B-25J 44-30210

[shuck]

Please can anyone provide any information on B-25J ... 44-30210, N9455Z. Is the aircraft still stored at Chino.

Thanks

[JohnTerrell]

That B-25, which is owned by Trent Latshaw, has been undergoing extensive long-term restoration at Aero Trader since around 2013. I just recently saw a glimpse of it in a photo taken at Aero Trader last month, and the aircraft is looking just about completed - the aircraft is now fully assembled again, engines installed, and the exterior primered, ready for final paint. During the past 12-year restoration, the aircraft was taken apart down to its individual assemblies (wings off, nacelles off, tail off, etc.). The modifications that Tallichet had done to make it look like a B-model were also undone, with the J-model waist positions and top turret put back into it again.

I expect we'll see it and the ex-Howard Hughes B-25C flying in 2026.

[Steve Nelson]

Is the Hughes aircraft being restored as an executive transport, or returned to military configuration?

SN

[JohnTerrell]

The ex-Howard Hughes B-25C (41-13251), owned by William Randolph Hearst III (whose father, William R. Hearst Jr., was a close friend of Hughes and reportedly rode in the B-25 during its brief operation by Hughes in the mid-1950s), is being restored to exactly the same configuration (and paint scheme, reportedly) it had when modified for Hughes. During its extensive ground-up restoration, which began around 2015, work was done on various sections of the aircraft by at least a few different companies, including Aero Trader, Ezell and AirCorps Aviation. Final assembly has been taking place at Aero Trader.

This is a photo shared by the Air Classics Facebook page (Michael O'Leary) back on July 3rd of this year, of the B-25C as it's nearing the end of its restoration.