North American B-25J Mitchell 44-30734 was built at Kansas
City and was delivered to the USAAF on February 16, 1945.
Manufactured too late to see active service, 44-30734 was
assigned to several different US-based training units before
being converted to a TB-25N navigation trainer in 1952.
After a spell with the 3560th Basic Training Wing in Texas,
the B-25J was transferred to the Air National Guard’s 102nd
Radar Calibration Flight at Westchester, New York, in March- It served with a further two units before being retired
to the ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan, Arizona, in May 1958.
The B-25 was dropped from the inventory as surplus in
December the following year.
It was sold to an Arizona-based civilian owner in 1959
for use as a fi refi ghter and soon gained the registration
N9079Z, then undergoing a major conversion to make it
suitable for its new role. However, in 1968 it changed hands
and began the fi rst steps to becoming a crop sprayer in Florida. It served in this role for almost a decade and
earnt the nickname ‘Big Bertha’.
After a brief spell in a museum, N9079Z was acquired by warbird restoration supremo Tom Reilly and was fully
restored and returned to B-25J specifi cations in Florida by 1986. The bomber was sold to a private owner in Texas,
and then in the early 1990s to Rick Korf, moving to New York in the process. Larry acquired the aircraft in 1997.
Today, the Mitchell carries the name and artwork of Panchito, representing a B-25 of the 396th Bomb
Squadron, 41st Bomb Group, 7th Air Force. (The aircraft was named after the
Mexican rooster called Panchito Pistoles who appeared in the 1944 animated
fi lm The Three Caballeros.)
and began the fi rst steps to becoming a crop sprayer in Florida. It served in this role for almost a decade and
Airframe history
After a brief spell in a museum, N9079Z was acquired by warbird restoration supremo Tom Reilly and was fully
restored and returned to B-25J specifi cations in Florida by 1986. The bomber was sold to a private owner in Texas,
and then in the early 1990s to Rick Korf, moving to New York in the process. Larry acquired the aircraft in 1997.
Today, the Mitchell carries the name and artwork of Panchito, representing a B-25 of the 396th Bomb
Squadron, 41st Bomb Group, 7th Air Force. (The aircraft was named after the
Mexican rooster called Panchito Pistoles who appeared in the 1944 animated
fi lm The Three CaballerosThe Three CaballerosThe Three Caballeros.).)
March 2018 FLYPAST 45