Tom Reilly, a legend in the warbird community, will be inducted into the EAA Warbirds of America Hall of Fame on Nov. 10, 2022, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Reilly’s flight experience includes a natural feel for flying, as he soloed his first aircraft after just 4½ hours of instruction and earned his private pilot certificate just 16 days later, according to officials with the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Since then, he has logged more than 5,500 hours as pilot-in-command, primarily in warbird aircraft, with more than 2,600 hours in North American B-25 bombers, including his own B-25 named “Killer B.” He has also instructed more than 20 pilots through their B-25 ratings.
Reilly is equally as renowned for his restoration work on more than 20 warbird and vintage aircraft. The crown jewel of those restorations was the recent completion of the rare North American XP-82 Twin Mustang, which earned Grand Champion honors at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and the SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo in 2019, as well as the Golden Wrench and Phoenix awards at Oshkosh that year. His B-24 restoration also was named a Grand Champion at the 1990 EAA fly-in convention in Oshkosh.
Reilly has accumulated more than 50 years of warbird restoration without a maintenance accident and continues to be a much sought-after expert for a new generation of aircraft restorers, EAA officials noted.