Registration Info:
USAAF Serial# 44-30823
Painted as

History:
The North American B-25, Pacific Prowler, is one of just a handful of B-25s that still fly today. The B-25 Mitchell Bomber was made famous on the daring Doolittle Raid on Tokyo which took place four months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The B-25 Bomber went on to become the most versatile medium bomber of World War II, seeing combat in every theater of operation.

The Pacific Prowler is a "J" Model North American B-25 Mitchell. The original Prowler was deployed to the Pacific Theater and flew over 120 missions before returning home after the war.

The Pacific Prowler II was built in 1944 at North American's Kansas City plant and was accepted for service in the AAF in early 1945. She came out of storage in 1946, and beginning in 1949, served as VIP transport in the new US Air Force until 1958 when she experienced a gear-up landing and was declared as salvage.



She was bought in 1962 by Tallmantz Aviation of Long Beach, CA and began the next chapter of her life as a photo ship for Hollywood. Pacific Prowler has participated in over 80 Hollywood feature films including:

Flight of The Phoenix

Catch 22

Around The World in 80 Days

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Disney's 360 Degree 'Circle Vision' movies

In the 1960s, this plane flew to all four corners of the world to film the Seven Wonders Of The World at low level for Disney Studios for use in their 360 degree videos as seen at the Disney Parks. In the mid-1980s she was sold to Universal Aviation and was operated by Aces High in the UK (as 'Dolly') - being employed specifically to film The Memphis Belle in 1989. She retired from movie-work in the mid-1990s and went into a serious restoration period. In 1996, while owned by World Jet of Florida, her camera nose was removed and the traditional military nose replaced.

In the 1960s, this plane flew to all four corners of the world to film the Seven Wonders Of The World at low level for Disney Studios for use in their 360 degree videos as seen at the Disney Parks. In the mid-1980s she was sold to Universal Aviation and was operated by Aces High in the UK (as 'Dolly') - being employed specifically to film The Memphis Belle in 1989. She retired from movie-work in the mid-1990s and went into a serious restoration period. In 1996, while owned by World Jet of Florida, her camera nose was removed and the traditional military nose replaced.
Photo courtesy of Ryan Sundheimer.
Go here for a more detailed history of our amazing aircraft...
More info here from AeroVintage:

about Talllmantz Aviation

about our plane's film history
Our aircraft's basic timeline and technical info**:



1944 - Built by North AMerican at their plant in Kansas City - originally designated as a B-25J, serial #44-30823A

1949-1958 Used as VIP transport by the USAF and re-designated as a VB-25J; in 1956 went through an extensive update by Hayes of Huntsville,

AL (making it essentially a zero-hour aircraft) and re-designated again to VB-25N (Hayes pilot-trainer); experienced a gear-up landing in

1958 - considered salvage by the Air Force at this point

1958-1962 - Bought as salvage by Wenatchee Air Service of WA - registered as N1042B

1962-1985 - Bought and used by Tallmantz Aviation for movie-work as a camera ship

mid-1980s - Bought by Universal Aviation Corp. and operated by Aces High of the UK as "Dolly"

mid-1990s - Bought by World Jet of Florida; restored to military configuration including the camera nose being removed and replaced with the

more traditional nose bubble in 1996; operated as "Girls Rule"

early 2000s - Operated by 99th Street Inc. of San Antonio, TX as "Top Secret"

2002 - Purchased by Jim Terry (now registered under Pacific Prowler LLC) and maintained and managed by the non-profit, educational

Source(s):
www.pacificprowler.org