The Desert Warrior was a North American B-25 Mitchell that served during World War 2. The Desert Warrior took part in operations from El Alamein across Africa through Sicily. The ship flew 73 combat missions, dropped over l0 tons of bombs, shot down 3 enemy fighters, and logged 191 combat hours. During that time the Desert Warior never turned back because of mechanical failure. The targets she bombed read like a roll call of Rommel's retreat across the North African desert— El Alamein. Marble Arch, Tobruk, Mersa Malruh, El Daba, Fuka, El Agheila, Tripoli, Monastir, Kasserine Pass, Tunis, Kairouan, and finally Pantelleria and Sicily. After its service in the Mediterranean theater, the Desert Warrior went on tour to promote Hi-Octane fuel acros the United States. The production of this fuel was critical to the success of the United States Aircraft during the War.

The crew of the "Desert Warrior."

This collection of images were donated by the family of Ralph Lower, the pilot of the Desert Warrior.

Recording of the Crew of the Desert Warrior discussing their role in the War at Frontier Refining can be heard here.

Images from this collection on Flickr can be found here.

The collection's Descriptive Finding Guide can be found here.