(plane engine rumbles) (plane engine roars) - The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum was founded in 1980 by a father and a son, Gene and Russell Strine.

Purpose of founding the museum was to recover an aircraft that crashed into New Guinea in 1945.

Our first aircraft that we acquired was a DC3 that we actually purchased in a government auction for $3,000 and that was the first airplane, and then we grew from there.

(inspiring music) Today we have 130 airframes.

When you come to the museum, you'll see roughly about 40 airplanes.

The mission of this museum is to preserve the history of aviation up and down the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as preserving those artifacts for public display and displaying those artifacts in a fashion that kind of tells the history of those artifacts.

That's the purpose of the museum.

When we talk about some of our aircraft, we have trainers that were used during World War II and we trained thousands and thousands of men and women to be pilots during World War II.

And the airplanes that were used are some of the airplanes that we have here on site.

A DC3 goes back to 1932.

(propeller engines rumble) When we entered World War II, the US government took all of those aircraft from the airlines and put them into military service.

(gentle music) It's been used as a transport.

They were used the to tow gliders on the evening of D-Day.

(gentle music) They're still around today, still flying freight, still flying passengers.

One of our prime possessions is our B-25 J Mitchell Bomber.

The aircraft is called a Mitchell Bomber because it was named for a General Billy Mitchell, who was the very first advocate of using an airplane to bomb ships.

Typically, you'll have a crew of as many as eight people.

(tense music) This aircraft flew 126 missions during World War II out of the Italy and North Africa Theater as part of the 15th Air Force, and it was capable of carrying 3000 pounds of bombs in various configurations.

The aircraft was powered by two Pratt and Whitney radial engines, gave that aircraft the top speed of around 284 miles per hour.

(tense music) (plane engine rumbles) One of the most famous this type of aircraft was used in was the Doodle Raid, April 18th, 1942.

It was the first time the US actively went to attack the Empire of Japan.

(tense music) (plane engine roars) There's a book called "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," which was written by one of the pilots.

(explosions boom) Very interesting part of history involving the B 25 bomber.

January 10th, 1945, P-61 was on a training mission in New Guinea and they were trying to climb over a mountain at about 7,000 feet, and they were unable to make it over the top and they crashed into the mountain, and the four people who were on board the aircraft that they all survived.

And that airplane sat on the mountain for 40 years.

(dramatic music) We learned about its existence in 1979.

In 1985, we made our first trip up there to look at the possibility of recovering the aircraft.

(dramatic music) When we were on the mountain disassembling the airplane with the help of the local natives, we had no power tools, so it was all done with hand tools, hacksaws and rope.

(inspiring music) (helicopter engine whirs) Indonesian government ultimately provided us with a helicopter to bring the larger pieces off the mountain, which was the fuselage, the wings and the engines.

We made five more expeditions from 1985 to 1991 to disassemble the airplane, bring it down.

We eventually got it in 15 shipping containers and it was put on a boat, and it was brought back here.

Took approximately six years to bring the aircraft off of the mountain in its entirety, so it was a long, long process to do that.

(gentle music) Restoration started in 1993 and we've been restoring it ever since.

(gentle music) And the intent is for this aircraft to be air worthy, which will make it the only airworthy P-61 in the world.

This aircraft is very rare, they only produced 743 of them.

It's got two Pratt and Whitney R-2800 engines, which produce a minimum of 2000 horsepower each.

(plane engines roar) Top speed's about 370 miles an hour.

The aircraft was used specifically as a night fighter.

It's a very large aircraft, 15 feet tall, and it's flown only at night.

I think it's very important for people to come and tour a place like this.

(inspiring music) It's an opportunity for us to provide some level of education about the importance of these aircraft and the important role that they played in World War II, and in some ways, the role that they played today.

It's living history.

(inspiring music)