* North American Aviation contributed three great aircraft to the Allied cause during World War II: the "AT-6 Texan" trainer, the "P-51 Mustang" fighter, and the "B-25 Mitchell" medium bomber. While the Mustang is clearly the most famous of the three, the Mitchell was likely the most important aircraft in its own class, built in large quantity and proving its worth in both the Pacific and European theaters of war. In particular, the Mitchell gave America one of its first victories during the dark days of early 1942, when Jimmy Doolittle's raiders swept over Japan to humiliate the enemy. This document provides a description and history of the Mitchell.
* In the years leading up to World War II, the North American Aviation (NAA) company of Inglewood, California, led by President James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger, developed new aircraft to help meet the demands of the US military in preparation for war. In 1936, in response to a US Army Air Corps (USAAC) competition for a new medium bomber, NAA developed a twin-engine tail-dragger aircraft designated the "NA-21", with the aircraft's first flight on 22 December 1936.
The NA-21 was an unimpressive machine, with the appearance of a civilian transport, but it was NAA's first multi-engined aircraft. The NA-21 had a bigger bomb load than a B-17, and although its defensive armament was light, consisting of five 7.62-millimeter (0.30-caliber) Browning machine guns, it had the first hydraulically-operated gun turret to be used on a USAAC aircraft. The turret was designed by Edgar Schmued of NAA, a German immigrant who would play a vital part in the development of the P-51 Mustang.
Unfortunately, the NA-21 weighed over 18 tonnes (40,000 pounds), while its twin 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney (P&W) R-1830 Twin Wasp air-cooled radial engines provided only 595 kW (800 HP) each, making the aircraft seriously underpowered. The NA-21 was flown to the USAAC test facility at Wright Field, Ohio, in March 1937, for competitive evaluation. The NA-21 lost the competition to the Douglas "B-18 Bolo", largely because Douglas was only asking half as much for the B-18 as NAA wanted for the NA-21. However, the USAAC decided to purchase the NA-21 prototype anyway.
The aircraft went back to California, where it was rebuilt and refitted with turbocharged 14-cylinder P&W R-2180 Twin Hornet two-row radials, providing a maximum of 930 kW (1,250 HP) at medium altitude. The aircraft, now with the company designation of NA-39 and military designation of "XB-21 Dragon", flew back to Wright Field in early 1939. NAA proposed to sell a batch of Dragons to the USAAC, but the price was still too high. The XB-21 was flight-tested at Wright Field for several more years.
* The NA-21 was not a promising start for NAA in the bomber business, but the company's engineers knew they were taking baby steps, and could do better. In fact, they were already working on what they believed would be an improved bomber aircraft, the "NA-40", for a USAAC requirement issued in 1938.
* The NA-21 was not a promising start for NAA in the bomber business, but the company's engineers knew they were taking baby steps, and could do better. In fact, they were already working on an improved twin-engine bomber aircraft, the "NA-40", for a USAAC requirement issued in 1938. Three other manufacturers entered their designs as well, with Boeing-Stimson offering the "X-100", Douglas offering the "DB-7", and Martin offering the "Model 167".
The NA-40 first took to the air on 29 January 1939 and didn't prove to be quite the step forward NAA had envisioned. The NA-40 at least looked more modern than the NA-21. It had a long narrow fuselage, with the pilot and copilot sitting in tandem, instead of side-by-side, under a greenhouse-style canopy; a solid nose; and high-mounted wings, each carrying an 820 kW (1,100 HP) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-563CG Twin Wasp radial engine. The NA-40 had tricycle landing gear, and a wide tailplane capped by tailfins at the ends. Defensive armament consisted only of three 7.62-millimeter Brownings on flexible mounts: one in the nose, one that could be moved around the belly or waist position, and one in a rear dorsal turret.
Flight tests demonstrated that the NA-40 left much to be desired. The aircraft suffered from severe vibration, and the top speed was only 425 KPH (265 MPH). After only a little more than five hours in the air, the NA-40 went back to the factory for rework. The updated "NA-40B" first flew on 1 March 1939, and featured twin 1,195 kW (1,600 HP) 14-cylinder Wright R-2600-A71-3 two-row Twin Cyclone radials; a glazed nose; and many aerodynamic changes. Flight tests showed that the new design did much to eliminate the vibration problems, and that top speed had increased by 32 KPH (20 MPH).
The NA-40B was flown to Wright Field for USAAC evaluation; unfortunately, on 11 April 1939 the aircraft lost one engine and spun into the ground. The crew managed to get out unharmed, but the NA-40B caught fire and was completely destroyed. Although the DB-7 was lost in a crash as well, the USAAC ordered it into production as the "A-20" instead.
BACK_TO_TOP* NAA engineers didn't give up, instead working on on yet another USAAC requirement for a medium bomber -- this one having been issued in March 1939, even before the crash of the NA-40B. The USAAC wanted a bomber with a range of 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles), a maximum speed of 480 KPH (300 MPH), and a bomb load of 1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds).
The result was the "NA-62". The USAAC was sufficiently impressed with the design to sign a preliminary contract for 184 aircraft with NAA in September 1939, even though the machine hadn't been flown. The aircraft was given the designation "B-25", and first flew on 19 August 1940, with NAA test pilot Vance Breese at the controls. There never was an "XB-25".
