Why Does No One Want B25 Bed Sheet Bomber?

WOW!!!! That’s fantastic news on the old girl! soo pleased.

There is a facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/b25mitchellbedsheetbomber/     another page but it doesn’t mention bedsheet bomber  http://www.wingsmuseum.co.uk/wings_museum.htm

According to Facebook, ‘Bedsheet Bomber’ is now being restored to static condition, at the Wings Museum in Balcombe, Sussex.

For some reason this site won’t let me paste a link to the page, but if you search ‘B-25 Bedsheet Bomber’ it should come up!

TexanTrev
You are quite right about the owner.

G-ANPK

It would be very sad to see this Mitchell end up as just an amputated cockpit, having ‘survived’ this long. It is in better shape than the Halifax down the road at Hendon, let’s not give them any ideas……

How bold of Meddle to ‘come out’ as a secret railway buff, but nevertheless drawing some interesting parallels. In truth, no doubt many historic aircraft enthusiasts are occasionally to be found on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ as it were, with a quiet attraction to things smokey and chuffy !

“Propstrike
It was still with Barry last week, Barry told me he is retiring and has about five to seven months to clear his yard, he was only looking after the B-25 with the hope of restoring her, and will now contact the owner, a well known warbird collector to see what he wants to do with it, so may be open to offers very soon.

G-ANPK”

Was it not sold to Stephen Grey/TFC many moons ago or am I totally wrong/out of date??

If the A1 Lightning can live on as a promising cockpit restoration then we have proof that people can do good work with worse source material. Surely a cockpit restoration isn’t out the question?

I don’t think it’s future is bleak, but probably a reality check is needed on it’s value.

Apologies, but I can’t get too upset about the difference between ‘B25’ and ‘B-25’. I know what is being discussed in both instances. Maybe if it was a British type…. :applause:

In fact, maybe this is why it is languishing in a scrap yard! :rolleyes:

The B-25 at Sandtoft (ex-Gorgeous George-Ann) was purchased and moved to Belgium in 2006. As of today, the BAPA is still hard at work restoring the airframe. In comparison, Bedsheet Bomber is most likely in a worse state and therefore a lot lower down the list if you’re looking for a restoration candidate. As mentioned before, the museums interested in the type already have an example or are busy restoring one. Where does that leave this B-25? Looking at a bleak future if you ask me.

Not sure which was which, but one of those Meteor centre sections (WL360 I think) has sad connections and I recall the other was used for some kind of destructive fatigue test, which would preclude its use as a flyer and raise doubts as to its ability to support the outer wings of a static.

Oh and +1 for B-25 (see J Boyle’s comment above): we know better surely?

Or are we now OK with ‘spitfire5’ as a ‘designation’? Could be worse: on another forum I regularly see B-1Bs described under the term ‘b1b’. It’s the Text Generation I guess. One day soon we’ll all communicate in grunts and three-letter words with no vowels. Text speak. Or ‘txt spk’ for thse in th no.

Perhaps everybody who wants a Meteor already has one? Bottom of the pile would be sections of different Meteors which, when combined like a Frankenstein’s monster, would create a T7. Oddly enough it appears, per Demobbed, that the rest of WL360 and WL345 went to Malta, for the museum there to do exactly that?

The Gloster museum, perhaps the best spiritual home for a T7 in need of work, have a backlog of Meteors to fettle up as it is.

As for the B25, it surprises me that a few of the bigger preserved railways in the UK have steam locomotives stored in their ‘Barry scrapyard’ state, 30+ years after they were saved. It also surprises me that there are Stanier Class 8F locomotives rotting away in open storage in Turkey, or Beyer-Garratts quietly rusting all over Africa. It happens! In the case of the Garratts, the Chinese scrapmen will get to them, most likely.

The arc, or trajectory, of something passing from merely old to vintage and noteworthy, isn’t always smooth. At all the critical times there clearly hasn’t been the motivation or money to work on this B25. It is only surprising to look at it now; a WW2-era aircraft rotting away at the back of a yard.

h98
There were some people due last Thursday / Friday to have a look at the Meteor sections, there are two different Meteors there , one is WL345 rear fuselage & tail + WL360 fuselage and cockpit, both T7`s put them together and you have a complete T7.

G-ANPK

He also has parts of a Gloster Meteor. Surprised that no one wants that either.

Propstrike
It was still with Barry last week, Barry told me he is retiring and has about five to seven months to clear his yard, he was only looking after the B-25 with the hope of restoring her, and will now contact the owner, a well known warbird collector to see what he wants to do with it, so may be open to offers very soon.

G-ANPK

Considering the B–25 is the world’s most prolific twin-engined WWII land combat type and the popularity of warbirds in the UK, it’s surprising one isn’t flying in the UK.

Why?
Lack of popularity of multi engine types, obsession with a certain fighter?

There is a RAF-marked, ex-RAF example flying in the U.S., but not the UK, …disappointing. (Likewise no Mosquito or Lockheed Ventura…as close as you can reasonably get to a Hudson…one of which flies in Australia).

Come on people, it’s B-25, not B25, BXXV, or B.25 🙂 🙂

A recent post on UKAR suggests that the B-25 may have left Booker. Any confirmation or word of destination ?

Perhaps the now -filming Catch 22 production have got hold of it (pure random guess based on zero evidence ! )

It is well known that it belongs to Barry Parkhouse of Parkhouse Aviation. His contact details are on the Internet.

FB

Wasn’t G-AWHB supposed to be going to Paul Allen’s collection eventually? I saw her at North Weald back in the 90’s, and looked to be getting some long over due TLC. Far better than the sorry state of the airframe during the closing stages of the Southend museum.

Are there any recent photos or knowledge about its condition. Any knowledge of owner and price?