North American B-25B Mitchell
One of the most successful medium bombers ever produced, the B-25 Mitchell began as the bomber nobody wanted. North American Aviation had begun the NA-40, designed by North American’s chief designer, James “Dutch” Kindleberger, as a private venture to compete with the Douglas A-20 Havoc. The NA-40 had a very narrow fuselage in which the pilot and copilot sat in tandem, with two Wright Cyclone engines on a shoulder-mounted wing, tricycle landing gear, and high speed that made defensive armament, it was thought, unnecessary. To increase stability, Kindleberger used endplate tailfins rather than the single tail of other contemporary aircraft.
The first NA-40 flew in April 1939, but promptly crashed during a competition with the A-20, which won the US Army Air Corps’ contract. Kindleberger refused to give up, however, and redesigned the NA-40 by expanding the fuselage to carry more bombs and allow the flight crew to sit next to each other. This revised NA-40 showed even more promise, but once more it lost, this time to the Martin B-26 Marauder. Because the Martin company could only produce a few Marauders a month and only at high expense, the USAAF went ahead and placed an order for the NA-40 as well in August 1940, as the B-25 Mitchell—named for William “Billy” Mitchell, who had lobbied so hard for an independent, bomber-heavy air force in the 1930s it had resulted in his court martial. To cure instability noticed in the first flights, the NA-62 prototype was given a slight gull wing which would be retained on all B-25s afterwards.
The B-25B was the first variant to enter combat service, with the 17th Bombardment Squadron based at McChord Field, Washington; a Mitchell from this unit scored the USAAF’s first submarine kill in late December 1941, when it sank a Japanese I-Boat off the Washington coast. Its viceless performance led the USAAF to expand production of Mitchells, and these were soon pressed into urgently needed antisubmarine patrols on both coasts. B-25s taking off and landing for these missions inspired a US Navy officer, Francis Low, to consider if they could be flown off of aircraft carriers in a strike against Japan. Both the USAAF and Navy agreed to collaborate on the project as a morale boost for the home front, in desperate need for good news after a steady diet of disaster following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. James Doolittle was chosen to lead a group of 16 B-25Bs taking off from USS Hornet on a strike against Japan itself on 18 April 1942: the Doolittle Raid, as it was known, was marred by a forced early launch that caused the attack to happen in broad daylight and recovery in China to happen at night, with the loss of 15 out of 16 aircraft, though all but six men survived. However, the psychological damage to Japan was so great that it changed the course of the war.
It also proved the B-25 to be a superb aircraft. Its ease of handling and bomb carrying capability put it in high demand; though the British Royal Air Force would use Lend-Lease Mitchells extensively in Europe, USAAF units preferred faster aircraft such as the A-20 and B-26, though B-25s would see quite a bit of service in North Africa and Italy. The Mitchell was also found to be very resilient: the B-25D introduced crew armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, and even earlier less-armored variants were found to be able to take a great deal of punishment. B-25s were still fully capable of flying missions with one engine out, with the only problem being slightly heavy on the controls and the loss of speed. One B-25D in North Africa was hit no less than 400 times and had taken so much damage that it required special flap and rudder settings—but it was still operational. Indeed, the only real complaint aircrew had about the B-25 was the extremely loud noise its engines produced, which could cause hearing loss.
The success of the gunship role with A-20s in the Southwest Pacific led to successive versions of the B-25: the B-25G/H, which were given solid noses equipped either with as many as 12 machine guns, or a lesser number of machine guns supplemented by a 75mm antitank gun. These aircraft, operated by the famous "New Guinea Strafers," proved deadly to Japanese shipping during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in 1943. So successful was the B-25G/H series that North American switched production to the most common variant, the B-25J, with interchangeable solid noses for gunships, or glass noses for bomber roles. The dorsal turret was also moved forward. B-25s would be used in every theater in World War II. After the war, most were retired, though a few persisted in USAF service as executive transports until the late 1950s; B-25s were used operationally by Indonesia until 1979. Because the Mitchell remained in service for so long, quite a few survive as warbirds and in museums; of 9800 built, about 100 are still around.