The B-25 was obviously derived from the NA-40. It had tricycle landing gear; the same twin tailfins; Wright Twin Cyclone engines (the R-2600-9 variant, with 1,005 kW / 1,350 HP); and defensive armament of three 7.62-millimeter Brownings, with one each in the nose, waist, and floor, plus a 12.7-millimeter (0.50 caliber) Browning in the tail position. The tail gunner had to lie flat to fire the tail gun, directing fire through a telescopic sight.
Despite the resemblances to the NA-40, the B-25 was clearly a new aircraft. The narrow and deep fuselage of the NA-40 was replaced by one wider and not so deep, with pilot and copilot sitting side by side in a cabin, instead of in tandem under a greenhouse canopy. The wing roots were fixed to the middle of the fuselage, not the top.
The initial B-25 had wings with a constant dihedral from root to wingtip. That led to serious directional stability problems, however, so with the tenth production B-25, the wings outboard of the engines were set horizontal. All following B-25s had this "gull wing" configuration, and initial production was refitted with the new wing. The prototype's tailfins were in the shape of rounded-off rectangles, but NAA engineers experimented with five more shapes until settling on a more satisfactory configuration with an angled leading edge. The end result of such tweaking was an aircraft with excellent handling characteristics, along with relatively high performance.
The USAAC took delivery of its first B-25 in February 1941. 24 B-25s were built in all, and were used for coastal patrol. The very first B-25 was retained by NAA as a company transport, fitted with five passenger seats and various conveniences. This aircraft was named the WHISKEY EXPRESS, and served through the war until it was lost in a belly landing in early 1945.
* The next variant, the "B-25A", was largely similar to the B-25, but featured crew armor protection and self-sealing fuel tanks. These modifications resulted in slightly reduced speed and range. The first B-25A flew on 25 February 1941. Following a suggestion by NAA's Lee Atwood, the USAAC formally assigned the type the name of "Mitchell" -- in honor of General Billy Mitchell, a prominent advocate of air power in the 1920s. 40 B-25As were built, and were also assigned to coastal defense.
* The defensive armament of the B-25 was clearly ineffective, and so the "B-25B" featured twin Bendix power turrets, each with two 12.7-millimeter Brownings. One of the turrets was placed on top of the rear fuselage and was manned; the other was a retractable belly turret, positioned just forward of the top turret and remotely sighted through a periscope. The tail gun was deleted, but the 7.62-millimeter Browning in the nose was retained. The additional armament resulted in an increase in weight, which further reduced performance since the engines remained unchanged. The wingspan and length of the aircraft were increased slightly. A total of 120 B-25Bs was delivered, all in 1941, finishing off the original USAAF (the "Army Air Corps" having been superseded by the "Army Air Forces" on 29 June 1941) B-25 production contract.
The B-25Bs were delivered in time to be thrown into fighting all over the world. 23 were provided as "Mitchell Mark Is" to the British Royal Air Force (RAF), with these aircraft used for operational training out of the Bahamas. A handful of B-25Bs were provided to the Soviets. 40 were slated to be provided to the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies, but were diverted for American use.
BACK_TO_TOP* The B-25B had many deficiencies, but would still perform one of the most daring air raids in history. In the months following the Japanese attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the Americans were staggered by a string of disastrous defeats. The US was poorly prepared for war, had been distracted by the fighting in Europe, and had generally dismissed Japanese military capabilities.
The resources weren't yet available to seriously turn the battle against the Japanese, but the humiliated Americans were desperate to prove they could fight back. A strike on Japan using conventional carrier-based aircraft was out of the question. The US had only a few precious carriers to counter Japanese naval thrusts, and the Japanese would be delighted if the Americans were so foolish as to bring their carriers close to Japan, where they would be sunk by Japanese air and naval power.
The USAAF did not have bombers with the range to reach distant Japan from any available land bases. However, on 10 January 1942, a month after Pearl Harbor, a US Navy captain named Francis S. Low was flying to inspect the new carrier HORNET when he saw Army bombers perform simulated bomb runs over the outline of a carrier deck painted on a runway. He realized that a collaboration between the US Navy and the USAAF might do the trick. Low, who was on the staff of Admiral Ernest J. King, chief of naval operations, immediately went to King to suggest that relatively long-range Army bombers be launched off a carrier to attack Japan.
King was aggressive, to put it mildly, and found the idea interesting enough to assign one of his staff officers, Captain Donald B. Duncan, to do some "back of the envelope" calculations to see if the idea was practical. It was, and so King contacted General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, commander of the USAAF, to promote the idea. Arnold was agreeable, and assigned implementation of the plan to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, one of his own staff officers. The plan was given the cover name of the "First Aviation Project". Jimmy Doolittle had built a reputation before the war as a stunt flyer, air racer, and pioneer in aviation technology; there was nobody better qualified for the job.
* Doolittle considered the bombers available to the USAAF, and found the Mitchell the best suited for the job. 24 B-25Bs were modified at the Northwest Orient Air Lines center in Saint Paul, Minnesota for the mission. Armor was removed; the remote control lower turret, which nobody found particularly useful, was replaced by a 190-liter (50 US gallon) fuel tank. Other fuel tanks were added, increasing the capacity of the B-25B to a total of 4,320 liters (1,140 US gallons) from a normal capacity of 2,625 liters (694 US gallons).
