Not many people today realize that during World War II, beautiful Lake Murray played an important role in training B-25 Mitchell medium bomber flight crews. With its many deserted islands and vast area, the lake was an ideal training ground for bombing target runs, not all of which ended successfully. On April 4, 1943, one such B-25 developed engine trouble and was ditched by its crew into the waters of Lake Murray, where it stayed until it was raised more than 60 years later.
On Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. in the South Carolina State Museum’s auditorium, Camden media specialist Bill Vartorella will moderate a panel discussion “From Rigging to Restoration: An Insider’s Saga of the Retrieval and Initial Conservation of the Lake Murray B-25C.” Featured panelists will be divers and riggers who participated in the project and Dr. Jim Griffin of the Southern Museum of Flight.
The program is the last in a series of talks featuring members of the Lake Murray B-25 Rescue Project who were the driving forces in recovering the aircraft. The programs are presented in conjunction with the Museum’s “mini-exhibit” Catch of the Day: Recovery of the Lake Murray B-25.
For more information on this program, call (803) 898-4952, e-mail publicprograms@scmuseum.org or visit www.southcarolinastatemuseum.org .
Aviation enthusiast Bill Vartorella will appear Saturday, Sept. 20 at the South Carolina State Museum to moderate a panel discussion of the tremendous work involved in raising a World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber lost during training in Lake Murray, where it remained for more than 60 years before it was recovered in 2005.
Photo courtesy B-25 Recovery Group./S.C. State Museum