MIflyer
Captain
In WW2 Columbia Army Air Base in SC became the major base for training B-25 crews. Doolittle's Raiders started there and many other units followed. In fact the SC/NC area became a major player for training not on B-25 but A-20 and A-26 crews as well.
One attraction of the area was a large man-made lake not far from the airbase, Lake Murray. The area was very sparsely populated then and the lake made a great place for the bomber crews to practice the very low altitude over-water bombing attacks that proved to be so useful in the Pacific.
One day a B-25 made a low altitude run over the lake, the pilot flying and the co-pilot not having much to do. Some modification work was being performed on the airplane and the maintenance crews had created a large hole in the middle of the instrument panel, covered by a piece of wood on hinges. As they bumped along through the low altitude turbulence the wooden cover kept swinging open. The irritated co-pilot would slam it closed and the pilot would tell him to leave it alone before he screwed something up. Finally, very low over the water, the wood swung open and the copilot slammed it shut again, but with such force that it swung over center and went into the panel, breaking and shorting out the magneto switches for both engines, which quit.
The airplane went right into the water. The pilot reached up and opened the escape panel over his head, only to have the copilot climb over him and stand on the pilot's shoulders to get out.
Once the crew was in the inflatable dinghy, the pilot had to be restrained from killing the co-pilot.
There are an estimated 25 B-25's at the bottom of Lake Murray. Back in the 1980's one was retrieved from Lake Greenwood and now serves as mascot for the Capitol City Bombers baseball team.
One attraction of the area was a large man-made lake not far from the airbase, Lake Murray. The area was very sparsely populated then and the lake made a great place for the bomber crews to practice the very low altitude over-water bombing attacks that proved to be so useful in the Pacific.
One day a B-25 made a low altitude run over the lake, the pilot flying and the co-pilot not having much to do. Some modification work was being performed on the airplane and the maintenance crews had created a large hole in the middle of the instrument panel, covered by a piece of wood on hinges. As they bumped along through the low altitude turbulence the wooden cover kept swinging open. The irritated co-pilot would slam it closed and the pilot would tell him to leave it alone before he screwed something up. Finally, very low over the water, the wood swung open and the copilot slammed it shut again, but with such force that it swung over center and went into the panel, breaking and shorting out the magneto switches for both engines, which quit.
The airplane went right into the water. The pilot reached up and opened the escape panel over his head, only to have the copilot climb over him and stand on the pilot's shoulders to get out.
Once the crew was in the inflatable dinghy, the pilot had to be restrained from killing the co-pilot.
There are an estimated 25 B-25's at the bottom of Lake Murray. Back in the 1980's one was retrieved from Lake Greenwood and now serves as mascot for the Capitol City Bombers baseball team.