Painted broomstick handles were fitted in the tail as dummy guns. Since the raid was to be at low level, the top-secret Norden bombsight was removed and replaced with a simple post-and-notch sight made from a few pieces of metal. The reduced armament allowed the crew to be cut from 7 to 5 men, further reducing weight, as well as manpower requirements and the number of crewmen at risk.
Doolittle had calculated that the weight reductions would be enough to get the B-25s off the carrier deck safely, but he was enough of an engineer to know that theory and practice are two different things. While the new carrier HORNET was on her shakedown run off of Norfolk, Virginia, in February 1942, a pair of B-25s took off from her flight deck without incident. It could be done.
Volunteers were selected from the coastal patrol B-25 crews for an unspecified dangerous mission. In early March 1942, they arrived at Eglin Field in Florida for three weeks of specialized training. There they met Doolittle, who told them nothing more about their mission, only emphasizing that it would be risky. He told them if anyone wanted to pull out, they were free to do so without recriminations. None did.
The crews were trained by Navy Lieutenant Henry L. Miller to make take-offs in less than 230 meters (750 feet) by hauling back on the control column and pulling up in a steep near-stall climb. The pilots learned the procedure quickly and became skilled at it, although two of the aircraft were lost without casualties in crackups. They also practiced low-level bombing runs using the new sight, with the bombers coming in very low and then pulling up over the target to release ordnance at about 450 meters (1,500 feet). The flight crews were given an extensive set of vaccinations for tropical diseases, but Doolittle discouraged them from speculating on the nature of their mission, even with their wives.
* In mid-March, Doolittle went back to Washington DC to brief Hap Arnold on the progress of the First Aviation Project. During the briefing, Doolittle asked Arnold: "I'd like your permission to lead this mission myself."
Arnold regarded Doolittle as too valuable to risk and, at age 45, too old for combat missions. Arnold turned him down, but Doolittle was stubborn and persistent, and Arnold finally told him that if the Air Corps' chief of staff, Major General Millard F. Harmon, gave his consent then Doolittle could lead the raid. Doolittle knew that Arnold would call Harmon and order him to turn Doolittle down, so the instant Doolittle left Arnold's office he took off at a sprint over to Harmon's office. Spinning what he had been told a bit, Doolittle told Harmon that he had spoken with Arnold about leading the Tokyo raid, and claimed Arnold had said that if it were OK with Harmon, it was OK with him. "Sure, Jimmy, it's all yours," Harmon replied.
Doolittle left the office, heard the phone ring, and overheard Harmon saying something about not wanting to go back on his word. Doolittle returned to Eglin with the expectation of being ordered to stay behind, but it never happened.
* At the end of the month, the aircraft and crews flew to Sacramento, California, where they were given further modifications at McClellan Army Air Base, and then on to Alameda Naval Air Station in the San Francisco Bay Area. On 1 April 1942, 16 B-25s were loaded onto the carrier HORNET and lashed down to the deck. The next day, the HORNET steamed out to sea under the Golden Gate Bridge. The ship's captain, Marc A. Mitscher, finally revealed their destination: "This force is bound for Tokyo!" The crew cheered. The bombers were kept clean of any evidence that they had been on the HORNET to ensure secrecy if any were to fall into Japanese hands.
The weather was poor and seas was rough. On Monday, 13 April, the HORNET was joined by the carrier ENTERPRISE, as well as four cruisers, eight destroyers, and two oilers. The group was designated Task Force 16 and was under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey, on board the ENTERPRISE.
The B-25s were set up in take-off positions on 16 April, preparatory to the planned launch on 19 April from a position 725 kilometers (450 miles) east of Tokyo. The first aircraft to take off had the least runway. Doolittle's was first, with only 142 meters (467 feet) for take-off, but the HORNET would steam into the wind for take-off, and hopefully the aircraft would be able to get into the air.
Unfortunately, on the morning of 18 April, Task Force 16 ran into a Japanese fishing boat that was operating as a radio picket. The boat was promptly sunk; unfortunately, it managed to broadcast a report back to its base, and communications intercepts clearly showed that the Japanese were alerted that something going on. Task Force 16 was still 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) from Tokyo, but Halsey could not risk his carriers. He ordered: LAUNCH PLANES. TO COLONEL DOOLITTLE AND GALLANT COMMAND, GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS YOU.
Doolittle loaded up his B-25s with 190 liters (50 US gallons) of extra fuel, with the planes rocked back and forth to ensure that the tanks were as full as possible. Additional fuel was carried in gas cans, to be used to top off the tanks. However, even with the bigger fuel load, the range of his bombers would be stretched to the limit.
At 0820 on 18 April 1942, the HORNET's flight deck officer, Navy Lieutenant Edgar G. Osborne, flagged Doolittle to take off. The weather was still rough, but a gale wind of 75 KPH (40 knots) actually made take-off easier. The B-25 made it off the carrier with 30 meters (100 feet) to spare. If any Mitchell couldn't take off, the crews had been instructed to leave the aircraft immediately so it could be thrown over the side of the carrier to let the others go. Fortunately, all 15 other bombers followed over the next hour, making it safely into the air -- though a few skimmed the waves before they managed to make altitude. The only trouble occurred when a seaman was blown by the wind into a propeller that mangled his left arm.
* After a flight of four hours, Doolittle roared in over Tokyo and dumped his bombs on a factory complex. Eight other B-25s following him hit Tokyo, with the remainder hitting industrial targets in Yokohama, Nagoya, and Kobe. Japanese air defenses were completely unprepared and bewildered; none of the aircraft were shot down. One even flew through the landing pattern of an airfield and was not attacked. Only one was hit by flak, and it was not seriously damaged. However, head winds slowed their progress towards China, and the fact that they had been forced to take off in the morning meant flying into China at night.
