North American B-25 Mitchell

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American WWII's aircraft

North American B-25 Mitchell
On January 25, 1939, the Army Air Corps announced a competition for a medium bomber design, but instead of waiting for the prototypes, the Army awarded production contracts to North American for the B-25 and Martin for the B-26. Named in honor of US airpower proponent Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, the B-25 served in every theater of World War II and was made in larger quantities than any other American twin-engine combat airplane. The 17th Bomb Group at McChord Field, Wash., was the first unit to receive B-25s in 1941. On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle led the Doolittle Raid, in which 16 B-25B crews took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) and bombed Tokyo and other targets, the first time US aircraft had bombed Japan. The 75-mm cannon in the B-25G/H was used with mixed results, primarily against ships. Recoil from the cannon was 21 inches and momentarily stopped the plane in flight. The Marine Corps received 706 B-25Bs, Cs, and Ds, which were redesignated PBJ-1, and used for antisubmarine patrol duties. Mitchells were later relegated to support duties and did not see service in Korea. The last B-25s were used to train pilots assigned to fly bombers and tankers. Large numbers of B-25s were flown by the Soviet Union and Britain. It was also flown by the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Brazil. A number of surplus B-25s were used by civilian operators as aerial camera ships for Hollywood movies. On May 21, 1960, the last serving aircraft, a VB-25J staff transport, was retired from service at Eglin AFB, Fla.

General characteristics B-25J
Primary function	Medium bomber
Contractor	North American Aviation Inc.
Power plant	Two Wright R-2600-29 Cyclone 14-cylinder radials engines
Thrust	2x 1,850 HP		2x 1,380 kW
Wingspan	67.6 ft		20.60 m
Length	52.9 ft		16.13 m
Height	16.3 ft		4.98 m
Wingarea	610 sq ft		56.67 sq m
Weight	empty	21,120 lb	9,580 kg
	max.	34,955 lb	15,855 kg
Speed	275 mph		443 km/h
Initial climb rate	1,109 ft/min		338 m/min
Ceiling	24,200 ft		7,375 m
Range	1,350 miles		2,170 km
Armament	13x 12.7mm machine gun; 1,800 kg bombs
Crew	Six
First flight	January 1939
Date deployed	1943
Cost	$96,000 (B-25B)
Number built	11,433

Jirka Wagner

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Copyright © 2000 by Robert Schlesinger, Martin Jurecka, Jirka Wagner, Milan Bozok, Michal Uher,
Martin Saro, Jaroslav Pitonak, Martin Sterba, Petr Stepanek, George Kucirek, Michal Beza

Last updated 24.08.2000