The B-25 Mitchell, a rugged and versatile fighting machine, served in every theater of World War II.
The "Yellow Rose", CAF - Centex Wing's Still flying B-25J.
Nothing else sounds like a B-25. The beautiful, soul-jarring roar of its mighty radial engines evokes memories of an era that has become one of the defining moments in America’s history.
America enters the war totally unprepared.
On December 7, 1941, America was attacked and her citizens’ right to enjoy peace and freedom was challenged. At the time, we were at best a fourth or fifth-rate air power. Yet, as we have on every occasion before and since, the American people responded. Within a few short years, the mightiest air armada ever seen was assembled and deployed around the world.
Approximately 11,000 B-25 were produced at rates of ten a day.
World War II was the first time that control of the battlefield required control of the air. America’s ability to prosecute all future wars grew out of the lessons we learned about airpower during that era and how to effectively employ it.
B-25 proved to be very rugged and was deployed at rustic forward airfields like isolated Pacific islands.
The B-25 Mitchell, named after Gen. Billy Mitchell, was first flown in 1939 and served in every theater of the war. They operated from unimproved strips on Pacific islands and from runways in North Africa covered with blowing sand. The Mitchell penetrated fortress Europe from bases in Italy and England and was launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet during the famed Doolittle raid on Tokyo. The B-25 is one of the best-known and most recognizable aircraft of World War II.
A B-25 takes off from the USS Hornet on April 1942 to attack Japan, only four months after Pearl Harbor.
It proved to be a rugged and versatile fighting machine. It was used as a horizontal bomber; for low level attack and ground support.
The Navy used it as a patrol bomber against enemy shipping and submarines. It was fitted a variety of armaments. Some versions had fourteen forward-firing machine guns and the “G” and “H” models featured forward firing 75mm cannon!
A B-25H Without its distinctive clear front, was used for close ground support.
A B-25H had powerful nose armament.
Unfortunately, of the approximately 11,000 planes built by North American, only about 30 are still airworthy. One of these is the “Yellow Rose” operated by the Yellow Rose Squadron of the CAF, based in San Marcos, Texas.
The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.
The B-25 was a descendant of the earlier XB-21 (North American-39) project of the mid-1930s. Experience gained in developing that aircraft was eventually used by North American in designing the B-25 (called the NA-40 by the company). One NA-40 was built, with several modifications later being done to test a number of potential improvements. These improvements included Wright R-2600 radial engines, which would become standard on the later B-25.
In 1939, the modified and improved NA-40B was submitted to the United States Army Air Corps for evaluation. This aircraft was originally intended to be an attack bomber for export to the United Kingdom and France, both of which had a pressing requirement for such aircraft in the early stages of World War II. However, those countries changed their minds, opting instead for the also-new Douglas DB-7 (later to be used by the U.S. as the A-20 Havoc). Despite this loss of sales, the NA-40B re-entered the spotlight when the Army Air Corps evaluated it for use as a medium bomber. Unfortunately, the NA-40B was destroyed in a crash on 11 April 1939. Nonetheless, the type was ordered into production, along with the Army's other new medium bomber, the Martin B-26 Marauder.
Early production
B-25H production at the Kansas City, facility.
An improvement of the NA-40B, dubbed the NA-62, was the basis for the first actual B-25. Due to the pressing need for medium bombers by the Army, no experimental or service-test versions were built. Any necessary modifications were made during production runs, or to existing aircraft at field modification centers around the world.
A significant change in the early days of B-25 production was a redesign of the wing. In the first nine aircraft, a constant-dihedral wing was used, in which the wing had a consistent, straight, slight upward angle from the fuselage to the wing tip. This design caused stability problems, and as a result, the dihedral angle was nullified on the outboard wing sections, giving the B-25 its slightly gull wing configuration. Less noticeable changes during this period included an increase in the size of the tail fins and a decrease in their inward cant.
A descendant of the B-25 was the North American XB-28, meant to be a high-altitude version of the B-25. Despite this premise, the actual aircraft bore little resemblance to the Mitchell. It had much more in common with the Martin B-26 Marauder.
Far East
The majority of B-25s in American service were used in the Pacific. It fought on Papua New Guinea, in Burma and in the island hopping campaign in the central Pacific. It was in the Pacific that the aircraft’s potential as a ground attack aircraft was discovered and developed. The jungle environment reduced the usefulness of standard level bombing, and made low level attack the best tactic. The ever-increasing amount of forward firing guns was a response to this operational environment, making the B-25 a formidable strafing aircraft.
In Burma the B-25 was often used to attack Japanese communication links, especially bridges in central Burma. It was also used to help supply the besieged troops at Imphal in 1944.
In the Pacific the B-25 proved itself to be a very capable anti-shipping weapon, sinking many of the ships being used to reinforce the Japanese position. Later in the Pacific war the distance between islands limited the usefulness of the B-25, although it was used against Guam and Tinian. It was also used against Japanese-occupied islands that had been bypassed by the main campaign, as happened in the Marshall Islands.
American B-25 pilots plane for the Battle of El Alamein.
The first B-25s arrived in Egypt just in time to take part in the Battle of El Alamein. From there the aircraft took part in the rest of the campaign in North Africa, the invasion of Sicily and the advance up Italy. In Italy the B-25 was used in the ground attack role, concentrating on attacks against road and rail links in Italy, Austria and the Balkans. The B-25 had a longer range than the Douglas A-20 Havoc and Douglas A-26 Invaders, allowing it to reach further into occupied Europe. The five bombardment groups that used the B-25 in the desert and Italy were the only U.S. units to use the B-25 in Europe.
B-25 Mitchell bombers of 321st Bomber Group, US 447th Bomber Squadron flying past Mount Vesuvius, Italy during its eruption of 18-23 Mar 1944.
The U.S. Eighth Air Force, based in Britain, concentrated on long-range raids over Germany and occupied Europe. Although it did have a small number units equipped with twin-engined aircraft, the B-25 was not amongst them. However, the RAF received nearly 900 Mitchells, using them to replace Douglas Bostons, Lockheed Venturas and Vickers Wellington bombers. The Mitchell entered active RAF service on 22 January 1943. At first it was used to bomb strategic targets in occupied Europe. After the D-Day invasion the RAF used its Mitchells to support the armies in Europe, moving several squadrons to forward airbases in France and Belgium.
For More in formation on The Central Texas Wing of The Commemorative Air Force
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