One of the raiders flew into Soviet territory north of Vladivostok and landed. The Soviets were not at war with Japan, and were too busy fighting Hitler to want to provoke the Japanese for the time being; when they had been asked earlier to allow the B-25s to land in their territory, they had refused. The crew was interned even though the US and the USSR were allies. The fliers were allowed to "escape" into Iran 14 months later. Their B-25B was never returned, and there are hints that it may be still in existence somewhere in the former Soviet Union.
The landing areas in China were socked in by bad weather and so eleven of the crews bailed out, mostly near the Chinese city of Chuchow (Zhuzhou in modern rendering). Of these 55 men, one was killed by a bad parachute landing, while one crew was captured by the Japanese. Of these five, the Japanese executed two, while the other three remained prisoners for the rest of the war.
Four planes crash-landed. Two did so without injury to their crews. One came down near the China coast, with four of its crew seriously injured, though they were helped by the Chinese to safety. The other lost two men killed in the crash landing, with the three others captured by the Japanese. The pilot was executed, the copilot died in captivity of malnutrition; only one of this crew survived the war.
Considering the risky nature of the raid and the hasty launch of the aircraft from extended range, the losses in personnel were surprisingly light. When the sun came up on 19 April, Doolittle tried to round up his men. He told one of his men that he feared he would be court-martialed for losing his aircraft. The flier said they would give him a medal instead; in fact, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, and promoted to brigadier general. He would go on to be a senior USAAF bomber commander in Europe.
* The Doolittle raid was the first success enjoyed by the Americans in the war against the Japanese. President Roosevelt announced the raid to the public, reporting the planes had flown from a secret base in the land of "Shangri-La" -- which was actually the name of the presidential resort now called Camp David. The operation was worth every aircraft lost in the boost to civilian and military morale.
The Japanese high command was humiliated. While the "Do-Little" raid had caused no real damage, the Japanese military had been taken completely by surprise, and worse yet, American bombers had overflown the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Failure to prevent a threat to the Emperor was a serious disgrace. The Chinese paid dearly for the American raid on Japan, with Japanese forces conducting a savage offensive to capture air bases that might be used on a follow-up raid. Precious military resources needed to maintain the momentum of the offensive against the Americans were diverted to home defense, and Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, the brilliant Japanese strategist who had devised the attack on Pearl Harbor, put into motion a plan to lure the American carriers into battle, destroy them, and eliminate the American threat once and for all.
The result was the Battle of Midway in June 1942, where the Imperial Japanese Navy suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of an inferior US Navy force that put a stop to Japanese expansion in the Pacific, and badly damaged Japanese naval air power.
BACK_TO_TOP* By the time Jimmy Doolittle's B-25Bs were raising hell over Japan, the next variant of the Mitchell, the "B-25C", was already being produced and delivered in quantity. The first B-25C had flown in November 1941, and the variant was in production by the end of that year.
While the B-25C was difficult to distinguish externally from a B-25B -- one of the few visible characteristics being a bumper knob under the rear fuselage -- it represented a considerable tidying up of the Mitchell design, with many detail changes. Top of the list was improved Wright Twin Cyclone R-2600-13 engines, each providing 1,270 kW (1,700 HP) and compensating for the "weight creep" that had afflicted the Mitchell. Other changes included an autopilot, increased fuel capacity, provision for underwing racks for external fuel tanks or bombs, stronger wings, a de-icer system, and a cabin heater.
The B-25C was about 25 centimeters (10 inches) shorter than the B-25B. A navigator's astrodome was added behind the cockpit from the 383rd B-25C on. Armament was initially the same as the B-25B's, but the nose position was upgraded to one fixed and one flexible 12.7-millimeter Browning in later production.
The B-25C was built at NAA's Inglewood factory. NAA also began to produce the type at a new Kansas City, Kansas, factory, under the designation "B-25D" though it was effectively identical to the B-25C. Inglewood-built aircraft were given an "NA" suffix -- "B-25C-NC" -- while Kansas City-built aircraft were given an "NC" suffix -- "B-25D-NC". Since only the B-25D and the later B-25J variants were built in Kansas City, these suffixes are not used in this document.
* A total of 1,620 B-25Cs and 2,290 B-25Ds was built, and saw service all over the world. The first to go into combat were 48 B-25Cs sent to Australia in March 1942. They were followed by more of the same to fight the Japanese in the South Pacific. They would be put to very ingenious use by a pair of clever and aggressive USAAF officers.
Major General George C. Kenney was a tough little guy who had been a fighter pilot in World War I, and was put in charge of the 5th Air Force under General Douglas MacArthur in August 1942. MacArthur was an imperious and domineering SOB who expected subordination from his officers, but although Kenney had little fear of speaking his mind, his skills were so obvious that MacArthur tolerated the back-talk -- grudgingly.
Kenney acquired a useful subordinate of his own, in the form of Colonel Paul I. "Pappy" Gunn. Gunn had enlisted in the Navy in World War I and later became interested in flying, eventually acquiring Navy wings. He had retired from the Navy as a chief petty officer in 1937. Gunn was working for the Philippine Air Lines in Manila as their maintenance chief when war broke out. When the Japanese attacked the Philippines, he was sworn into the US Army as a captain, and did what he could to support the futile American defense of the islands. When the Philippines were overrun, he escaped to Australia in a Beechcraft and presently found himself working for Kenney.
