When I was about 15 years old (1978) my dad and a bunch of his friends from the Independence, MO airport (now sadly torn down)decided to buy a warbird. They talked about a Mustang, but not many in the group would be able to fly it. How about a B-25, then we could all go to airshows together! Eventually one was found in Chino (for about $30,000 I believe) and flew it home to Missouri. A very young Steve Hinton was the co-pilot.
Now, it wasn’t much to look at, but that group of owners and some other “investors” came together and got the bomber cleaned up to take to airshows. They named her “Fairfax Ghost” after the North American Aviation factory here in Kansas City at Fairfax Airport (now also sadly torn down).
Over the next decade that bomber basically ate their lunch. Nobody had any real money (ie very middle class, no millionaires) and the B-25 ate parts like a hungry rhino. Something was Always broken and needed repaired.
Eventually the fun went out of it, and the plane was sold. Today you can see the Fairfax Ghost in Europe as the Red Bull B-25.
Frank Howerton, who headed up the group and wrote a book called “The Fairfax Ghost” sums up his experience by saying “Owning a B-25 was an event I will always remember and never regret, but today I wouldn’t take one if you gave it to me for free.”
So, as you can see from this rather long and drawn out story the purchase price is the least of your worries with a warbird. Of course, the only thing worse than having one engine to work on is having 2 (or more).
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