Nose tire nearly touching down

in 1946 for what would be the bomber's final landing, another unsuspecting Mitchell arrives at Kingman.

This ship, probably a TB-25D or J, has the code

435U painted below the cockpit , indicating a

possible Mather, California assignment during WWII.
Note the absence of an Upper Turret and the other aircraft orbiting above its starboard tail awaiting

its turn to land.

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Kingman B-25 artifacts in the

Depot 41 Museum Collection

range from the mundane, such as this box of

Main Gear Door Struts, Pt # 62-335621 ...

... past the interesting, like my son Brian's

4" X 5" Wing Panel found in the late 80's...

...through the intriguing, such as these B-25-specific

armorers' tools for boresighting the bomber's fixed
.50 cal machine guns in the nose & cheek packs...

... up to the historically significant, like this pair of

cannon-nosed B-25H Pilot's Instrument Panels...

... both with their matching Load Adjusters!

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Unlike most of Kingman's heavy bombers and a handful of Dominators, the majority of other Sales-Storage Depot No. 41 ships were trainers and/or assigned to bases for tasks other than training (some of these sporting an "R" prefix for RESTRICTED, denoting modifications preventing their use as originally designed).

Skirting that trend, there was at least one
Mitchell at Kingman returned from overseas combat,
B-25D-35-NC #43-3666:

Adorned with nose art & named "THE PURPLE SHAFT" she was a bare-skinned, late production D

with short-stack exhaust, rear Bendix A-4 Upper Turret plus the unusual addition of a radome, further cramping an already-confined rear fuselage.

The Load Adjuster from this Pacific Theater bomber

is in the Depot 41 Museum Collection...

 

 

 

photo credits this page:

Angelo Cafcalas,

William T. Larkins,

Depot 41 Photo Archive