Pilot and owner: Hugo Mathys, Classic Formation
In the fall of 2023, N88972 came to The Warbird Shop in Madras, Oregon for an annual and preparation for a flight to its new home in Switzerland. By November of that year, after complete inspection, it was determined that 972 needed more than just an annual. The fuselage, vertical stabilizers and horizontal stabilizer were full of corrosion and fatigue cracking. The new owner, Hugo Mathys, decided that full restoration was what the plane would receive. On January 2, 2024, The Warbird Shop started the restoration. The aircraft was taken down to its smallest parts and inspected for condition. Each part was either restored, replaced or repaired to complete the project to Hugo’s vision of the B-25 he wanted.
With 972 being the second oldest flying B-25 and a close resemblance of the “B” model B-25’s used in the April 18, 1942 “Doolittle Raid on Tokyo”, Hugo wanted to create a flying tribute to the men and machines that took part in that historic and daring raid. The exterior of the plane would be finished as close as possible to what a B-25 would have looked like in April 1942. The interior, although painted in stock colors and retaining stock placards and markings, would be made modern with all the tools needed to comfortably fly a trans-Atlantic crossing and regularly fly in the complicated airspace of the European continent.
On June 16, 2025, 18 months after restoration started, Johnny Maloney and Dan Vance completed the first post-restoration flight. As 972 sits today it has nearly 200 hours of flight time and has flown coast to coast across the USA twice.
In a few days, the B-25, now known as “Destination Tokyo”, will arrive in Oshkosh for AirVenture. The hope is that people will stop by and enjoy the tribute that has been created to honor the “Doolittle Raid”.
Source:The Warbird Shop, Taigh Ramey
