B-25 "Skunkie" Will Be Displayed In Columbia, SC

A group formed specifically for the purpose hopes to restore and put on display a B-25 which was pulled from a lake in South Carolina in 1983.

B-25 File Photo

"Skunkie" went down on a training mission, ironically on D-Day, in Lake Greenwood in South Carolina, according to the Aircraft Resource Center . The airplane was reportedly in very bad shape when it broke the surface of the water in 1983, but it was partially restored in 1992 and has been displayed at such events as the 50th anniversary of Doolittle's Raid. The Raiders volunteered for their historic 1942 mission at Columbia Air Base.

Now, according to The State in South Carolina, the S.C. Historic Aviation Foundation has been formed to raise money to buy and restore "Skunkie," as well as to found a museum dedicated to historic aircraft like the B-25. The plane is currently owned by the Celebrate Freedom Foundation, and the terms of the purchase deal have not yet been revealed.

The plane's current owners had intended to have it displayed at the State Museum, but those plans fell through. It had been stored in the Curtiss-Wright hangar at Owens Field Municipal Airport (6K2) in Columbia, but the paper reports that while that is one of the possible sites for the new museum, it is in disrepair as well. The last several years it has been sitting on the tarmac at Hamilton-Owens (KCUB) airport in Columbia exposed to the elements.

B-25 File Photo

C. Cantzon Foster of the S.C. Historic Aviation Foundation said the organization was founded specifically to preserve "Skunkie" for the people of South Carolina.

FMI: www.aviation-history.com/north-american/b25.html