Warbird nesting at Nut Tree Airport in preparation for future air museum

Vacaville, CA — A gigantic iron bird the color of gunmetal is causing quite the squawk at the Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville and folks behind the Jimmy Doolittle Center, for one, are enthused.

 

More than likely because they’ve got an impressive warbird, a World War II B-25 Mitchell nicknamed “Tondelayo,” nesting just inside the Copart hangar that’s drawn dozens of visitors over the past week.

 

The hope is that more will come once word of the 70-year-old plane, which still goes airborne, spreads, and visions of a world class air and space museum become reality.

 

“To be able to fly this thing around is a dream,” said Russ Fisher, a pilot and member of the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Education Foundation board, on Friday. “Being able to come here and put your hand on a piece of living history, to touch it … to imagine history” is amazing, he continued.

 

The Tondelayo is on lease from the Massachusetts-based Collings Foundation and arrived in Vacaville last August by way of Florida. There’s an option to buy the plane at some point down the road.

 

“I flew it out here with Fred Lewis. This was his dream for promoting the museum,” Fisher advised. “Unfortunately, Fred was killed in an accident two days after we got back.”

 

Lewis, an Air Force veteran, pilot and air frame and power plant mechanic, had been president of the museum foundation. His two-seater plane, a Champion 7GCAA, crashed just south of Paradise on Aug. 13, 2013, killing him and another person. The pair had reportedly been patrolling a natural gas transmission pipeline in the area.

 

Fisher said he stepped into big shoes when taking over Lewis’ project, but did so with a team of supporters. Together with a large cadre of volunteers, the historic plane is getting touch-ups and minor maintenance done during its annual inspection period.

 

During the last week or so, crews have worked on the glass facing the Tondelayo’s nose, the metal flaps near the tail, tuned up the engine, checked the propellers and the wheels, and more. She’s already flight-ready, they emphasized, but there’s nothing wrong with spiffing her up a bit.

 

On Friday, laughter and hearty banter echoed throughout the plane’s hangar as volunteers from Solano and as far away as Washington State got busy. Pete Blood from Spokane, Wash., worked on an engine. Keith Wilson, a Vacaville resident who retired from Travis Air Force Base, showcased the glasswork he and Jim Toynbee, also of Vacaville, had completed during the weekend. Still others worked on myriad tasks throughout the plane.