Photography by Ian L. Sitren

Posts tagged “B-25 Mitchell

Pacific Princess

“Pacific Princess”, a World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber coming in to the airport in Palm Springs to do the Memorial Day 2023 Flower Drop.


B-25 In The Morning

This Sunday morning at 0725hrs, the B-25 Pacific Princess warming up on the ramp at the Palm Springs Air Museum for departure.


Pacific Princess

The B-25 “Pacific Princess” at the Palm Springs Air Museum this past Saturday.


Flying In A B-25

Flying in the nose of a World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber over the Salton Sea. Today April 18th is the anniversary of the Doolittle Raid On Tokyo in 1942. Sixteen B-25’s flew off the deck of the USS Hornet as the first retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of the 80 crew members, 77 survived the mission. Eight airmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three were later executed.

Video from a hat mounted GoPro as I shot video and photos with my iPhone and a Fujifilm X-Series camera.

We were headed for a Veterans Day flyover at the Glamis Sand Dunes with other World War II aircraft. I was texting our location and timing and also doing social media posts.

Also somewhat of a video self; you can see my reflection on the iPhone.

The B-25 “Executive Sweet” from the American Aeronautical Foundation. That day flying out of the Palm Springs Air Museum.


Memorial Day 2019

Just some of what I did (shoot some video) on Memorial Day at the Palm Springs Air Museum

Aircraft start up for the flyover and flower drop, Memorial Day 2019 at the Palm Springs Air Museum. A World War II Mitchell B-25 bomber, F4U Corsair, P-63 Kingcobra “Pretty Polly”, Red Tail P-51 Mustang “Bunny”, PB4Y-2 Privateer and T-33 jet “Shooting Star”.


Your Flight Has Arrived

I am always hearing how “jealous” my friends of how much fun I have been having. Photographing and video shooting around these great aircraft. And flying too! Well here is your chance… You can fly too, starting right now today at the Palm Springs Air Museum

Come on out and get on board for a one of a kind flying experience in the World War II Michell Bomber B-25 “Executive Sweet”! Today Friday Nov 17th starting at 12:30 this afternoon. In the air you will have the chance to check it all out from the tail to the gun positions, the gun turret, right behind the pilots and in the bombardier nose. How cool is that! $425 makes it the best first class flight ever. And Veterans get a $50 discount! Call 805-377-2106 for info and to book your flight. But wait!!!

There is more! You can also fly tomorrow Saturday November 18th during our huge Props & Hops Craft Beer Festival and on Sunday the 19th too.

Our annual Props and Hops Festival here at the Palm Springs Air Museum is the best Craft Beer Festival ever! You can fly in our World War II D-Day C47 “What’s Up Doc?”! Book your flight in advance for Saturday and get free entrance to the Festival. That is a $40 discount! Book online at http://palmspringspropsandhopsfestival.com/

You can also buy your Festival tickets online in advance and save $5 and watch all the flying. But still a great deal at $45 at the door. Both include eight four-ounce beer tastings! http://palmspringspropsandhopsfestival.com/

Saturday there will be plenty of flying to watch with our awesome P-51 Mustang “Bunny”, the T-28 Trojan, the B-25, and the C-47. You can take to the air in an open cockpit Stearman Biplane too. So much fun! Call 760-778-6262 to save your flight!

The outstanding breweries here will be Absolution, Ballast Point, Belching Beer, Boochcraft Komchaka, Bootleggers, Charlies Beer, Coachella Valley Brewing, Drakes, Fig Mountain, Firestone Walker, Hangar 24, King Harbor, Lagunitas, La Quintas, LQ Brewing, The Lost Abbey, Refuge, Rowdy’s, SLO Brew, Stone Church, Thorn Street, and Washington Gold Cider!

Food vendors are In-n-Out Burger, Gs Taco Spot on Wheels, Knights of Columbus Pizza and Cone Zone. Entertainment provided by David Macias, Skitzo Attack, and DJ Alex Harrington, voted Best Club DJ 2016.
The 2017 Palm Springs Props and Hops Beer Festival will take place inside the new Gen. Miles Korea and Vietnam Hangar and on the tarmac at the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, California from Noon to 5pm.

Thanks to a generous sponsorship by Hot Purple Energy this event is a fundraiser for Palm Springs Air Museum to help preserve vintage aircraft and history. Additional sponsor is Palm Springs Life. And Thank You to our Media Sponsor KMIR!

