# B-25 bomber for sale **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929 "2018-05-27T22:40:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/41 "2018-05-29T20:21:09Z")
Dad worked on McArhtur’s B-17. The bomb bay was welded shut. In said floored bomb bay were a couch and a refrigerator. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/42 "2018-05-29T20:42:59Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Gotta wonder about the back story here. \*Panchito \*has been working the air show circuit pretty hard for years now. Are the gigs (that pay the maintenance and fuel costs) drying up? Are spare parts just getting too hard to find anymore (a common warbird problem)? Or are her owner and crew just getting tired of it? It’s possible that the patron died and it is being sold off. I don’t rightly know. ---
**Author:** ![Rudiger\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rudiger\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rudiger_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/43 "2018-05-30T17:26:50Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > I see Courtesy does have a Catalina for sale – no avionics and “needs fabric work and tires” > [http://courtesyaircraft.com/aircraft/n1943-consolidated-vultee-pby-5a/](http://courtesyaircraft.com/aircraft/n1943-consolidated-vultee-pby-5a/) > > Brian I happened to find myself in Ephrata several years ago on the way from Minneapolis to Seattle. I’d never seen a Catalina in person until then. She looked a little rougher than in the pictures - not sure if there’s been work done since then or if they just cleaned it up to sell. A PBY would definitely be my dream plane, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/44 "2018-05-30T17:31:29Z")
> [@Rudiger\_Simpson](#): > > A PBY would definitely be my dream plane, though. There used to be one parked at MYF where my mom worked, when I was a kid in the '70s. It wasn’t flying, and was awaiting restoration. I loved it. And Philippe Cousteau was flying one, and I loved seeing it on _The Undersea World Of Jacques Cousteau_. I wouldn’t have minded having one when I grew up. But it requires two pilots, so that would take some of the fun out of it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/45 "2018-05-30T17:47:21Z")
I know a guy in Maine who bought one just for fun, from a Canadian firefighting outfit. The thing’s been a much bigger money drain than anyone would imagine - he has it restored to wartime appearance, and runs up an engine from time to time, but it’s unlikely to fly again. The PBY has manual controls, no hydraulic boost, and no flaps either. Reputedly it takes Popeye arms to fly even after it finally gets off the water. You might want to watch _Steelyard Blues_ sometime - Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda, and Peter Boyle are hippies who restore a PBY just to go knocking around in. One of them at least must have inherited a fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Marlonius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/46 "2018-05-30T19:19:00Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Gotta wonder about the back story here. \*Panchito \*has been working the air show circuit pretty hard for years now. Are the gigs (that pay the maintenance and fuel costs) drying up? Are spare parts just getting too hard to find anymore (a common warbird problem)? Or are her owner and crew just getting tired of it? I had a tour of a B-25 (“Grumpy”) at an air museum in Seattle about a month ago. I was told that the cost of fuel, maintenance, etc. works out to about $2500 per hour of flight time. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/47 "2018-05-30T20:33:30Z")
Here is some [history](http://www.delawareaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/history_of_44-30734.html) for Panchito. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929/48 "2018-06-05T03:45:06Z")
Man I could kick around [courtesyaircraft.com](http://courtesyaircraft.com) for a few hours without even trying! Maybe I’ll get a F-8 Crusader and join the Mach 1 club. But I’d rather have an A-4E Skyhawk and paint it blue angel colors! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-25-bomber-for-sale/814929.md?page=2)