Since the Doolittle Raid was arguably the most influential bomber attack of the war, and one of the most daring, the National Museum of the USAF went to great lengths to commemorate this amazing mission. By the time the USAF got around to working on a museum, there were no B-25Bs left, and the majority of surviving Mitchells were the significantly different B-25J version.
In 1956, the USAF located a former B-25D that had been used as a reconnaissance trainer, in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. As it would be much easier to modify a B-25D back to a B model, the aircraft (43-3374) was removed from the scrapyard and handed over to North American Aviation. 43-3374 was backdated to a B-25B and went on display at the NMUSAF in 1957 as 40-2344, the aircraft flown by Jimmy Doolittle during the raid named for him.
Today, the NMUSAF has created an entire life-sized diorama commemorating the Raid. Placed on a carrier deck simulating that of the USS Hornet, mannequins representing ground crew and Doolittle's crew are shown loading the bombs, while two more are placed near the nose, as Doolittle and then-Captain Marc Mitscher, the CO of the Hornet. The engines and dorsal turret are covered in canvas, which they were aboard the carrier to protect from saltwater corrosion.
This display is impressive enough, but surrounding the rear of the aircraft is memorabilia related to the Doolittle Raid. The most bittersweet piece of the collection is the Raiders' cup collection: each Raider that survived the raid were presented with a sterling silver cup with their name inscribed on it. When the Raider died, the cup would be turned over; when there were only two Raiders left, they would open a 19th Century-vintage bottle of champagne and drink a toast. When I saw the cups in 1977, about half were still upright, but in 2017, only one was--that of Colonel Richard Cole, Doolittle's copilot, who is (as of this writing) 102 years old. The champagne bottle is still on display, but the toast has been drunk.
North American B-25B Mitchell
One of the most successful medium bombers ever produced, the B-25 Mitchell began as the bomber nobody wanted. North American Aviation had begun the NA-40, designed by North American’s chief designer, James “Dutch” Kindleberger, as a private venture to compete with the Douglas A-20 Havoc. The NA-40 had a very narrow fuselage in which the pilot and copilot sat in tandem, with two Wright Cyclone engines on a shoulder-mounted wing, tricycle landing gear, and high speed that made defensive armament, it was thought, unnecessary. To increase stability, Kindleberger used endplate tailfins rather than the single tail of other contemporary aircraft.
The first NA-40 flew in April 1939, but promptly crashed during a competition with the A-20, which won the US Army Air Corps’ contract. Kindleberger refused to give up, however, and redesigned the NA-40 by expanding the fuselage to carry more bombs and allow the flight crew to sit next to each other. This revised NA-40 showed even more promise, but once more it lost, this time to the Martin B-26 Marauder. Because the Martin company could only produce a few Marauders a month and only at high expense, the USAAF went ahead and placed an order for the NA-40 as well in August 1940, as the B-25 Mitchell—named for William “Billy” Mitchell, who had lobbied so hard for an independent, bomber-heavy air force in the 1930s it had resulted in his court martial. To cure instability noticed in the first flights, the NA-62 prototype was given a slight gull wing which would be retained on all B-25s afterwards.
The B-25B was the first variant to enter combat service, with the 17th Bombardment Squadron based at McChord Field, Washington; a Mitchell from this unit scored the USAAF’s first submarine kill in late December 1941, when it sank a Japanese I-Boat off the Washington coast. Its viceless performance led the USAAF to expand production of Mitchells, and these were soon pressed into urgently needed antisubmarine patrols on both coasts. B-25s taking off and landing for these missions inspired a US Navy officer, Francis Low, to consider if they could be flown off of aircraft carriers in a strike against Japan. Both the USAAF and Navy agreed to collaborate on the project as a morale boost for the home front, in desperate need for good news after a steady diet of disaster following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. James Doolittle was chosen to lead a group of 16 B-25Bs taking off from USS Hornet on a strike against Japan itself on 18 April 1942: the Doolittle Raid, as it was known, was marred by a forced early launch that caused the attack to happen in broad daylight and recovery in China to happen at night, with the loss of 15 out of 16 aircraft, though all but six men survived. However, the psychological damage to Japan was so great that it changed the course of the war.
