B-25 weapons thread

CATCH 22 · Dec 30, 2022

Micdrow said:
Last one kind of interesting and found on Fold3.

View attachment 700430

Paul, great photos as usual. The last one is the winner! Do you know why? Because this is a tail of one of those last "hybrid" B-25D blocks. Could be a modified B-25G-12 as well. One can see the original glazing (plexiglass) over the tail turret (top) with only the new opening for the camera added. Same tail configuration of a modified B-25G below:

10th Combat Camera Unit is mentioned in the text of your photo - it was part of the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, 10th AAF and checking the years of activation and inactivation of the unit this might be a post-war photo. The year 1947 appears in the description too.
Cheers!

CATCH 22 · Dec 30, 2022

I went through my photo archive with photos of B-25 collected from the internet and more specifically checked the CBI for something interesting. And...here it is:

The 2 Mitchells to the left are late B-25D with the tail gunner station and non-staggered waist windows. The tail configuration is the same as on the photo-plane from Paul's post, without the cameras. This might have been an observation position as well. The unique element here is the radar pod under the belly, in place of the lower turret. I'm not sure what kind of weather "radar" has been used at that time, but there it is.
Not an armament piece per se, but still one of the apparently endless B-25 equipment variations.
Cheers!

SaparotRob · Dec 30, 2022

Wow. Look at the size of that tent!

I had a Barney Gumble moment.

MiTasol · Dec 30, 2022

This manual may interest some of you but you will need to have access to the library in the listing (and no I am not in Burien - the search engine does not work if you admit you are in Aus

Hopefully we have a member who lives nearby and is interested in the beastie.

It should contain some good stuff on weapons as well as general mods

Micdrow · Dec 31, 2022

MiTasol said:
This manual may interest some of you but you will need to have access to the library in the listing (and no I am not in Burien - the search engine does not work if you admit you are in Aus

Hopefully we have a member who lives nearby and is interested in the beastie.

View attachment 700534

It should contain some good stuff on weapons as well as general mods
View attachment 700536

Would be interesting to read, to bad I am to far away. Wish they where digital.

Micdrow · Dec 31, 2022

CATCH 22 said:
I went through my photo archive with photos of B-25 collected from the internet and more specifically checked the CBI for something interesting. And...here it is:
View attachment 700494
The 2 Mitchells to the left are late B-25D with the tail gunner station and non-staggered waist windows. The tail configuration is the same as on the photo-plane from Paul's post, without the cameras. This might have been an observation position as well. The unique element here is the radar pod under the belly, in place of the lower turret. I'm not sure what kind of weather "radar" has been used at that time, but there it is.
Not an armament piece per se, but still one of the apparently endless B-25 equipment variations.
Cheers!

Very cool Yves, started looking for more on radar and got side tracked. Pretty sure you have seen this picture but figured I would post again

Greg Boeser · Dec 31, 2022

That tripod suggests to me that the flexible gun could be locked in place and fired with the fixed guns?

Micdrow · Dec 31, 2022

Greg Boeser said:
That tripod suggests to me that the flexible gun could be locked in place and fired with the fixed guns?

Good question Greg, I have had that question for quite a while especially with some of the CBI configurations though have found no affinitive answer.

While digging for more info on the PBJ radar I was looking through book B-25 Mitchell Combat machine Vol 2 and well side tracked again. Back to the 30 caliber machine gun that I found a few threads back. Was surprised to so see this on the Soviet Mitchells as well. First picture with ball mount and second picture with 30 caliber mounted.

BlackSheep · Dec 31, 2022

Greg Boeser said:
That tripod suggests to me that the flexible gun could be locked in place and fired with the fixed guns?

Hard to tell, but take notice of the rear legs and the way they are attached to the floor, I'm going to say the mount is designed to support the weight of the gun and not hold it in a fixed-forward position for use by the pilot.

BlackSheep · Dec 31, 2022

Micdrow said:
Some different pictures of the configuration of the nose of B-25's. First pictures is from the B-25 book squadron signal walk around. Second to last picture is a B-25 with the glass nose twin pack installed.

View attachment 51446 View attachment 51447 View attachment 51448 View attachment 51449 View attachment 51456 View attachment 51469 View attachment 51486

Having read about how superstitious the Japanese were, Imagine the looks on their faces seeing those drooling shark teeth spewing lead and cannon shells coming a couple of hundred feet above… and then, if you're still around, you get an amazing view of dozens of little para-frags floating down to you…

Greg Boeser · Dec 31, 2022

If it's bearing down on you, I doubt you are going to waste time considering the artistic symbolism.
Nose art, and other decoration had more to do with boosting the morale of the flying crew than terrorizing the enemy.