To Kenney, as he himself said in a report to Hap Arnold, air superiority meant "air control so supreme that the birds have to wear Air Force insignia." Kenney was particularly fond of low-level strike tactics for attacks on both land and sea targets. He devised methods for attacking Japanese airfields in New Guinea and other South Pacific islands with Douglas A-20 Boston medium bombers. A first wave of A-20s, modified by Gunn to carry four additional fixed 12.7-millimeter Brownings in the nose, would sweep in over the target to disrupt defenses. It would then be followed by a second wave, dropping 10-kilogram (23-pound) parachute-retarded "parafrag" bombs to shred the airfield, as well as white-phosphorus incendiary bombs to burn whatever was left.
Japanese propaganda blasted Kenney's "new and fiendish methods of warfare" and called the Americans "gangsters". No doubt that was received as a compliment. Kenney applied a similar approach to antishipping strikes using the B-25. Gunn, working with NAA field representative Jack Fox at the Townsville Air Depot in Queensland, Australia, modified B-25Cs and B-25Ds to accommodate a typical fit of four 12.7-millimeter Brownings in the nose and two or four such weapons in blister packages below the cockpit.
While prewar US air combat doctrine emphasized medium or high altitude bombing attacks on shipping, experience had shown that approach to be ineffective. Kenney's aircrews instead developed a new scheme known as "skip bombing", in which a B-25 came in low over the water, spraying the target with its nose guns to wipe out enemy gunners, and then released a bomb with a time-delay fuze to skip over the water and slam into the target, exploding after the bomber had made its getaway. Skip-bombing was dangerous, since the attacker had to fly into the teeth of a ship's flak at such low level that there were cases of bombers striking the ship's mast. The bomb could even skip back up and hit the bomber.
However, skip bombing was also murderously effective. This was proven in early March 1943, when the Japanese attempted to ship 7,000 troops in a convoy from their major base at Rabaul in New Britain to Lae in New Guinea. The Japanese did not have air superiority, but they hoped bad weather would protect the convoy, which consisted of about eight transports and eight destroyers.
The convoy was spotted on 1 March, and was attacked by B-17s the next day. The Fortresses claimed several hits. On 3 March, the convoy was attacked by everything the Allies had: Fortresses, Bristol Beaufighters, and skip-bombing A-20s and B-25s. The result was a massacre, with ships blasted and sunk while the attackers mercilessly strafed the survivors in the water. All eight transports and four destroyers were sunk, and only about 800 Japanese soldiers made it to Lae. More than 3,600 were killed, at a loss to the Allies of 13 dead and 12 wounded. The Japanese still alive after the slaughter were ferried back to Rabaul on surviving destroyers. The "Battle of the Bismarck Sea", as it would be known, was a dramatic demonstration of air power.
Such actions were repeated. On 2 November 1943, the USAAF hit the heavily defended Rabaul harbor with four squadrons of B-25s, escorted by Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters. Of the 38 warships and 20 merchantmen in the harbor, 30 were hit. Japanese fighters came up in force and Kenney lost 20 aircraft, but 60 of the defenders were shot down in a wild mass dogfight with the P-38s.
* While the B-25C/D was making its mark in the South Pacific, it was also seeing action elsewhere. USAAF Mitchells were shuttled to the CBI (China-Burma-India) theater, and then to China itself. The USAAF 12th Air Force, established to support the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942, made good use of the Mitchell, and would continue to use variants of the type over the Mediterranean and Italy to the end of the war.
The RAF received 367 B-25Cs and 212 B-25Ds, which were designated "Mitchell Mark II". The Mitchell Mark IIs were the first B-25s to see combat with the RAF. They conducted their first raid against the Nazis on 22 January 1943, and continued with attacks on airfields and communications centers in preparation for D-Day. Ironically, although the USAAF found good use for the B-25 in almost all other theaters of war, the USAAF only operated the B-25 from England in limited numbers, apparently mostly on coastal patrols.
The Soviets were shipped 182 B-25Cs, with eight of these lost in shipment, and 688 B-25Ds. The Soviets liked the B-25 very much, finding it superior in most respects to the Ilyushin Il-4, the closest Soviet equivalent, and pleasant to fly -- Red pilots particularly appreciated its good engine-out handling. It was used primarily in long-range night bombing attacks and long-range reconnaissance, with the Soviets developing an auxiliary bomb bay tank. Red Air Force rapport with North American was good, with the company quick to add changes requested by Soviet aviators.
* The US Marine Corps (USMC) was a major operator of the B-25C and B-25D. They obtained 50 B-25Cs as "PBJ-1Cs" and 152 B-25Ds as "PBJ-1Ds". These aircraft often featured a number of significant (and highly variable) differences from their USAAF counterparts. Most visible of these changes was the occasional fit of an APS-3 search radar through the aircraft's front nose glazing, resulting in a nickname of "hose nose". AN/APS-2 or AN/APS-3 search radar was sometimes fitted as an alternate, with the radome replacing the belly turret. LORAN radio navigation gear was also fitted.
