Serving the communities of Rimbey, Bentley, Bluffton, Winfield, Alder Flats and Buck Lake
Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013
Volume 15 Number 34
www.rimbeyreview.com
Search on for wartime bomber By Treena Mielke The rumour started the way a rumour usually does. Someone heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend and so on. Sometimes rumours turn out to be true and that is exactly what prompted two gentleman from Brighton, Mich. to follow up on a rumour that a B-25 Mitchell aircraft — or at least part of such an aircraft — was laying in a farmer’s field somewhere around Rimbey. Patrick Mihalek, director of the Warbirds of Glory Museum in Brighton and board member Todd Trainor, are following up on a statement made on YouTube about the airplane. “The guy said that is brother worked around Rimbey in the oilpatch and he knew about this farmer who had bought the whole airplane and it This WW11 B-25 bomber crashed in Alaska in 1969 and has now been recovered. The search is now on for other planes was properly dismantled, and laying in his field.” Photo submitted Trainor said the person who made the state- which may have missing parts that can be used to restore the aircraft. ment does not return emails and he has no idea of knowing if the statement was factual. However, he has not given up trying to find out more information, because if there were such a plane in the Rimbey area it would be a golden opportunity for he and Mihalek to use the parts to reconstruct the plane they already have. “We definitely need more parts,” he said. “Of course if they want a million dollars for it our efforts are wasted.” Trainor has talked to people at the Smithson Truck Museum, the local barber and town administration about the possibility of such a plane being in the vicinity but has received no leads. He added one volunteer mentioned he had seen a comment posted by an Internet user that mentioned parts of a B-25 Mitchell had been found in a farm field near Rimbey. Unfortunately, the museum representative said he had no way of contacting the person. But even though his search appears to be at a dead end, Trainor said the people he talked to were most co-operative. “I want to come down there and check Rimbey out,” he said. “The people there are so friendly and helpful. I really would like to meet them.” Trainor and Mihalek, who are both passionate about the airplanes used in the Second World War, recently recovered a 70-year old North American B-25 Mitchell bomber from a remote crash site in Alaska. The bomber was nicknamed Sandbar Mitchell after being forced to land on a sandbar in the Tanana River outside Fairbanks after a double-engine Patrick Mihalek and Todd Trainor from Brighton, Michigan were at the Sandbar Mitchell crash failure shortly after takeoff in 1969. site to lead the recovery operation. The men are hopeful a similar airplane is in the Rimbey Continued on Page 22 area. Photo submitted
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