info on B-25 Fertile Turtle in the 1970's

[aircuda]

Hi all,

I was talking to a gentleman this morning who flew P-51's in Korea and also owned a P-51 in the 70's named "Miss Suzanne" or something along those lines. He also flew B-25's for an outfit in Northern New Jersey and he showed me a pic of him standing in front of one of them. It was taken probably in the mid 70's judging by the patriotic colors of white with a lot of blue and red and was named Fertile Turtle. It was very "civilized" with a new nose cone, different cockpit windows, and exhaust. I would like to track down both this B-25 and his old P-51 if possible to see what happened to them. He thinks the P-51 is still flying but the B-25 may have crashed at some point. The P-51 was based in New Jersey at the time he owned it. Any help on these 2 planes would be appreciated. Thanks, Dave

[K5DH]

This one? It is TB-25D s/n 41-29784, N2XD. Photos taken by me in late 1979 at Summit Airport, which is just outside of Middletown, Delaware. At that time, the owner was Richard DuPont. The B-25 is now displayed aboard the USS Yorktown, on "stilts" above the snack bar on the hangar deck and wearing a rather hideous OD green paint job. Sorry for the horrible photos. They were taken with a Pocket Instamatic camera and have suffered years of fading.

More info here: http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b25regis ... 29784.html

[Robbie Stuart]

Could this be the P-51? http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... df560bc34d

[b747cf]

Here is the P-51 at Ft. Lauderdale Int. 1970's


and later at Fantasy of Flight 1990's


Mark F.

[T J Johansen]

Here are photos of it as N51WT "Miss Suzanne".

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/283086.html

T J

[aircuda]

Thanks for your replies. They would both be the planes. It is a shame that the B-25 is a rare D model and is painted in those hideous colors on the Yorktown. It looks like all they did was throw some OD green on it and kept most of the markings.

[wls3]

Here is the P-51 in 2008 as "Luscious Lisa".
Snort at controls over TICO and on the ground at Sun'n Fun.

Last edited by wls3 on Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[John Kerr]

Here are a couple of photos of N51WT, 45-11391 at Cape May Airport, taken
in February 1979 by Paul Bigelow.

[T J Johansen]

But who is the guy who aircuda spoke with? To the best of my knowledge John Watson passed away years ago, and the other owner from the 70s was Art Tucker, and he had the a/c sitting in FL as shown in b747cf's post. I seem to remember Jack Shaver having flown the 51, but was he a part owner in it?

T J

[aircuda]

I see the guy that I talked to pretty much every morning at the local convenience market getting coffee. I know him as "Jack" so it is entirely possible that it is the same person. Maybe because he flew it regularly he considered it "his" plane. He flew P-51s in Korea and showed me some of his pics, including the planes in this thread. He has quite a few stories.

[T J Johansen]

Any chance you could ask next time you see him if he's interested in sitting down with a Norwegian armed with a tape- recorder and relate some of his stories from the days he owned the 51? I'm planning to visit the east coast in May if everything goes to plan.

T J

[Robbie Roberts]

Thanks for your replies. They would both be the planes. It is a shame that the B-25 is a rare D model and is painted in those hideous colors on the Yorktown. It looks like all they did was throw some OD green on it and kept most of the markings.

When I went on the Yorktown about 8 years ago, I couldn't even identify it as a B-25 definitely. they need to replace that nose, and, IIRC, lose the tip tanks!

Scott

[RareBear]

Gee, I would have thought the twin-tails would have made it obvious. Also, the B-25 on the USS Yorktown does not have tip tanks.

Walt

[RareBear]

Here are some photos of the TB-25D on the Yorktown, taken today. Notice the spelling of the name is "Furtle Turtle".

[cwmc]

That thing has a lot of really nice mods. The exhaust make it a lot quieter inside, the tip tanks made it have a decent range, and the back windows are just cool, and give a lot better vis especially over the nacelle. The nose reminds me of the Bendix owned airplane. The Hughes airplane's nose is much better looking.
Civilian mods on warbirds are looked down upon but they are just as historical as the warbird itself, in my mind. It's much more unique in it's executive guise. It is also the only reason it survives today.
Chris...