B-25 Design Analysis

[MIflyer]

Because of the film "30 sec Over Tokyo", that old 1950's Revell model of a B-25B, and the old 50's Monogram model of the B-25H, that's always been one of my favorite airplanes. And I was blown away when I found out that one of my high school teachers had been a Bomb/Nav in B-25's, including a certain mission that took off from the USS Hornet on 18 April 1942.

So here is a WWII Design Analysis of the B-25. Enjoy!

 

[glennasher]

I had a friend who was a gunner on a B-25, in the SW Pacific, flying a lot of missions over Rabaul. He said it could be rough until they dropped their bombs, then they got a head of steam going "downhill" and could outrun the Zeros pretty handily. He loved his Mitchells.

 

[MIflyer]

I read that a RAF aircrew member was on Venturas. Then he switched to Mitchells and said that it was better in every respect. Now, just think, the Ventura was a somewhat smaller airplane and had R-2800's!

They tried R-2800's on the prototype B-25H and pulled the wings off on the first flight, over Mines Field. Then they went back to R-2600's.

My next door neighbor when I moved to Florida flew B-25's in the Med. His squadron commander had been Ted W. Lawson's (Ruptured Duck pilot) co-pilot. They had C models but added a tailgunnner position that looked like a cruder version of the ones used on H's and J's. He also added a sheet of steel on either side of the pilot's seat so he could sit back behind it when the flak was bursting around. On one mission he had a new copilot and when the flak came up the guy stuck his head around the front edge of the steel sheet and said, "How's this? Light, heavy, or mediocre?"

His squadron Commander toid him that some of the extras in the movie "A Guy Named Joe" were the real Doolittle Raiders.