then down again, lying on the floor and sliding

through a small, tight portal, grasping a metal bar and pulling

to get through to another world to the nose gunner seat.

Being in front of the pilots in a bubble and having no control

of where you are going, feels like a separation and very

exhilarating, holding the gun handles, looking straight down

at the ground through the glass, wondering how these young

men so many years ago, did their jobs. Back through the

tight portal, pulling and sliding along the floor, to ready for

landing. Buckle up and wait for a very smooth landing thanks

to pilot expertise.

Ashley Messenger, volunteer pilot, who was co-pilot on this

day, has been flying for 48 years, and talked about the history

of the plane. The flight hours are unknown as records have

been lost over the years. Chuck Hoeppner volunteers as a tour

Berlin Express B-25 Mitchell, wing span; 67 feet 6.7 inches, Length; 53 feet

5.75 inches, Height; 16 feet 4.19 inches, Engine limits; 2,400 RPM at 1500

horsepower each, Propeller diameter; 12 feet 7 inches, Maximum speed; 272

MPH at 13,000 feet, Cruising speed; 230 MPH, Weights; basic empty weight

19,129 lbs, gross weight (wartime) 34,000 lbs, Fuel capacity; 974 gallons,

10,000 built of all variants.

9 November 2022

Minnesota Flyer

coordinator and with the other volunteers really enjoys this

plane and its history.

This powerful twin engine and twin-tailed aircraft was used

by every branch of the United States military. It is the only

U.S. military aircraft to ever be named after an individual, air

power advocate General Billy Mitchell.

The first B-25s became combat ready in early 1942, just in

time for a very daring plan after the devastating Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor. The idea was to load 16 bombers onto

the deck of the USS Hornet and sail as close as it could safely

get to Japan. Then, when the time was right, the planes were

launched off the carrier to bomb Tokyo as well as military

installations in the area. The mission would be led by famous

aviator James H. Doolittle. On April 18, 1942, the task force

was spotted early, and even though the odds were against

them, the 16 bombers roared down the deck toward history.

The planes hit their targets and most ditched off the coast of

China after the raid. With one daring mission, Doolittle's

Raiders lifted the morale and spirits of everyone back in the

United States.

EAA's B-25 Berlin Express History

This B-25 was first accepted by the U.S. Army Air Forces in

late December 1943. As an H model, when it left the factory, it

would have had a blunt, solid nose fitted with two fixed

.50-caliber machine guns and a massive 75-mm cannon. This

one was the 327th H model off the assembly line of the thousand

or so that were built. The airplane served out the war in

a low-key role as an administrative aircraft, stationed at bases

in Washington, Colorado and California, and was at one point

modified for use as a trainer. The airplane was sold as surplus

shortly after the war and changed hands several times over

the next 20-plus years. It was heavily modified for use as an

executive transport.

On the Silver Screen

In 1968, after a stint with Long Island Airways, Filmways Inc.

the legendary Tallmantz Aviation got involved and decided

that N10V ought to be in pictures. As it was for many movie

stars of the day, step one was a nose job. The airplane was

given a J-model greenhouse nose section, historically inaccurate

but giving it the traditional look that, to some people,

makes a B-25 a B-25. Tallmantz assembled N10V with 17 other

flyable B-25s to begin production on Catch-22, director Mike

Nichols' adaptation of Joseph Heller's bitter satire about life

in wartime.

This B-25 played two roles in the film: a VIP transport for

Orson Welles' Brig. Gen. Dreedle, and a bomber named Berlin

Express, complete with nose art that features Hitler himself

in the crosshairs.

An orthodontist, warbird collector, and accomplished air race

pilot from Merced, California, Dr. William Sherman Cooper,

bought N10V in May 1971. Cooper was killed in a crash while

practicing aerobatics in his Pitts Special a year later, and the

B-25 was donated to the EAA Aviation Foundation.

EAA staff and volunteers fully restored the airplane starting

in 1975, removing the airplane's movie livery and repainting

it as the City of Burlington, including nose art that honored

the EAA's home state of Wisconsin. The airplane flew in these

colors for several years, until it was damaged after a gear failure

on landing. At that point, it underwent a cosmetic restoration

and was moved into the EAA Aviation Museum's Eagle

Hangar, where it remained for the next few decades.

A top turret was removed that held two more guns so there

would have been eight. Along with the guns it also holds six

500 pound bombs. The plane is owned by the EAA and is

housed in Oshkosh when it is not on tour. Now, fully restored

in its movie star markings, Berlin Express is ready for its next

mission: joining the B-17, Aluminum Overcast, in honoring

WWII veterans as well as helping inspire a new generation of

aviation enthusiasts.

For more information about this plane, the tours and how

you can take the flight, visit FlytheB25.org.