Buy your Tickets Now and more info at http://palmspringspropsandhopsfestival.com/


The “Bunny” View

“Bunny” is the World War II P-51 Mustang fighter. Here dedicated to the famed Tuskegee Airmen and specifically to a true American Hero, Lt. Col. Bob Friend. I had the opportunity on Veterans Day to fly in the World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber “Executive Sweet” with “Bunny” for a commemorative flyby over the Glamis Sand Dunes just South of the Salton Sea. This video over the sand dunes as we flew back to the Palm Springs Air Museum. So very fun! And you can fly too…

Next weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 17th – 19th, you can fly in this B-25 bomber! You will get to check it out in the air from the tail to the gun positions and gun turret and right to where I was in the nose. How cool is that! A better flight for $425 does not exist! Out of the Palm Springs Air Museum, call 805-377-2106 for info and to reserve your flight! You will Thank me many times over!


Flying In A B-25

Good morning! Video from my flight on Veterans Day in a World War II B-25 Mitchell Bomber. How cool is this! At the Palm Springs Air Museum . You can fly too!

You can catch a ride in “Execute Sweet”, this B-25 Mitchell Bomber too. Sit in the nose and take in the incredible view like nowhere else. Check out the gun turret and gun stations in the back while you are flying. Watch from right behind the pilots seats and imagine what it was like during the War. A better ride for $425 cannot be had ever! Call 805-377-2106 for more info and to make a reservation. At the Palm Springs Air Museum this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 17th – 19th. Great fun!


Remember Those Airplane Models

Remember when you were a kid like me building those plastic model airplanes. Now we are old enough to fly in the real ones or at least see them close up. The Palm Springs Air Museum is where you will find me and get the chance to fly too, for tomorrow Veterans Day. Check it out…

Your flight is warming up! Get on board for a flight, Saturday Veterans Day, in this World War II B-25 Mitchell Bomber! Once you are in the air you will get to check out everything from the bombardier seat in the nose to the gun turret and even looking over the pilot’s shoulder. Sure beats sitting in some economy seat on your least favorite airline with a better spent only $425 to kept it fueled and mission ready! Call 805-377-2106 (please leave a message and you will be called right back). You can also fly on Sunday and next weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What a great opportunity!

For Veterans Day right here at the Air Museum, flight demonstrations going on all day. You will see our P-51 Mustang ‘Bunny” in the air along with our C-47 “What’s Up Doc”? and our T-28 Trojan. There will be a special appearance by a flight of six T-34 trainers too. You can also fly in a World War II Stearman Biplane trainer for only $175!

Not to be missed! With us will be a very very special guest… Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Bob Friend. A wonderful opportunity to meet and shake the hand of this true American Hero.

Salute_DSF2380

Also we are dedicating our newly finished Grumman F9F Panther which was the Navy’s first successful carrier based jet fighter. For that honor we will have with us another very special guest, a man who has been called “The Forgotten Hero”, Capt E. Royce Williams! On November 18th, 1952, then Lt. Williams in a carrier based engagement of the Korean War shot down four MiG-15s. Forty years later it was revealed that all four were flown by Soviet pilots.

There will be food and birthday cake celebrating the Museum’s 21st Anniversary. So much fun going on! You can reserve your flights on the Stearman Bi Plane trainer by calling us at 760-778-6262 and for the B-25 at 805-377-2106.

Yes you can just come on in and get your flight on either the B-25 and/or Stearman. However there might be a wait for the next available seat. There are only so many seats per flight. So again try to make your phone reservations but come on in no matter what! You will be happy you did! Thanks!


Air To Air And For Veterans Day

Honoring our Veterans last Saturday flying out to Veterans Memorial Park in Coachella. I was flying and photographing from the backseat of a T-28 Trojan. And lots more flying coming up on Veterans Day Saturday at the Palm Springs Air Museum. More info below…

At the Air Museum, flight demonstrations going on all day. You will see our P-51 Mustang ‘Bunny” in the air along with our C-47 “What’s Up Doc”? and our T-28 Trojan. There will be a special appearance by a flight of six T-34 trainers too. Even more exciting you can watch and even go up in a Stearman Biplane trainer AND even fly in a World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber, both from right here!

Not to be missed! With us will be a very very special guest… Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Bob Friend. A wonderful opportunity to meet and shake the hand of this true American Hero.

Also we are dedicating our newly finished Grumman F9F Panther which was the Navy’s first successful carrier based jet fighter. For that honor we will have with us another very special guest, a man who has been called “The Forgotten Hero”, Capt E. Royce Williams! On November 18th, 1952, then Lt. Williams in a carrier based engagement of the Korean War shot down four MiG-15s. Forty years later it was revealed that all four were flown by Soviet pilots.

