One of the most popular West Coast airshow attractions is Mike Pupich's North American Aviation Mitchell Heavenly Body As with every surviving Warbird, this aircraft has an interesting history so let's go back to 20 February 1945 for that is when B-25J-25-NC USAAF s/n 44-30748 was delivered to the Army Air Force However, at that stage in the Second World War, the aircraft was not immediately needed at a battlefront so the Mitchell was flown to South Plains, Texas. for initial storage (around 1000 Mitchells were stored or still active with the USAAF after WWII). During July 1947, 44-30748 was brought back to flying condition and ferried to Pyote, Texas, for further storage (Pyote was also where the Air Force scrapped hundreds of Boeing B-29s. If readers have photographs or information on this facility, please contact us).

By November 1948, the aircraft finally had a mission and was once again made airworthy for the flight to Barksdale Field in Louisiana where it began operating as a TB-25J multi-engine trainer. By June 1949, 44-30748 had moved to Vance AFB in Oklahoma to continue the training mission. Mitchells were shuttled between the various USAF training bases and the next stop was Reese AFB. Texas, in October 1951.

The Mitchell was selected for conversion at Hayes Aircraft, Birmingham, Alabama, into an advanced trainer. Hayes took the Mitchells down to bare bones and built them back up with updated electrical systems. modern instruments and panels, improved sound proofing. additional passenger seating, removal of all combat equipment. new heating. new three-piece windshields, new engine fire suppression equipment and engine exhaust collector ring additions.

Hayes received a contract for 79 conversions, these aircraft becoming TB-25Ls. A later contract Saw 380 B-25J Mitchells rebuilt into TB-25Ns. The aircraft that would become Heavenly Body was in this batch and 44-30748 was delivered back to the USAF as a TB-25N during 1955. At this point, the trainer was assigned to a training wing at Reese AFB where it stayed until December 1958 when it was declared surplus to needs and flown to Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona for storage. The aircraft did not remain in storage for very long and its disposal was authorized during January 1959 and it was sold on 19 May 1959 to Ace Smelting of Phoenix, Arizona. The price? A whopping $1143.88!

Initially. the civil registration of N3447G was set aside for the aircraft but this was not taken up and N8195H was assigned. At this time, there was a good market for Mitchells and the aircraft was sold during May 1959 to Alson-Niblock Flying Inc. of Elkhart, Indiana, but by December it was sold once again, going to Christler & Avery Aviation, Greybull, Wyoming. Although the company would go through several name changes, the aircraft would stay at Greybull for the next two decades. The aircraft was modified to have an ag tank in the belly and spray bars, a Restricted airworthiness certificate for ag operations being issued in January 1960. It's unclear just how much use was made of the aircraft in the ag role but by 1969 it was parked in the weeds along with another ag Mitchell (USAAF s/n 44-30801, which would go on to became Executive Sweet) when along came a buyer from Filmways Inc. who was going around the country buying up tired Mitchells to use in a major new aviation film. That film was, of course, Catch-22 and even though the movie was somewhat of a box-office flop, it was responsible for saving many B-25s that would have undoubtedly been scrapped. N8195H was beaten into ferriable condition and flown to Tallmantz Aviation's home base at Orange County Airport, California, where it was joining a growing cast of Mitchells that were being put back into reliable flying condition, fitted with turrets, and given military camouflage paint schemes for use in the movie.

Once the film was over, Paramount Studios had no use for the Mitchells and an attempt was made to sell them off at prices in the $3000 to $6000 range. However, this was before the Warbird trend had kicked into gear and the B-25s did not sell exactly like hot cakes. Tallmantz purchased the aircraft in August 1971, with the idea of converting the plane into a photo platform to replace their famous Dumbo which was suffering from corrosion.

Actor James Arness (of television's Gunsmoke fame) thought it would be a good idea to purchase a Mitchell and was getting ready to close the deal on N8195H when his studio informed him that his contract forbade such activities. At this point, enter one Milan "Mike" Pupich.

