B-25 in National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, Texas

[RufusLeaking]

In the boyhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz in Fredericksburg, Texas is the National Museum of the Pacific War.

www.pacificwarmuseum.org

It is a comprehensive lesson in the events and chronology of the war in the Pacific. There are several period aircraft on display.

The B-25 at the museum, painted with Doolittle's tail number (02344,) has a top turret and tail guns. The Raiders flew B-25B aircraft, which did not have tail guns. It is easy to find images on the internet to contradict this; however; looking at historic photos, I believe there were no tail guns on the raid.

Does anyone know what model it is on display? My guess is a B-25J.

Also in the museum:

An N1K1 float plane

An F4F with the 4 gun package.

A D3A, plucked from the jungle in a serious state of decay.

A beautiful scale model of a P-40 flying tiger.

[Guppy35]

It's a B-25J that they've modified to look like a B model with the rear fuselage top turret and the fake broom handle guns the Raiders installed.  It looks the part correctly but is a J

[Ratsy]

Are there any B-25B's left in the world, I wonder.

I really like the Museum of the Pacific War.  Fred is a great little German town surrounded by the Texas Hill Country and not too far from Austin and San Antonio.  I didn't even know about it until pieces of that Val showed up in USAA's C-Courtyard one Veteran's Day.  I ran up there that very weekend.

One of the exhibits that draws me annually is Saburo Sakai's flying helmet, goggles and scarf.  I believe they are the among the very few things Sakai was able to save from his experiences in the air.  The short version of the story is that the canopy bow and these goggles took the fatal punch out of a bullet fired from a USN bomber.  He was blinded in one eye nonetheless.  The scarf was used to clean the blood from his remaining eye and was eventually stuffed into his head wound.  He then flew from near Savo Island to Rabaul (approx. 625 miles) and landed with about two liters of fuel remaining.  Further reading:  Samurai (M.Caidin-F.Saito) and Eagles of Mitsubishi (J.Harukoshi).

Sakai's daughter is a graduate of San Antonio's Trinity University.  The display appeared in MoPW around a year after Sakai's death.

The museum is rich with displays donated by those that served.  The stories are inspiring in any case.  I recommend it.

Great question about the B-25, though.  I never really paid attention to the accuracy of that display.

 

[colmbo]

There is a B model in Columbia, SC.  It was recovered from a lake near there after a crash landing during the war.  It is not airworthy.

[branch37]

I've been to Fredericksburg several times but never had time to go through the museum. The local breweries are awesome too.


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[Vraciu]

The Val has remained pretty much the same since it was discovered.   It is now indoors along with parts of another. 

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/d3a2/3105.html

[Guppy35]

There is a B model in Columbia, SC.  It was recovered from a lake near there after a crash landing during the war.  It is not airworthy.

That's a C model actually.  There is a B model in pieces at AeroTraders in California that could be restored to fly if someone's pockets were deep enough.