I recently had the great privilege of applying my paint brush to the side of one of our nations great war birds. A B-25J Mitchell Bomber. Affectionately known as "Executive Sweet".

During the Second World War, the B-25 Mitchell was perhaps best known for it's role in the Doolittle Raid, when then Lt. Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle and a brave team of volunteers known as "Doolittle's Raiders" launched from the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet to reach out and touch mainland Japan in an attack designed to be a real morale booster for our nation and our troops, showing that we could hit the enemy in their own backyard.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, the B-25s were launched earlier, and farther from the Japanese coast than planned as a result of being spotted by a Japanese picket boat. Colonel Doolittle and his raiders made it to the coast hitting targets in Kobe, Yokohama, Nagoya and Tokyo. While none of the Mitchells were lost over their targets, due to a lack of fuel (a result of the early launch) and bad weather, eleven of the crews had to bail out, four crash-landed and one was flown to Vladivostok, Russia where both the aircraft and crew were interred, while trying to return safely to mainland China to their intended landing sites.

After the raid, my Great Uncle Jack E. Booth, along with his crew and other B-25s from the 14th Air Force made their way from the American mainland through Central and South America to eventually join General Claire Chennault and the Legendary Flying Tigers in China in the fight against Japan. En route, they stopped over in Brazil briefly shaking hands and talking with Doolittle and his remaining raiders (on their way home to America), prior to taking over for them in China.

I have often wondered what it would have been like to be there, and if I had been, I have always been sure that at least a small part of my contribution would have been painting some of the colorful nose art so often found on American World War II aircraft.

Well... I finally got the chance to at least stand by this B-25 for a couple days and to create what I hope is a tribute to my uncle and all those great aviators who did so much to help the cause of freedom in those most trying of times.

For more information on Executive Sweet, check out the American Aeronautical Foundation web site and be sure to have a closer look sometime soon at an air show near you.

-John Thow