CATCH 22 · Dec 31, 2022

Greg Boeser said:
That tripod suggests to me that the flexible gun could be locked in place and fired with the fixed guns?

Yep, the flexible could be fired by the pilot as well, when fixed on tripod.
~~Norm Avery writes about this in the "Magnificent medium".~~ Correction: Frederick A. Johnsen writes about in Warbirdtech book, Volume 12, B-25, page 33. (Both books are on my desk and I mixed the sources, sorry!) Paul already posted the original scheme from a manual here.
The tripod was a standard (from the factory) possibility, not a mod and IMHO it came with the C/D model with one fixed+one flexible 0.50, but I'm not 100% sure about (e.g. check here). Never found a book with memoirs of B-25 pilots mentioning this type of use of the flexible nose gun.
Cheers!

CATCH 22 · Dec 31, 2022

Micdrow said:
While digging for more info on the PBJ radar I was looking through book B-25 Mitchell Combat machine Vol 2 and well side tracked again. Back to the 30 caliber machine gun that I found a few threads back. Was surprised to so see this on the Soviet Mitchells as well. First picture with ball mount and second picture with 30 caliber mounted.

Paul, the Soviets received the exact same models (early, mid, late) of B-25C/D as the USAAF. I remember discussing some photos of Soviet Mitchells here (e.g. navigator-bomber compartment differences and additions) where the ball&socket mount is clearly visible.
The photo you posted with the hot air machine is one I know from decades. I swear I was thinking that thin pipe is connected to the heater to warm the navigator's cabin...never saw a 0.30 gun there.

GrauGeist · Dec 31, 2022

Regarding Paul's photo in post #626 showing the .50 in the nose:
It's fixed foreward, held in place by the bipod and equipped with a G19 trigger Solonoid (seen to left of breech) so it can be remote fired by the pilot.

Note the two fixed foreward .50s on the right side of the fuselage also have the G19 remote trigger Solonoids as well.

CATCH 22 · Dec 31, 2022

GrauGeist said:
Regarding Paul's photo in post #626 showing the .50 in the nose:
It's fixed foreward, held in place by the bipod and equipped with a G19 trigger Solonoid (seen to left of breech) so it can be remote fired by the pilot.

Note the two fixed foreward .50s on the right side of the fuselage also have the G19 remote trigger Solonoids as well.

IMHO the gun firing solenoid is G-9 (24V) - as per one of the manuals we are always quoting here.
Cheers!

GrauGeist · Dec 31, 2022

CATCH 22 said:
IMHO the gun firing solenoid is G-9 (24V) - as per one of the manuals we are always quoting here.
Cheers!

I'm going from memory and a limited view of the photo on my crappy cellphone.

So you'd know better than I would - I just spotted the Solonoid(s), so that coupled with the bipod indicates the nose .50 was fixed in place and fired by the pilot along with the others.

It is a great photo, with rarely seen inner details of a strafer.

CATCH 22 · Dec 31, 2022

GrauGeist said:
I'm going from memory and a limited view of the photo on my crappy cellphone.

So you'd know better than I would - I just spotted the Solonoid(s), so that coupled with the bipod indicates the nose .50 was fixed in place and fired by the pilot along with the others.

It is a great photo, with rarely seen inner details of a strafer.

I added the remark, only because Paul already posted schemes showing the solenoid:

So there is no doubt for those reading this thread in the future.

BlackSheep · Jan 1, 2023

Greg Boeser said:
If it's bearing down on you, I doubt you are going to waste time considering the artistic symbolism.
Nose art, and other decoration had more to do with boosting the morale of the flying crew than terrorizing the enemy.

Thank you mr unimaginative!
Edit: I thought I'd covered this on a previous post, but, I went against my word and forgot to label the post of discussion, as on the lighter side of things, but, I have been told that my sense of humor is the same as my martinis …..dry.

BlackSheep · Jan 2, 2023

I stumbled on an interesting B-25 design analysis page linked to the home page dedicated to the restoration of what has been named the "Sandbar Mitchell", due to it's Alaskan riverside home since the '60s. Lots of interesting information on the materials used in these planes, as well as configurations. Hope it's not a duplicate.

The Restoration of B-25J 44-30733 Sandbar Mitchell

CATCH 22 · Jan 2, 2023

BlackSheep said:
Hope it's not a duplicate.

The Restoration of B-25J 44-30733 Sandbar Mitchell

Check this thread. (10 years old!)

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