116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
B-25, a relic of World War II, arrives at Eastern Iowa Airport for flight tours
Arrival of a second plane, the Ford Tri-Motor ‘Tin Goose,’ canceled
CEDAR RAPIDS — During the same week that World War II veterans and heads of state gathered in France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, a relic from that era — a B-25 Mitchell “Berlin Express” plane — landed at The Eastern Iowa Airport.
The plane, brought to Cedar Rapids by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), was piloted by Robert “Pinky” Pinksten and Parker Rathbun.
“I was glad to be in something, especially yesterday on D-Day, and so happy to be flying an airplane,” Pinksten said Friday at The Eastern Iowa Airport. “Bombers did fly in D-Day, there were B-25s doing bombing operations past the landing beaches.”
The B-25 was produced following the U.S. Army Air Corps’ call in 1939 for a “medium bomber.” A prototype of the plane met the requirements for payload capacity, range and speed, according to the EAA, which resulted in full-scale production. Nearly 10,000 of them were built by the end of the war.
The plane is best known for its role in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942. The plane that taxied down the runway in Cedar Rapids on Friday was used in an administrative and training capacity during the war. Its nickname, “Berlin Express,” came from a movie of the same name.
Pinksten said the experience of flying in a B-25 is “living history at its best” — and a far cry from the experience of modern day air travel.
“The airplane has short exhaust stacks so I mean, it’s like a dangerous level of loud,” Pinksten said. “I’ve met a lot of World War II B-25 vets and they’re all deaf. And the smell of, you know, old engine oil and avgas gasoline; it’s a different experience than flying on a modern airplane.”
The B-25 and another aircraft, the Ford Tri-Motor “Tin Goose” were being brought to the airport by the EAA for flight tours through the weekend.
The B-25 arrived at The Eastern Iowa Airport for flight tours through the weekend while the Ford Tri-Motor “Tin Goose” was unable to make its planned trip to Cedar Rapids due to high winds and mechanical issues, EAA Communications Specialist Drew Stephani said Friday.
Both planes have been in Eastern Iowa before. They’re a big draw for aviation enthusiasts and pilots alike.
Rathbun, the other pilot of the B-25, is 24 and he’s been flying warbirds since he was 17. He said he enjoys that the plane is “all mechanical” and has “nothing electrical.”
“It’s a little more challenging than flying like a modern business jet that ‘Pinky’ and I do for work. So you’re able to monitor a little bit more and you feel like you’re flying the airplane and you’re kind of in charge of it,” Rathbun said next to the “Berlin Express.”
Interested B-25 passengers can register for their flight on the EAA’s website, eaa.org/flight-experiences. Walk up spaces are also available.
Comments: (319) 265-6828; cleo.westin@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters