Wings of Dreams
Keystone Heights Airpark now has B-25 Bomber "Tondelayo"
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Photo by Chris Wilson
The B-25 Bomber "Tondelayo" was named after a famous line uttered by actress Hedy Lamarr in the 1942 film "White Cargo." It features a topless portrait of the much-admired actress on each side.
Imagine sitting in the nose of an airplane, ahead of the cockpit, front line in the air, with nothing separating you from the sky but a few sheets of glass and some rickety metal. Now imagine enemy planes flying toward you, shooting at you while you try to shoot at them. Do all of this while your B-25 bomber plows through the air at almost 300 miles per hour with an engine so loud you cannot hear yourself think. That was a mission some World War II veterans accepted without hesitation.
The Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum at the Keystone Heights Airpark is now offering flights, outings and tours in an authentic World War II era B-25 Mitchell Bomber. The war bird will likely be on display at the museum through 2011, unless the Collings Foundation, which owns the aircraft, takes it out on tours.
Wings of Dreams executive director and co-founder Bob Ohl said the B-25 was made famous in the Doolittle Raid, which was the United States' first attack on the Japanese mainland after the Pearl Harbor attack. The Japanese and their leader, Emperor Hirohito, believed Japan was invincible at the time.
"A Navy Lieutenant came up with a plan that was executed by Jimmy Doolittle," Ohl said. "The plan was to use land-based bombers, fly them off of air craft carriers with a limited bomb load and have a huge psychological strike against the Japanese people."
Ohl said the raid was a big morale boost for the U.S. and it also unified several other nations against Japan.
"It's a very humbling experience to fly this plane and to think about the people who flew those missions," Ohl said. "They volunteered for the mission expecting not to come back."
The B-25, which was the largest and loudest World War II plane, had a normal cruise speed of 272 miles per hour and two 1,700 horsepower engines. Ohl said the B-25 was the first plane to successfully bomb a German U-Boat submarine. Depending upon the model of the B-25, they had up to 14 machine guns and some had a 75-millimeter canon.
"You could cut ships in half with this," Ohl said.
In addition, the B-25 was the first plane used for skip bombing, a low-level bombing technique used against Japanese warships. The plane would fly only 200-250 feet above the water at speeds ranging from 200-250 miles per hour. They would release bombs with four- to five-second time delays at a distance of less than 300 feet from the target ship. The bombs would skip on the water, similar to stone skipping, and detonate on the side of the ship, under the ship or bounce over their target and explode.
The particular B-25 that currently rests in a hangar at Keystone Heights Airpark was first used in 1943 in a famous raid on the Japanese port of Rabaul in New Guinea. Tondelayo, as the war bird is named, and two other planes sank a Japanese freighter. The other two B-25s were shot down and the two waist gunners on the Tondelayo, who fought from the middle of the plane, were killed.
During its World War II service, the Tondelayo shot down 10 planes, fought a 75-minute machine gun battle with Japanese fighters and flew 385 miles home. Several of these feats are indicated by markings and decals on the side of the aircraft, just under the cockpit windows. The pilots received a Silver Star for bravery. Incredibly, the Tondelayo fought in 140 missions during World War II, which is also indicated by markings on the side of the plane.
The plane was named after a character played by Hedy Lamarr in the 1942 film "White Cargo," Ohl said. That movie featured the actress in her most famous role. Lamarr also uttered her famous line in "White Cargo," when she said, "I am Tondelayo." The B-25 features a striking and large portrait of a topless Lamarr on its side.
The Wings of Dreams Museum is not simply providing tours of the impressive aircraft. The museum will be offering rides, flight training (Ohl is a certified B-25 flight instructor) and corporate team building.
"The team-building is going to be neat," Ohl said. "We're going to assign jobs that matched the jobs of the crew of a B-25. We're putting together a mission, where everybody has to do their part for the mission to be a success. And, of course, we're going to fly in it."
Wings of Dreams co-founder and managing director Susan King said having a B-25 will bring some much-needed recognition to the museum.
"We're about $100,000 away from breaking ground on our museum building," she said. "We're honored that the Collings Foundation trusts us with this relic. The flights and corporate missions will be a tax-deductible donation to the Collings Foundation and we'll get a cut from that."
King, who currently is learning how to fly the B-25, said she believes having the plane will help enable the museum to lure other war birds.
"We're going to open [the hangar] three days a week or so and people can just wander in and we'll give them a tour of the plane," King said.
For more information, call 352-256-8037 or visit www.wingsofdreams.org. §
Chris Wilson is a freelance writer living in Newberry. He may be contacted through the editor: editor@towerpublications.com.
