Author: aokjoey

It’s official: the amazing Grimes Flying Lab will be at Mansfield Airport Day!

What’s a flying lab? It’s a Beech 18 that served in the Air Force as the C-45. Built in 1952, this C-45H was a valuable tool for Grimes engineers to test and evaluate aircraft exterior lighting systems under various conditions while actually in flight.

Grimes would fly over to Boeing and show them the different combinations of lights available! It currently has over 75 lights on it!!

This incredible aircraft is part of the National Aviation Heritage Area! Come visit the Grimes crew on Airport Day and learn about this Ohio aviation treasure!

We’re just two months from Mansfield Airport Day, so I figured I’d share some of the things we’re working on:

The beautiful “Champaign Gal” B-25J Mitchell is coming!
The Champaign Aviation Museum is bringing their B-25J Mitchell bomber to Mansfield Airport Day! This beautifully restored plane is an American twin-engine medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. Allied air forces flew it in every theater of World War II, and it was used by many other air forces after the war, seeing service across four decades.

It will be part of our static display area.

Built in 1944, the Champaign Aviation Museum’s B-25J served with the USAAF for 13 years. It was used as a trainer, transport and personnel transport. In 1957 it was transferred to the famous “airplane boneyard” at Davis-Monthan AFB where it was stored until ~1959 when it was bought by a private company and fought fires in Canada and the USA. It continued to be used as an airtanker until the late 1980’s when it was restored to its wartime specifications.

In 2008 the Champaign Aviation Museum acquired the aircraft and has been flying it and meticulously maintaining it ever since.