It also proved the B-25 to be a superb aircraft. Its ease of handling and bomb carrying capability put it in high demand; though the British Royal Air Force would use Lend-Lease Mitchells extensively in Europe, USAAF units preferred faster aircraft such as the A-20 and B-26, though B-25s would see quite a bit of service in North Africa and Italy. The Mitchell was also found to be very resilient: the B-25D introduced crew armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, and even earlier less-armored variants were found to be able to take a great deal of punishment. B-25s were still fully capable of flying missions with one engine out, with the only problem being slightly heavy on the controls and the loss of speed. One B-25D in North Africa was hit no less than 400 times and had taken so much damage that it required special flap and rudder settings—but it was still operational. Indeed, the only real complaint aircrew had about the B-25 was the extremely loud noise its engines produced, which could cause hearing loss.
The success of the gunship role with A-20s in the Southwest Pacific led to successive versions of the B-25: the B-25G/H, which were given solid noses equipped either with as many as 12 machine guns, or a lesser number of machine guns supplemented by a 75mm antitank gun. These aircraft, operated by the famous "New Guinea Strafers," proved deadly to Japanese shipping during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in 1943. So successful was the B-25G/H series that North American switched production to the most common variant, the B-25J, with interchangeable solid noses for gunships, or glass noses for bomber roles. The dorsal turret was also moved forward. B-25s would be used in every theater in World War II. After the war, most were retired, though a few persisted in USAF service as executive transports until the late 1950s; B-25s were used operationally by Indonesia until 1979. Because the Mitchell remained in service for so long, quite a few survive as warbirds and in museums; of 9800 built, about 100 are still around.
Since the Doolittle Raid was arguably the most influential bomber attack of the war, and one of the most daring, the National Museum of the USAF went to great lengths to commemorate this amazing mission. By the time the USAF got around to working on a museum, there were no B-25Bs left, and the majority of surviving Mitchells were the significantly different B-25J version.
In 1956, the USAF located a former B-25D that had been used as a reconnaissance trainer, in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. As it would be much easier to modify a B-25D back to a B model, the aircraft (43-3374) was removed from the scrapyard and handed over to North American Aviation. 43-3374 was backdated to a B-25B and went on display at the NMUSAF in 1957 as 40-2344, the aircraft flown by Jimmy Doolittle during the raid named for him.
Today, the NMUSAF has created an entire life-sized diorama commemorating the Raid. Placed on a carrier deck simulating that of the USS Hornet, mannequins representing ground crew and Doolittle's crew are shown loading the bombs, while two more are placed near the nose, as Doolittle and then-Captain Marc Mitscher, the CO of the Hornet. The engines and dorsal turret are covered in canvas, which they were aboard the carrier to protect from saltwater corrosion.
This display is impressive enough, but surrounding the rear of the aircraft is memorabilia related to the Doolittle Raid. The most bittersweet piece of the collection is the Raiders' cup collection: each Raider that survived the raid were presented with a sterling silver cup with their name inscribed on it. When the Raider died, the cup would be turned over; when there were only two Raiders left, they would open a 19th Century-vintage bottle of champagne and drink a toast. When I saw the cups in 1977, about half were still upright, but in 2017, only one was--that of Colonel Richard Cole, Doolittle's copilot, who is (as of this writing) 102 years old. The champagne bottle is still on display, but the toast has been drunk.