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| B-25 Mitchell | ||
|---|---|---|
B-25 Mitchell, England, 2001 | ||
| Description | ||
| Rôle | Medium bomber | |
| Crew | 6 | |
| First Flight | 1939 | |
| Entered Servise | 1939 | |
| Manufacturer | North American Aviation | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | 52 ft 11 in | 16.12 m |
| Wingspan | 67 ft 6 in | 20.57 m |
| Height | 17 ft 7 in | 4.8 m |
| Wing area | 610 ft² | 56.67 m² |
| Weights | ||
| Empty | 21,120 lb | 9,580 kg |
| Loaded | 33,510 lb | 15,200 kg |
| Maximum takeoff | lb | kg |
| Capacity | ||
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | Wright R-2600-29 ?Cyclones? (2) | |
| Power | 1,850 hp | 1,380 kW |
| Performance | ||
| Maximum speed | 275 mph | 442 km/h |
| Cruise speed | 230 mph | 370 km/h |
| Combat range | 1,350 miles | 2172 km |
| Ferry range | miles | km |
| Servise ceiling | 25,000 ft | 7620 m |
| Rate of climb | ft/min | m/min |
| Wing loading | 54.9 lb/ft² | 268 kg/m² |
| Power/Mass | .11 hp/lb | .182 kW/kg |
| Armament | ||
| Guns | .50-calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns (5-18) | |
| Bombs | 5,971 lb | 1,820 kg |
B-25 Mitchell was a twin-engined, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation in the United States and used during World War II. By the time production of the plane ended, roughly 10,000 had been built, including PBJ-1 Navy Patrol Bomber and an F-10 reconnaissance version. These were used by the United States and other countries such as Britain, which received more than 900. It served in every combat theatre and was used by a number of countries other than the United States, including Australia, Britain (which received more than 900), China, The Netherlands, and Russia. Its epithet ?Mitchell? was in honour of General Billy Mitchell, an early proponent of airpower.
While the B-25 was meant originally to bomb from medium altitudes in level flight, it was used frequently in the Pacific Theatre in treetop-level missions against Japanese airfields and for operations such as strafing and skip-bombing against enemy Japanese shipping.
The B-25 is most famous as the bomber used in the 1942 Doolittle Raid, where the raiders took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, bombed Tokyo, and crashed in China; a B-25 also collided with the Empire State Building in 1945.
The B-25 was a descendant of the aborted XB-21 (N[orth]A[merican]-39) project of the mid-1930s. Experience gained in making the XB-21 was used by North American in designing the B-25 (NA-40). One NA-40 was built; several modifications wer made on it to test a number of potential features, including the replacement of its Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radials with Wright R-2600 radials, the engine type that would become standard on the B-25.
The product of these experimentations, dubbed the NA-40B, was submitted to the U.S. Army Air Corps for evaluation near the end of the 1939. It was intended to be an attack bomber, to be exported to Britain and France, both of which had a pressing requirement for such aircraft in the early stages of World War II. However, the NA-40B was passed up in favour of the plane that would become the A-20 Havoc. Despite this loss, the NA-40B re-entered the spotlight when the Army evaluated it for use as a medium bomber. Unfortuantely, the plane was destroyed in a crash on 1939 April 11. Nonetheless, the NA-40B design was ordered for production in 1939.
Along with the B-26 Marauder, the B-25 was ordered by the Army for production in 1939. An improvement on the NA-40B, dubbed the NA-62, was the basis for the first B-25 version. Due to a desperate need for medium bombers, no experimental or service-test versions were built. Any necessary modifications were made during production runs, or to existing aircraft at field modification centres.
The most significant change was a rearrangement of the wing. In the first nine aeroplanes of the production line, a dihedral wing was used. This design had some stability issues, so the dihedral angel was nullified on the outboard section of the wing, giving the B-25 a distinct ?gull wing? configuration. One less important change was an increase in the size of the vertical stabilisers and a decrease in the inward cant.
Following a number of modifications, including improved engines, a sighting blister for the navigator, more nose armament, and de-icing and anti-icing equipment, the B-25C was released to the Army. It was the first mass-produced version of the B-25. The B-25D was identical, except in location: where the B-25C was built in Inglewood, California, the B-25D was built in Kansas City, Kansas. A total of 3915 B-25Cs and B-25Ds were built by North American during the course of the war.
Because of extreme need for durable aircraft to use in strafing missions, a version of the B-25 dubbed the B-25G was developed, in which the transparent nose was replaced by a solid nose. This housed two fixed .50-calibre machine guns and a 75 mm M4 cannon, the largest calibre weapon ever used on an American bomber. The B-25G?s successor, the B-25H, had even more firepower with the addition of 6 fixed .50-calibre machine guns. 1400 B-25Gs and B-25Hs were built.
The last produced version, the B-25J, was somewhere between the B-25C and the B-25H. It maintained much of the fixed armament of the B-25H, but the solid nose was replaced by a ?greenhouse? one seen on earlier models, though 800 B-25Js were converted to a solid nose version. It also featured improved engines. 4318 B-25Js were built.
In 1942, two B-25Cs were converted to test aircraft to investigate de-icing and anti-icing equipment; they were redesignated the XB-25E and XB-25F. The XB-25E (nicknamed ?Flamin? Maimie?) used engine exhaust gases circulated through chambers in the wing to melt ice. The XB-25F used insulated electrical coils, to heat metal surfaces. Both were tested extensively until 1944; the XB-25E system was found extremely reliable and practical (more practical than the XB-25F system).
While the results of tests on the XB-25E were promising, no aircraft during World War II was built that utilised that system. It is now a common method today. Most prop planes used by the United States Air Force use so-called ?piccolo tubes? that run along the leading edges of the wings. Hot air bled from the engine is blown through those tubes, and melts any ice that may form on the wing.
A descendant of the B-25 was the XB-28 Dragon, meant to be a high-altitude version of the B-25. Despite this premise, the actual aircraft evolved to be little like the Mitchell. It was much more similar to the B-26 Marauder.
| Related content | |
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| Related Development | |
| Similar Aircraft | |
| Designation Series | |
| Related Lists |
List of military aircraft of the United States - List of bomber aircraft |
| List of Aircraft | Aircraft Manufacturers | Aircraft Engines | Aircraft Engine Manufacturers Airlines | Air Forces | Aircraft Weapons | Missiles | Years in Aviation |
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