Patrick Mihalek and Todd Trainor, long-time friends, and a handful of volunteers will be in Alaska next month to prepare a 70-year-old North American B-25J Mitchell for rescue. The B-25, nicknamed “Sandbar Mitchell” sits on a sandbar in the Tanana River outside of Fairbanks.
“We traveled to Alaska four weeks ago to examine this B-25 and determined that the remains are in good condition and worth the effort the recover and restore to flying condition,” said Mihalek. “We are headed to Alaska on June 22 with a team of twelve people to start the recovery effort.”
Mihalek is in need of funds to complete the mission. He launched a Kickstarter.com project hoping to raise $20,000. As this is written, 165 backers have committed $11,051 with 20 days remaining.
Sometimes I wonder just how many WWII aircraft there are waiting to be discovered or renovated after discovery. From Spitfires in Burma to a P-38 in Greenland these aircraft just keep turning up. Amazing.