My understanding with Bedsheet Bomber is that the U.S. FAA won’t release the civil registration number due to the lack of any bills of sale beyond its 1964 owner of record. Without properly executed bills of sale establishing current ownership, title may be a problem. Be careful that you buy the airplane from someone who actually owns it. The title issue may be determining the selling price. Trying to get the airplane on another country’s civil register may be nearly impossible, as would be changing the ownership of record with the FAA. It would probably work as a static display in a musuem, though.

The BOB cameraship was N6578D (s/n 44-31508) that is currently parked and going derelict at Franklin, Virginia. A photo is posted as a link on the B-25 Locator page at the Aero Vintage site.

At least the first shot is of the Planes of Fame lot. The B-17 is B-17F s/n 42-3374 that was traded to the USAF Museum for display first at Beale AFB and now at Offutt AFB as a gate guard. It came from the MGM movie studio and did have B-17E nose glass that was eventually traded to the NASM for use on their B-17D. If my memory serves me, the B-17G nose glass that went on the B-17F when it was at Beale was the actual one off the “Swoose.” I think it was eventually replaced by one in better condition.

I can understand being frustrated with a professional airshow commentator not knowing what he is talking about but the tone of these posts seems to be a bit snobbish when referring to others in the crowd. Face it, some folks are just not blessed with our vast and infallible knowledge. I’ve even seen some mistakes in this forum, so some of “them” might be trying to sneak in!

44-85507 was purchased from surplus stocks at Altus, Oklahoma, in June 1947 for $5400 by the Chicago Tribune, and was converted to an executive configuration for use by Robert McCormick, owner of the newspaper. It was flown overseas a number of times. It was sold to the Mark Hurd Mapping Company on June 16, 1952, and was on contract for mapping with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission when it crashed in Nevada.

And one more….

The exteriors for the TV show “Twelve O’Clock High” were filmed at the Chino Airport in Southern California. Some of the old airport buildings used when the airport was Cal Aero field were dressed up as the headquarters area for the 918th Bomb Group. I visited the set back in 1967 when I was just a kid and my dad shot some slides of the set area. Most of those buildings still exist and are still used. Anyone who remembers the series would recognize the buildings. There were also some “Hollywood” props set up, including the front halves of several Quonset huts, a few tents, and other set dressing. The old “Picadilly Lily” (the Air Museum’s B-17G, 44-83684) was also parked at Chino and most of the taxiing and ground shots were done there. There was also the burnt out hulk of B-17G 44-83316 across the airport that was used for the ocassional crash scene.