Warbird Information Exchange

The B-25D, 43-3318, which has flown in RAF markings as Grumpy for decades, has a new look.
The aircraft, the second oldest airworthy B-25 (ex-UK, Paul Allen and John Sessions), was bought in 2023 by a Swiss owner and restored by the Erickson group at Madras, Oregon.
It now sports 1941-42 markings to honor the Doolittle Raiders with the name Destination Tokyo on the left and the Doolittle Raiders emblem on the right.

https://www.flyingmag.com/destination-t ... 0362067C7R

As a D model, visually it is close to the Doolittle raiders "B"s.
I flew in the aircraft a few times under Sessions' ownership, and it was signed inside by Dick Cole, the last surviving raider.

Grumpy had quite a following in the UK, and for a time, a Canadian !Mitchell also sported the colors (the real Grumpy flew over 100 wartime missions), so its long time scheme will be missed by some, but it is nice that a aircraft visually similar to the Raiders ship will be flying in the scheme flown on the mission.

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Before it could receive its new paint, the restoration company known as The Warbird Shop, which is part of the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Oregon, had done an incredible amount of work on the aircraft over the past year and a half, completely stripping that B-25D bare, inside and out, and putting it all back together again. The airframe itself was disassembled quite extensively - tail surfaces removed, aft fuselage removed, nose section and windscreen/canopy section removed, firewall-forwards removed, aft sections of the nacelles removed, all glazing removed, etc. Everything stripped, everything in need of repairs fixed (including some sheet metal), everything re-wired, and all new paint/primer inside and out. The aircraft is absolutely immaculate now, inside and out. The aircraft is owned by Hugo Mathys of Switzerland, who also owns/operates a number of other very immaculate warbird and vintage types, including a 101st Airborne-tribute C-47, a highly polished DC-3, and three highly-polished Beech 18s. The latest I've read is that the B-25 is in Palm Springs for the Swiss crew to train on before taking it overseas to Switzerland.

Photos posted by "The WB Shop" on Facebook:









This photo is by Michael O'Leary, as shared on the Air Classics Facebook page. A full story on the aircraft will be featured in the January 2026 issue of Air Classics.

Before the new restoration, I don't believe it had been restored since its arrival in the UK.
So the interior was far from pristine... it had chips and wear, but nothing egregious.
Likewise the exterior...its paint looked authentic, matte from wear and age, but not chipped or shabby looking. It looked like a well cared for old truck with original paint as opposed to a old truck with unmarked shiny new paint.

Some of the volunteers at Historic Flight attempted, without success, to try to get a bit of shine to the finish, but the old paint defeated their...and my...best efforts.

The upside to this was Grumpy had patina. It looked like a ship you wound have seen at an RAF base during the war.
That meant, that unlike many warbirds, you didn't need sunglasses to look at it in the daylight.
Also, it wasn't so perfect that you couldn't touch it.
One of the outstanding feature of John Sessions' collection was nothing was roped off (though volunteers were there to prevent people from doing anything stupid to fabric covered types).
Visitors were welcome in the B-25, both adults and children enjoyed sitting in the cickpit, rear gunner are and nose.

I'd like to think its appearance and condition that allowed visitors to be in the ship (without worrying about wearing paint) helped educate the public and made warbird enthusiasts.

Glad to see it getting a comprehensive restoration.
I like the Doolittle scheme, bit I'll miss the authentic warbird lol of Grumpy.

_________________
Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.