Rode in a B-25 today

Thanks to a friend of mine, I got a 30-minute ride in Panchito, a beautifully maintained B-25J Mitchell. For takeoff and landing I was in the radio operator / top turret gunner's seat, but for the rest of the ride I was bomardier.

Panchito:

Before the flight, I went up the aft ladder to check out the rear compartment:

The two jump seats forward are original crew positions. These two seats in the waist have been added for passengers.

Looking aft toward the tail gunner position:

I didn't try to go all the way back; this is as far as I got:

My takeoff position was forward of the bomb bay:

After takeoff, I was able to unbuckle, lie on my back, and pull myself headfirst through that little tunnel:

At which point, I was rewarded with this view:

Back in position for landing:

Mitchell the cat (a girl) greeted us on our return to the hangar.

Put away nice and snugly:

Absolutely wonderful. Thanks for sharing this!

Totally awesome. 

In reply to BoulderG :

Thank you! I've got more pics I will post later. If I can figure out how to post them, I have some video too.

Okay, wrong Mitchell. But damn, that's the rewards of righteous living. Good for you, man. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Super cool; must have been an amazing experience! Thanks for sharing!

In reply to Duke :

Great post! It must have been an amazing rush.

That's a nice one!  I have a PBJ (Navy version of B25) local to me.

You should probably go watch Catch 22 now.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.