Additional armament was provided as well. Four 12.7-millimeter Brownings were fitted in blister packs on the sides of the fuselage below the cockpit, and up to three Brownings were mounted in the nose, though these nose guns were often removed. A single tail gun was fitted, with the gunner firing in a prone position. Later production had a raised position for the tail gunner. Waist gun positions were also added to later production, though the top turret was often deleted. The bomb bay was modified to handle mines and depth charges, and an underbelly rack permitted external carriage of a torpedo. When the 12.7-centimeter (5-inch) HVAR (high velocity air rocket) became available, ten stub attachments for these rockets were provided under the wings, giving the PBJ-1 tremendous salvo firepower.
* The B-25C/D led to a pair of one-shot experiment variants, the "XB-25E" and the "XB-25F", both of which were modified B-25Cs used to test prototype de-icing systems. Pictures that survive of the sole XB-25E show it to have a distinctive engine cowling scheme. Few details survive concerning the XB-25F.
BACK_TO_TOP* Even while Pappy Gunn was hacking up B-25s in the field to increase their forward firepower, NAA engineers were considering their own firepower enhancements by designing a B-25 variant fitted with an M-4 75 millimeter cannon, firing out the (shortened) nose on the left side of the aircraft. This massive weapon was almost three meters (9 feet 6 inches) long and weighed over 400 kilograms (900 pounds). It was manually loaded through a breech block that opened vertically. The aircraft carried a store of 21 rounds of ammunition, with each round weighing 6.8 kilograms (15 pounds). The big gun was mounted on a moving cradle to absorb recoil.
The initial "XB-25G", modified from a production B-25C, first flew on 22 October 1942. As might be expected, the big gun installation had a few bugs that took a little time to work out. The first production B-25G was delivered to the USAAF in May 1943, and featured twin 12.7-millimeter Brownings in the nose along with the big cannon.
There was a push to provide even more firepower, with an experiment conducted with a B-25C to fit it with a belly tray with twin 37-millimeter cannon and a small bomb bay for parafrags. The shock of firing was too much for the airframe, and the experiment was abandoned.
Armament fit of the B-25G was otherwise generally similar to that of the B-25C/D, with top and bottom turrets and no tail guns. The remote-control bottom turret was deleted midway through production. The same scheme had been used in early combat versions of the B-17 and B-24, and had been found lacking with these aircraft as well. The worst problem was that sighting through a periscope tended to make the gunners airsick, and was a tricky task to begin with. Doolittle had found the whole idea ridiculous: "A man could learn to play the fiddle good enough for Carnegie Hall before he could learn to fire that thing." The turret also tended to get stuck in the down position, leading to unwanted drag, and the periscopic sight often got muddy or cracked during landings.
The B-17 and B-24 quickly converted to the manned Sperry ball turret for belly protection. Since the B-25 generally operated at low altitude, belly protection was judged to be low priority, and the turret was simply deleted. That helped reduce weight, which was important since the big M-4 cannon cut into the B-25G's performance.
400 B-25Gs were built by NAA Englewood, along with five more that may have been modified B-25Cs. The Kansas City plant modified 63 B-25Cs to the B-25G specification. Two B-25Gs were provided to the RAF, which assigned them the same Mitchell Mark II designation as their B-25C/D predecessor, and one was provided to the USMC as the "PBJ-1G".
* North American went farther with the "strafer", resulting in the "B-25H". The B-25H retained the short nose of the B-25G and the 75-millimeter cannon, though it was a different model, the T13E1 gun. However, the B-25H's forward firing machine gun armament was much more impressive, with four 12.7-millimeter Brownings in the nose and two 12.7-millimeter guns on each side of the cockpit in blister packs, for a total of eight forward-firing machine guns. (The first 300 B-25Hs only had the blister machine guns on the right side of the aircraft.)
The B-25H incorporated the Mitchell's first really practical tail turret, fitted with twin 12.7-millimeter Brownings. The rear fuselage was made deeper to accommodate the turret. There was also a single flexible 12.7-millimeter Browning on each side of the fuselage, in staggered positions behind the wing. The staggering of the side gun positions helped keep the two gunners out of each other's way.
The top turret was moved forward to behind the cockpit, where it could contribute to the forward firepower in strafing attacks, and was changed to a new NAA design that gave the gunner a better field of view and was better contoured to reduce drag. A pair of small bumps were added on the top of the fuselage behind the top turret to keep it firing into the tail. Crew enthusiasm for such "ricochet generators" was not great, and the bumps were often removed in practice. The B-25H could carry 1,450 kilograms (3,200 pounds) of bombs, or could be fitted with stub pylons for eight HVARs and a belly rack for a single torpedo. There was no provision for a copilot, and as the B-25 had become thoroughly established as a low-level attacker, there was no bombardier, with the bombs targeted by the pilot through an eyeball sight.
The first B-25H was modified from a B-25C and flew in May 1943. B-25H production began to arrive at combat units in early 1944. A total of 1,000 B-25Hs was built. It does not appear any B-25Hs were supplied to the RAF or the Red Air Force.
248 B-25Hs ended up in USMC hands as "PBJ-1Hs". As with earlier PBJ-1 versions, the Marine aircraft were sometimes fitted with search radar. Production aircraft were delivered with AN/APS-2 or AN/APS-3 radar in a pod on the right wingtip. Some sources claim that there were field modifications that fitted radar to the nose instead -- but it's hard to find any photos of that fit. Pictures do survive of PBJ-1Hs with the wingtip radar.