There will be food and birthday cake celebrating the Museum’s 21st Anniversary. So much fun going on! You can reserve your flights on the Stearman Bi Plane trainer by calling us at 760-778-6262. For your seat on a flight in the B-25 Bomber call 805-377-2106 (please leave a message and you will be called right back). You can also fly on Sunday and next weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What a great opportunity! Thanks!


You Can Fly Too!

For all my friends who have said they are so envious of my flying in aircraft like this one…. Come on out! Info below…

At the Palm Springs Air Museum, your bombing mission is waiting for you! This Veterans Day weekend you can jump on board and take your flight in this World War II B-25 Mitchell Bomber! Put that on your bucket list at the very top!

Starting this Friday afternoon Nov 10th, Saturday afternoon Nov 11th and all day Sunday Nov 12th! The best First Class flight ticket you can buy for $425 for sure! This is a much better way to celebrate our Veterans and to participate in Thanking them for their service! Be a part of keeping these so very important and historical aircraft flying!

Too busy this weekend to fly with us.. Next weekend too! You can also fly on the afternoon Friday Nov 17th, and all day Saturday and Sunday Nov 18th and 19th. And November 18th is our Props & Hops Craft Beer Festival! So much fun going on! (Props & Hops is a separate admission, beer doesn’t fuel the airplanes!)

For more information and to reserve your flight, Call 805-377-2106. Leave a message and someone will call you right back. You can just come on in too but there are only six seats per flight and you might have to wait for the next available. But do not miss the incredible opportunity! Thank You!


I’m Flying!

Extra benefit of being the photographer for the Palm Springs Air Museum is flying! Yesterday in a World War II Mitchell B-25 bomber. The United States Marine Corps version PBJ, the only one still flying in the world. My duty station for the Memorial Day weekend, the Palm Springs Air Museum. Come on out!

 


75 Years Ago Tomorrow

It was 75 years ago on April 18, 1942 that sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers did the impossible task of flying off the deck of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier en route to Tokyo. Without fighter escort, without fuel to guarantee a safe landing, the brave flight crews flew into uncertainly to deal the first major blow against Imperial Japan following the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tomorrow, Tuesday April 18th at the Palm Springs Air Museum at 11:00 AM, come hear the story of the “Doolittle Raid”, the “Raid On Tokyo”. And following at Noon watch the “Pacific Princess” B-25 start up right at the Museum and do a flight demonstration. Then imagine sixteen of these thundering aircraft taking off from the carrier deck right in front of you!

Your presenter will be Lt. Col. Blaine Mack, World War II P-38 pilot, later F-86 pilot and Strategic Air Command pilot flying B-47 and B-52 bombers. What an incredible opportunity at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Please come join me! Thank You!

B-25 In Palm Springs

 


She Takes Off!

As a long time photographer in the bodybuilding and fitness business, the first thing I noticed is that she works out. The World War II Bomber “Pacific Princess” visiting at the Palm Springs Air Museum. You can watch her take off again on this April 18th to commemorate the day of the “Raid On Tokyo” on April 18, 1943.

B-25 In Palm Springs


B-25 Sunday Morning

The World War II B-25 bomber “Pacific Princess” doing flight demonstrations at the Palm Springs Air Museum today.

Come on out to the Air Museum tomorrow morning, Sunday, opening extra early at 8:00 AM. The “Pacific Princess” will again take to the air at 8:48 to coincide when the carrier USS Hornet departed San Francisco carrying the B-25 aircraft that would make the raid on Tokyo on April 18, 1942. Called the “Doolittle Raid”, it was the turning point in the War with Japan and also in the history of air power. Not to be missed! See you there! AND… Admission is free for this starting at 8:00AM until flight time!

B-25 In Palm Springs

B-25 In Palm Springs

B-25 In Palm Springs

B-25 In Palm Springs

B-25 In Palm Springs


B-25 Mitchell Bomber

The B-25 “Mitchell” was the bomber flown off the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on April 18, 1942 for a bombing mission over Tokyo. It was intended to show that the USA could project power across the oceans and that Japan was vulnerable to an air attack. The mission was also retaliation for the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

This is a B-25J version which entered service in early 1945. It was used as a crew trainer and transport. Interestingly it appears in the 1970 movie “Catch 22” as “Vestal Virgin”. Now here flying out of the Palm Springs Air Museum on it’s tour schedule. The sound of those engines starting up is worth the visit all by itself!