A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE B-25

The North American B-25 Mitchell is probably one of the most famous and recognizable twin-engined bombers ever produced. The Mitchell flew into the history books on April 18, 1942 when 16 B-25B's led by Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle launched off the carrier Hornet and made a symbolic attack against mainland Japan.

First flown in 1939 as the NA-40 and later in its production form on August 19, 1940 as the North American Model NA-62, the B-25 joined the P-51 Mustang as one of the best American warbirds to roll off the North American Aircraft Company's production line. The B-25 was flown by numerous air forces, including England, China and Russia, and was built in numerous variations. Some variants mounted up to 14 0.5 Browning machine guns or even a 75mm M-4 cannon. These attack variants proved devastating to Japanese shipping and in the ground attack role.

Quite a few B-25's survived the post WWII scrapping and served as executive transports, test platforms, and movie camera ships. Today the B-25 has proven to be the most popular and numerous twin-engine warbird.

THE B-25H: The Mitchell with a Punch

The B-25H was an improved version of the B-25G. The fixed nose armament was increased to four nose-mounted .50-cal. machine guns and four more .50-cal. machine guns in fuselage mounted pods. The 75mm cannon was changed from the G model's M4 to the lighter T13E1 75mm cannon. The top turret was moved to the forward fuselage and the lower turret was removed and replaced by a single .50-cal. machine gun in each of the two waist positions. A tail turret housing a pair of .50-cal. machine guns was added bringing the firepower total to 14 .50-cal. machine guns and a 75mm cannon. The aircraft could also carry up to 3,200 pounds of bombs.

The prototype H model was modified from a block 10 B-25C and first flew in May 1943. This aircraft had improved Wright R-2600-20 radial engines, but all production aircraft were completed with the standard Wright R-2600-13 radials used on all B-25s since the -C model.

The first of 1,000 production B-25Hs first flight was on July 31, 1943. The five-man crew consisted of the pilot, navigator-cannoneer-radioman, flight engineer-top turret gunner, waist gunner-camera operator and tail gunner. Three of five crew members had multiple jobs; there was no co-pilot or bombardier and only one waist gunner. The last H model built was covered with the signatures of the North American Aviation factory workers and nicknamed "Bones." The aircraft remained this way throughout its combat life while assigned to the 12th Bomb Group in the Pacific.