A restored, vintage World War II era North American B-25N aircraft flew into Atlantic this (Thursday) morning. The plane is part of a pristine collection of fully operational, active aircraft and vehicles from World War II, at the Fagan Fighters WWII Museum in Granite Falls, Minnesota (http://www.fagenfighterswwiimuseum.org) The collection is owned by ethanol plant builder Ron Fagan, who was in Atlantic for a business meeting at the Elite Octane Ethanol plant currently under construction.

Ric Hanson/photos

Keith Woods who works for Fagan, Incorporated, is also connected to the Museum. He talked about the history of the type of aircraft that rumbled over Atlantic on its way to the airport. Woods says most were used for low-level strafing, but the one that came to Atlantic would also have been used on bombing missions.

The “Paper Doll,” as she is known, did not see action in World War II. He said it was built in Jan. 1945 and was used as a trainer-bomber, hence the designation TB-25. She got the name “Paper Doll,” because the nose-art in the day was typically “risque,” and the family wanted something with “reasonable” nose art. The aircraft that arrived in Atlantic has more modest nose art, that shows a woman in a red, one-piece bathing suit with a see-thru cape. The actual “Paper Doll” flew 125 missions in Europe.

The plane that came here, was built to commemorate the original “Paper Doll” and her crew, who flew those missions. The crew compliment was five or six, depending on whether the mission was for strafing or bombing. If it was equipped with a bomb sight, there were six crew members on board. Woods said the plane would have carried six, 500-pound bombs or 12m 250-pound bombs. She’s also heavily armed with .50-caliber machine guns, one in the nose, one on each side aft (waist guns), one in the tail, 2 .50-cal’s in the rotatable turret topside, and 2 each, .70-mm “Blister guns” on the forward section, under where the cockpit crew sit, on the left and right sides

The plane has two large, prop-driven Wright Cyclone R-2600 cubic inch displacement engines, with 14 cylinders each making 1,750 horsepower, each. Woods says those engines are very loud, especially on take-off, when they consume the most fuel. It burns 420 gallons of fuel per hour at take off, and while cruising consumes 165-gallons per hour. It can fly about 1,000 miles before refueling.

Bomb bay with fake bombs.

It cruises at about 230-miles per hour. This “Paper Doll” was rebuilt by nearly a dozen people in Chino, CA, over a period of about three-years. The Fagan Fighters Museum currently has 14 vintage aircraft housed in its hangars.