Restored war relic visits Nashville veterans

Restored war relic visits Nashville veterans

By Will Ayers

At the Smyrna airport, Tom Graves gazes with obvious delight as a refurbished World War II-era B-25 Mitchell bomber lurches down the runway.

“It sure sounds like a B-25,” said the former Mitchell pilot, who flew 65 missions over Burma in 1943-44. The roar of the…

plane’s massive engines drowns out his voice, and he looks on in silence.

He stands with Chuck Jackson, another Mitchell pilot who flew with Graves in the 12th Bomb Group in Burma. Jackson sports his old leather flight jacket, which still bears the bomb group’s nickname: “The Earthquakers.”

The Nashville men were invited to the airport by Timeless Aircraft Inc., the Tulsa, Okla., company that restored the bomber. Dubbed Pacific Prowler, the plane tours the country giving rides to the paying public, as it will Sunday and Monday at the Smyrna airport.

“World War II veterans are dying at a rate of a thousand a day, and we want to preserve their legacy,” said Jim Terry, a crewman with Timeless Aircraft. “We ask veterans in every city to come out and see the plane one more time.”

This particular aircraft saw action in the Pacific theater from 1943-45. Based in New Guinea, it flew bombing missions to prevent the Japanese from seizing Port Moresby, a key strategic point near Australia.

In 1947 the bomber got a makeover as a VIP transport for the Air Force, a role it played until a crash landing in 1958 whereupon it was sold for scrap. The price? $875, according to Terry.

The Mitchell was rescued from the scrap heap and thrust into a long career as a Hollywood movie plane. It had been used in more than 80 films before being retired in 1995. Timeless bought the plane last year, pulled it out of a decrepit hangar in Texas and refurbished it in Tulsa.

Graves, 82, and Jackson, 85, revisit their past as they climb aboard the former bomber. Jackson sits behind the pilot and, once airborne, seizes the opportunity to take the co-pilot’s controls for a brief stint.

Graves moves around the back of the plane, which is accessible only through a narrow crawlspace above the bomb bay.

Both men were pilots in Burma, where they each led a crew of five on bombing and strafing missions against Japanese forces there and in China. They speak fondly of the Mitchell’s 75mm cannon, which is said to have slowed the plane down 15 mph every time it was fired.

“That was quite a sensation,” Graves said.

Neither man was ever shot down; the worst luck either had was a bad landing.

“I had my (landing) gear shot out one day and had to land on one wheel,” said Graves, who quickly added that the Mitchell “could take a lot of punishment and still fly.”

On another occasion, Graves had more landing gear trouble.

“My second mission was the scariest,” he said. “We had already loaded with bombs and we were halfway down the runway when the right tire blew. The pilot hit the brakes and we ran off the runway, but we managed to stop.”

As the roar of the twin 1700-horsepower engines makes conversation impossible, Graves and Jackson seem generally content to look out the windows.

Just before landing, Jackson keys his radio set.

“I sure did enjoy that,” he said, smiling.

Once on the ground Jackson looks back at the plane, which seems to evoke more memories.

“It’s probably the most important thing I ever did in life,” he said of his war service. “I wouldn’t do it again, but flying over mountains in China, for a 24-year-old man, was an adventure.”