An abandoned B-25 from a remote town in northern Argentina was restored to flying condition in Buenos Aires
TB25N Mitchell 44-31173 “BD-173” c/n 108-37248 was originally built as a B-25J but converted to a TB-25N trainer, and delivered to the USAAF in 1944.
It remained in the US, operating from Laurel, Massachusetts and Mitchell Field, New York, then was stored at Davis Montham.
In June 1961 it was sold to Enrique Denwert and came to Argentina.
For its first ten years, it was used to smuggle alcohol and cigarettes from Paraguay to Argentina mostly to Mar Del Plata, until one day in 1971 it made an emergency landing in Santiago Del Estero (some accounts say due to running out of fuel, others due to engine failure).
It was impounded and confiscated and used by the airline “Empresa Provincial de Aviación Civil” who operated it from Santiago Del Estero mostly on aerial photography until 1976, when it landed with an engine failure and was abandoned, eventually ending up parked near the aeroclub.
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