It’s a tight squeeze inside the B-25J Mitchell. At the airplane’s waist, the interior is barely more than two seats wide. To reach the tailgunner’s spot, duck and crawl as the two-engine warbird cruises at 374 km/h. There isn’t much room for the smell of exhaust to dissipate.

The plane nicknamed the “Maid in the Shade” was a U.S. medium bomber from the Second World War. It has landed at the Red Deer airport as part of a tour staged by the non-profit Arizona Commemorative Air Force (AZCAF). Until Aug. 13, the public will have a chance to see the plane and even book a flight.

Listening to AZCAF’S Col. Ed Campbell describe it, the B-25 was a machine built lean for combat.

Fast for its class of aircraft -- travelling at a top speed of 293 mph (471 km/h).  Maneuverable -- handling more like a fighter than a bomber. Campbell says the B-25 was made to fight its way toward the target, drop its 3,000-pound (1,361 kg) payload and fight its way out.

Back inside, there would have typically been a crew of six: a bombardier, pilot, engineer, waist gunners and a tailgunner.

Each member was responsible for defending the plane, gunning from nose, waist and tail, in addition to their other duties.

“You had a guy responsible for putting the bombs on the target. Pilots flew it. You had a guy who called out the gauges and numbers so they could make sure the engines were running correctly,” Campbell says.

“Everybody had a mission and it was designed to get the plane to the target, do what it had to do, and hopefully if everything worked well, get her back home again.”

Built in 1944, the B-25 visiting Alberta flew 13 missions in Italy and two more in Yugoslavia, primarily bombing railroads. The plane is one of 34 in the world still flying. Everything has been restored to the original design, except the nose art and AZCAF logo.

In 1942, U.S. pilot Jimmy Doolittle commanded 16 B-25s during what would become known as the Doolittle Raid – a bombing campaign on Tokyo in retaliation for Pearl Harbor. Campbell says the planes were headed for China but ran out of fuel and crashed. Some reached Allied protection. Others were captured and executed.

The raid was considered successful, striking at the heart of Japan.

“It was war. People would look at it now and say this is an abomination and I would agree,” Campbell says. “But it was a different thing back then – we were at war. Hopefully we’ll learn from this and not do this sort of thing on this scale again.”

These are the stories Campbell and the 500 volunteers at AZCAF want to pass on as part of the organization’s mandate to educate the public about the role the 30 restored warbirds in its possession played in the Second World War.

“We talk about the contributions of the air crew, the airplanes themselves. If we don’t continue this legacy, it’s going to go away,” he says.

“It’s our opinion that these contributions are too valuable to our way of life to go untold.”

Information about the Springbrook, Alta. B-25 tour stop is as follows:

Dates and times:

Monday, August 7, 2017 – Sunday, August 13, 2017

Tour Hours: Monday, Friday – Sunday: 2 pm – 6 pm; Tuesday – Thursday: 9 am – 6 pm.

Ride Hours: Friday – Sunday: 10 am – 1 pm.

Pricing:

Tours cost $10 USD per person and $20 USD for a family of four (US and in Canada).

Seats are $325 USD per waist gunner compartment seat or $650 USD for flight deck jump seat and are limited to seven passengers per flight.

Ride reservations are required. To reserve your seat, visit here.

For more information about the Flying Legends of Victory Tour, visit  www.flyinglegendstour.com.