When I recently asked Mike why he bought a B-25 he replied, "I got drunk." Seriously, as a kid during WWII, Mike moved to Los Angeles with his family where he got to see all sorts of military aircraft including the unique Douglas B-19. The aircraft that captured his fancy was the Mitchell. "I used to see them flying all the time. I used to push a silver platter around my parents' couch and pretend It was a B-25. I really loved that airplane."

The years went by and Mike became a successful businessman but he always kept his interest in aviation, when some of his friends at Van Nuys Airport talked about the film Catch-22, Mike became very interested , "I went down to Orange County in March 1972 and looked at the aircraft Arness had to back away from. It was painted in the M&M markings from the film and looked pretty ratty. Purchase price was $3800 and fuel was 32 cents a gallon. I made the deal. It was the price of a loaded new Cadillac. My non-aviation friends thought I was crazy."

The Mitchell was ferried back to Van Nuys where the laborious job of stripping off many layers of paint began in one of the nose docks formerly utilized by On Mark Aircraft. Thus began a relationship that would last two and a half decades.

The aircraft was a bit of a mess with tape holding on control surface fabric and a myriad of problems that needed to be addressed. George Rivera got to work on the plane. tore out all the old radios, and rewired the bomber. Other workers got the hydraulic and fuel systems back into shape and the plane was back airworthy by 1974. Fortunately, the Mitchell did not have any corrosion but the military and movie folks had left numerous rough metal patches which were repaired by Luther Johnson and other workers.

Lots of Van Nuys "regulars" helped out with the aircraft including many Air National Guard personnel such as Byron Smith. Russ Allen, and John Bell Sr. (John Bell Jr. would later become a pilot for the aircraft.) The aircraft was refinished in a 1950s' style USAF scheme (at this point in time, the trend to finish ex-military aircraft in their WWII markings had not started). As the years went by, more work went into the aircraft and Mike met some original crew members of the 42nd Bomb Group, 13th Air Force. They showed Mike some original photographs and he was particularly struck by one Mitchell named Heavenly Body which featured very attractive Alberta Vargas-style nose art. The course was set, and in 1984 the Mitchell emerged from the paint shop in the Olive Drab and Neutral Gray camouflage of Heavenly Body.

Soon after the aircraft was painted, we did some aerial photography and ran a shot in Air Classics. "There's a funny story about that, "said Mike, "Charlie Wells was sitting in an airliner at 37,000 feet reading his new Air Classics when he suddenly shouted, "that's my plane!" And he had good reason to shout for Charlie had flown four missions with Heavenly Body as copilot and 38 missions as pilot. As the years went by, the popularity of the Warbird movement grew and one of Mike's real stellar moments was when Heavenly Body roared off the deck of the USS Ranger on 21 April 1992 to honor the 50th anniversary of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo. "I really feel that the whole Heavenly Body program has really come together in the last 18 months. We have gone to a lot of airshows, met a lot of people, and had some real fun. This is all due to our volunteer crew. Chad Sisk has really changed Heavenly Body it seems that he knows every B-25 part number and, with the help of Aero Trader's Carl Scholl, has added many original bits and pieces of military equipment back onto the plane. His crowning achievement was adding the Martin 250E top turret which is operational, back onto the plane earlier in 1997.

"Ed Gustafson handles a lot of the paperwork for airshows and has been with the aircraft for years. His attention to detail is most appreciated. Bruce Guberman is the pilot and, what can I say, Bruce is the best B-25 stick in the business. George Hulett is copilot and really helps out in the public relations department. "We keep the plane at Skytrails at Van Nuys through an arrangement that lets us utilize a hangar at reduced cost. Ray Raduziner has really helped out with sheetmetal work. Tim Johnson keeps the paint in good trim.

"Tony Ast is being trained as a copilot and he is an IA and has been a great help with inspections. Craig Abernethy has been excellent with the electronics and with the mechanics of the aircraft."

Looking with great affection at the Mitchell as it sat under the soft hangar lights, Mike reflected on his long relationship with the B-25 by simply saying. "I couldn't have done it by myself."