In field operations, the big 75-millimeter cannon did not prove as impressive as it looked. With manual loading, it had a low rate of fire, and the trajectory of its shell was much different from that of the bullets from the forward-firing machine guns, preventing the machine guns from being used to register the cannon. Salvo-fired HVARs proved a much more effective approach to heavy forward firepower, and while there were some B-25 pilots who liked the big gun, it was often removed in the field. Presumably it was replaced with ballast, since it's hard to believe that pulling out such a big chunk of metal wouldn't unbalance aircraft trim.
* One B-25H was fitted with twin Pratt & Whitney 18-cylinder R-2800-51 Double Wasp engines, each offering 1,490 kW (2,000 HP). The result was designated the "NA-98X Super Strafer". It looked much like a standard B-25H, except that it lacked the blister guns, had big prop spinners unique in the Mitchell line, featured squared-off wingtips, and was given many detail changes. The Super Strafer first flew at the end of March 1944. The more powerful engines gave it an impressive top speed of 560 KPH (350 MPH), but on 24 April the NA-98X suffered a structural failure during a fast low-level pass and smashed into the ground, killing the two crewmen on board. The USAAF did not proceed further with the variant.
* NAA also proposed a "strafer-bomber" with 18 machine guns, R-2800 engines, and a single tail gun. The USAAF didn't buy the idea, but it did lead to the final Mitchell production variant, the "B-25J". Incidentally, there was no "B-25I", since the USAAF didn't use the "I" code, on the basis that it was too easily confused with a "1".
The B-25J was effectively the same as a B-25H, but with no 75-millimeter cannon and a different nose, or more accurately a pair of alternate noses. The first was a glass nose with one flexible and two fixed 12.7-millimeter Brownings, and the second was a "strafer" nose with eight 12.7-millimeter Brownings. The longer noses resulted in the B-25J returning to the length of the B-25C/D. In principle, the strafer nose could be fitted to earlier B-25 variants in the field. Other changes included reinstatement of the copilot position, giving the B-15J a six-man crew, and uprated P&W R-2600-29 engines.
The first B-25J flew in December 1943. A total of 4,390 was built at a new NAA plant in Kansas City, making the B-25J the most heavily produced of the Mitchells. 255 of these aircraft ended up in USMC hands as "PBJ-1Js", with various radar fits, it seems typically on the right wingtip. Ten of these PBJ-1Js were modified with underbelly racks to carry a pair of oversized 29-centimeter (11.5-inch) "Tiny Tim" unguided air-to-ground rockets.
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NORTH AMERICAN B-25J MITCHELL:
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wingspan:
20.6 meters (67 feet 7 inches)
wing area:
56.67 sq_meters (610.0 sq_feet)
length:
16.1 meters (52 feet 11 inches)
height:
4.83 meters (15 feet 10 inches)
empty weight:
8,840 kilograms (19,480 pounds)
max loaded weight:
19,000 kilograms (41,800 pounds)
maximum speed:
445 KPH (275 MPH / 240 KT)
service ceiling:
7,600 meters (25,000 feet)
range:
2,400 kilometers (1,500 MI / 1,305 NMI)
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The RAF acquired 375 B-25Js and gave them the designation of "Mitchell Mark III", though some records indicate 20 of them were passed back to the USAAF in the field. An unknown number of B-25Js were passed on to the Soviets as well, with a total of 870 Mitchells of all types supplied to the USSR.
A number of B-25Js were modified as test platforms for the "AN/APQ-7 Eagle Eye" radar, which was fitted as a "wing" under the waist gun positions. The Eagle Eye was a great improvement over earlier airborne radars, and it would prove very useful when fitted to the Boeing B-29 for raids on Japan.
Late in the war, a few B-25Js were fitted to carry "glide torpedoes", which were standard torpedoes fitted with glider wings to give a longer stand-off delivery range. The wings were blown off with explosive bolts before the torpedo hit the water. A few were experimentally dropped against vessels in Japanese waters very shortly before the end of the conflict.
* Total Mitchell production included:
-- for a total of 9,884 Mitchells built in all. At its peak in July 1944, there were 2,656 B-25s in first-line use by the USAAF. Although the RAF and the Soviets were the primary foreign users, the type was provided to other Allied air arms during the war:
After the war, surplus Mitchells were supplied to many Latin American air arms, and the type remained in service there into the 1970s.
BACK_TO_TOP* Combat B-25s were often refitted or rebuilt for other purposes, such as reconnaissance, transport, or training, and they would continue to operate in such roles long after the war.
Standard B-25s were commonly field modified for reconnaissance, but in 1943 45 B-25Ds were converted to a more specialized reconnaissance configuration and redesignated "F-10", changed to "RB-24D" in the postwar period. These machines were stripped of all armament, then fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks in the bomb bay and three-direction "trimetrogon" cameras under the nose, giving them odd-looking "cheeks". The F-10s were mostly used for non-combat photographic mapping surveys. Four of them were provided to the RAF late in the war.
A large number of B-25s were formally and informally converted to transports during the war and after. As mentioned, the first B-25 ended up as an NAA company transport, the WHISKEY EXPRESS. Several were converted to posh personal transports, including one for General Dwight Eisenhower and two for General Hap Arnold. NAA converted another B-25 as a company transport after the loss of the WHISKEY EXPRESS, but that aircraft was lost with three crew off the California coast not long after the war. In 1949, NAA converted a PBJ-1J to an executive transport with a new and distinctive nose in hopes of drumming up business for such conversions. Unfortunately, this aircraft was lost in a crash in 1950, killing seven NAA employees, and nothing more came of the effort.
