Warbird Information Exchange

When I was about twelve, I had the good fortune of getting to know Mr. Bill Arnot. At the time, he owned the B-25 "Silver Lady" out in Breckenridge. I was one of many people, young and old, that got their first B-25 ride from him. More than once, I've seen him walk up to people looking at his airplane and start talking to them about it. Before you know it, he had people loaded up and taking them for a ride. I've seen very few people that enjoyed an airplane and sharing it with others as much as he did. Several people got their B-25 type ratings in the "Silver Lady" as well. I watched him refuse payment and fuel for other peoples pleasure many times.

One saturday at the Breckenridge airshow, He came and found me out on the oil truck and said he needed my help. He had a bunch of people lined up to take rides and he said he needed me to ride in the back and take care of things. Of course I accepted and crawled up the ladder. Behind me came a few passengers and Bill stuck his head up inside. He told them "ok, Brad is in charge back here because he knows how everything works. Yall be sure and listen to him." Then he walked off. We ended up taking four or five loads of riders that day and he always told them the same thing. I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time. It sure did make me feel important.

He sold the "Silver Lady" to Jack Erickson around 1994 or so. Last I saw her was about 2003 and she was sitting in the hanger at Tillimook, looking a little rough around the edges. His name was barely visible under the flight deck window.

One of my prized possesions is a hat the says "B-25J Silver Lady." You can see it in some of the pictures below. Mr. Arnot gave it to me in 1986. I met him at Midland in 1991 and I was still wearing the same hat. He said "Brad, that hat is just embarassing. Crawl up in the back there and get you a couple of new ones." I did, but I still wore the old hat up until a few years ago. It's looking pretty rough. When I last saw Mr. Arnot about six or seven years ago, I was still wearing that hat. He just laughed and said he wished he could have kept the airplane as long as I'd kept the hat. Up until I left for the Air Force, he sent me a new "Ghosts" calender every year for Christmas.

If there has ever been a kinder man involved in warbirds, I've never met him.

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Brad

Cool old photos Brad! And I agree that Mr. Arnot is certainly one of the best guys out there.

Gary

Oh how neat it would be if that hangar roof could talk or had a video camera on top!

Thanks for sharing your memories! That is a very nice story.

Mike

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Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
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Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
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Brad

A great piece of hangar flying ~ thanks for sharing your memories !

Reading things like this are perfect on these cold winter nights

Keep 'Em Coming !

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Blue Skies .....

Peter

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Great Stuff!
Love the story. I have been graced with a few rides form people like Mr. Arnot. They hate to fly with an empty seat.
Nice tribute.

(I miss Breckenridge)

I never had the good fortune of meeting Bill Arnot, but I sure enjoyed seeing Silver Lady every year at Breckenridge. I might even be somewhere in the background in some of those pictures.

Zane, I'm with you... I sure miss that show!

Cheers!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Great pics Brad thanks for sharing.

I agree wholeheartedly.....Bill is a class act and his ownership of the B-25 is missed.....went up on a few photo flights back in my old 'Breckenridge days' with Bill and Phil Makanna, always got some good shots from her (no doubt due to expert piloting) and he was an extraordinarily nice guy....even got him up to the Aspen show once which was a nice surprise! He lowered a whole LOAD of airshow equipment out of the bomb bay-chairs, umbrellas, coolers, etc-and proceeded to set up shop on the flightline, and we joined him with our chairs and coolers too! Breckenridge is much missed, Bill I have'nt seen since Breckenridge folded, but at least the bomber is inside and protected.....and hopefully one day it'll again recieve the attention once previoulsy lavished upon it!

Mark

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Mark Morris

Great old photos Brad, thanks for sharing them.

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
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DBF

Great pics!!

Thanks for bringing back great memories. Over 20 years ago Silver Lady was at a local airshow. I was walking around taking pictures of some of Howard Pardue's aircraft. Howard came up to me and we started talking. He asked if I had ever ridden in a warbird and I said I hadn't. He told me to follow him. He went up to Bill Arnot and asked if he had room for another passenger. Up I went and what a ride it was.

I wonder how many people know Bill was a real B-25 pilot. One year we were chatting at the show at Ellington, and Bill told me on the morning Pearl Harbor was attacked he was a cadet at Ellington. The next day he left for training and went on to fly Mitchells. I heard he'd like to get Silver Lady, back. Who, beside Nelson, is the slim young guy in the window with dark hair? For airplanes and flying, Bkd was about the best show there was. I met Tex Hill there, and he told me about his first Zero encounter where they got his wingman and almost left his P-40 as two P-20s. There's plenty of shows with acro and diesel burners, we need to get some more like Bkd. Tip of navigation, if you can't gat real Bar-B-Q, you're too far north!

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Breckenridge.... What a show.... From Howard riding around on his Harley with his dog on the tank, to the Halftrack firing 50 cal. rounds off into the night. And I'll never forget the evening dinners with the planes making passes over Bill's hangar from the West as low as they could. You'd be sitting there eating and conversing with some of the neat people that would show and....Whaaaaaroooooom! A warbird would pass scant feet above the roof. Wonderful days.....Thanx to my camera and Dick Phillips, that place gave me the most warbird rides I've ever had!!!! Thanks for the memory refreshment Brad! Is Randy Tait still down there? Fast Eddie?

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Civis Aerius Sum

I am a citizen of the Air

Indeed...great place, great show, lots of fun....a certain member of these forums used to maintain that the 'barbecue' they served in Bill's hangar, while indeed delicious, was Armadillo, and if you went out back of Bill's hangar there were a pile of Armadillo shells out there where the had put the empties! Remember the planes flying over, BT's and T-6's and I believe once or twice a B-25 or Skyraider....Lefty in the P-38 one year, Thunderbird making an appearance in 1992....lots of great planes, great times, always a memorable Memorial day trip for us from CO to TX for the weekend....wish it would get back up and running again!!

M

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Mark Morris