Military transport conversions were designated "RB-25", where the "R" meant "Restricted" (from combat operations), not "Reconnaissance". A number of late-model B-25s were converted to military VIP transports after 1948 under the designation of VB-25, and some of these remained in military service into the early 1960s. The Soviets had hundreds of Mitchells left at the end of the war, and these machines had lively postwar careers as well, being used as transports, trainers, and trials platforms.
* The wide availability, good handling characteristics, and flexibility of the Mitchell made it an excellent training platform that gave trainee aircrews the feel of operating a "real" combat aircraft. During after World War II, stripped-down B-25s were assigned to the training role under the somewhat baffling designation of "AT-24". To confuse matters further, B-25Ds became "AT-24As", B-25Gs became "AT-24Bs", B-25Cs became "AT-24Cs", and B-25Js became "AT-24Ds". In 1948, such Mitchell trainers as survived were given the less opaque designations of "TB-25C", "TB-25D", "TB-25G", and "TB-25J", correctly reflecting their original bomber designations.
Many of the TB-25Js were fitted with additional seats and a few other items in the postwar period, as well as converted into pilot trainers with the designations "TB-25L" and "TB-25N". Most of these modifications were performed by Hayes Aircraft Corporation of Birmingham, Alabama. Some B-25Js were also modified with special radar installations and operated generally as trainers under the designations "TB-25K" and "TB-25M". These conversions were performed by Hughes. A few B-25Js were used in the Korean War as squadron hacks and electronic warfare platforms.
In civilian hands, Mitchells were used in a variety of roles, including fire-bomber, air freighter, executive transport, test platforms for airborne electronic systems, and even Hollywood flying movie camera platforms. A large number of B-25s was assembled for a famous hair-raising mass take-off scene in Mike Nichols' 1970 movie CATCH-22. A number of Mitchells now survive as collector's warbirds, and a good number of them are still flying, such as BARBIE III, MISS MITCHELL, HEAVENLY BODY, YELLOW ROSE, PANCHITO, and KILLER B. Many of the Mitchells still in the air today were refitted by Aero Traders of Chino, California.
* The B-25 evolved from the XB-21, and in turn led to a more advanced twin-engine bomber, the "XB-28 Dragon". This aircraft was designed in response to a USAAF requirement for a high-altitude medium bomber. It featured a pressurized fuselage; supercharged R-2800 engines; and remote-control tail, ventral, and dorsal turrets, each with two 12.7-millimeter guns. The turrets were aimed via periscopes. The XB-28 also had three fixed forward-firing 12.7-millimeter Brownings, and a maximum bombload of 1,800 kilograms (4,000 pounds).
While design concepts for the XB-28 started out as modifications of the B-25, they evolved into a form with more resemblance to a Douglas A-26 Invader, featuring a single tailfin and a more streamlined fuselage. Three prototypes were ordered in 1940, the first flying in April 1942. The second prototype was canceled, and the third was completed as the "XB-28A", an unarmed reconnaissance variant.
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NORTH AMERICAN XB-28:
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wingspan:
22.12 meters (72 feet 7 inches)
wing area:
62.80 sq_meters (676 sq_feet)
length:
17.20 meters (56 feet 5 inches)
height:
4.83 meters (14 feet)
empty weight:
11,600 kilograms (25,575 pounds)
max loaded weight:
16,875 kilograms (41,800 pounds)
maximum speed:
600 KPH (370 MPH / 325 KT)
service ceiling:
10,500 meters (34,600 feet)
range:
3,280 kilometers (2,040 MI / 1,775 NMI)
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The prototypes demonstrated excellent performance. However, the XB-28A was lost off the California coast, with both crewmen rescued, and the USAAF finally decided that the XB-28 did not offer such an improvement in capability as to make disruption of B-25 production worthwhile; the USAAF obtained the A-26 instead. A third XB-28 prototype was canceled, and the XB-28 became a footnote in aviation history.
BACK_TO_TOP* I remember being vastly impressed when I was a kid with the massive firepower illustrated by a cutaway of the B-25H that I saw in a book. That big 75-millimeter cannon seemed pretty macho. Much later, I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't particularly effective; the HVAR rocket was a much better weapon.
I once read an article written by a B-25 pilot who flew his aircraft in the Aegean, nailing German resupply boats. They would sometimes pop off a 75 millimeter round just for fun, and one day they actually scored a hit. The pilot and copilot sat there for a moment in amazement -- and then one said to the other: "Don't tell anyone we did this, they might think it was a good idea."
* Sources include:
A few items were also taken from a web writeup by aviation enthusiast Joe Baugher.
* Illustrations credits:
* Revision history:
v1.0 / 01 oct 99 v1.0.1 / 01 apr 02 / Review & polish. v1.0.2 / 01 apr 04 / Review & polish. v1.0.3 / 01 apr 08 / Review & polish. v1.0.4 / 01 mar 10 / Review & polish. v1.0.5 / 01 feb 12 / Review & polish. v1.0.6 / 01 jan 14 / Review & polish. v1.0.7 / 01 dec 15 / Review & polish. v1.0.8 / 01 nov 17 / Review & polish. v1.0.9 / 01 oct 19 / Review & polish. v1.1.0 / 01 jul 23 / Illustrations update.BACK_TO_TOP
