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United States' North American B-25 Mitchell bomber^1,2,3

North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, test firing its weapons:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:
North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:
North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, covering an invasion convoy:
North American B-25 Mitchell bomber: United States Army in World War II, Pictorial Record, The War Against Germany and Italy: Mediterranean and Adjacent Areas, 1951, pg 10	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, flying near Mt Vesuvius:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, in the Pacific:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, in used with the United Kingdom:
North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, attacking an airfield on Wewak, New Guineau:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, wind tunnel model:	North American B-25H Mitchell bomber, Pacific 1944:	North American B-25J Mitchell bomber:
North American B-25J Mitchell bomber, in use with the Soviet Union:	North American B-25 Mitchell bomber taking off from USS Hornet to bomb Japan:

Design

The North American B-25 Mitchell was named after the visionary Colonel "Billy" Mitchell who was a proponent of air power in the 1920s and was later court marshaled for his views.³

North American had never produced a high performance multi engined plane before.³

Undercarriage

The undercarriage was tricycle landing gear.³

Bomb bays

The North American B-25 Mitchell had two vertical bombbays.¹

Wings

The B-25s had inverted gull wings which allowed for it to be more maneuverable than with straight wings.¹

Prototype

The NA-40 prototype first flew in January 1939.³ Was destroyed in a landing accident.³ An order for 184 was placed in September 1939.³

The B-25 prototype first flew on August 19, 1940.² The prototype had a dihedral running the full wing.²

Production

The first B-25 production aircraft flew in August 1940.³ The first B-25H flew in July 1943.³

• Delivered:
  • Soviet Union: 870¹
  • United Kingdom: 700², 910¹
  • United States Air Force: 9,816²
• NA-40: 1³
• B-25: 24³
• B-25A: 40³
• B-25B: 120^2,3
• B-25C: 1,619^2,3
  • Produced at Inglewood, California.²
  • PBJ-1C BuNo Numbers: 34998-35047 (50)⁴
• B-25D: 2,290^2,3
  • Produced at Dallas, Texas.²
  • PBJ-1D BuNo Numbers: 35048-35072 (25)⁴, 35078-350096 (24)⁴, 35098-35193 (96)⁴, 35196-35202 (7)⁴
• B-25G: 405^2,3
  • Delivered in 1942.³
  • PBJ-1G BuNo Numbers: 35097 (1)⁴
• B-25H: 1,000³
  • PBJ-1H BuNo Numbers: 35250-35297 (48)⁴, 88872-89071 (200)⁴
• B-25J: 4,318³
  • Delivered from 1944 to 1945.³
  • PBJ-1J BuNo Numbers: 35194-35195 (2)⁴, 35203-35249 (47)⁴, 35798-35920 (123)⁴, 38980-39012 (33)⁴, 64943 - 64992 (50)⁴
• Total: 9,816³, 10,000¹, 11,000²

Variants

• NA-40: Prototype.³ Had two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines (1,100 HP).³ Later the Wright R-2600 engines were installed (1,350 HP).³
• XB-25E: Experimental prototype.³
• XB-25F: Experimental prototype.³
• XB-25G: Experimental prototype.³ Had 75 mm M-4 field gun installed in a solid nose.³
• B-25A: The dihedral outboard of the engines was reduced resulting in the gull wing.² Had self sealing fuel tanks.³ Armor protection was increased.³
• B-25B / Mitchell Mk I: Had additional gun armament.^2,3
• B-25C / Mitchell Mk II: Extra fuel capacity.^2,3
• B-25D / Mitchell Mk II: Extra fuel capaicty.³
• B-25G: Nose mounted 75 mm field gun.^2,3 The gun was hand loaded and recoiled 21" / 53 cm.³ Was vulnerable in the attack dive.³
• B-25H: Had lighter T-13E1 75 mm gun.^2,3 Had 14 12.7 mm MGs.²
• B-25J / Mitchell Mk III: Had 12 machine guns in the nose.¹
• PBJ: US Marine Corp version.¹
• PBJ-1C: The US Navy version of the B-25C.³
• PBJ-1D: The US Navy version of the B-25D.³
• PBJ-1G: The US Navy version of the B-25G.³
• PBJ-1H: The US Navy version of the B-25H.³
• PBJ-1J: The US Navy version of the B-25J.³
• AT-24 (later TB-25): Trainer.³ Converted B-25.³
• F-10: Photo reconnaissance.³ Converted B-25.³

Usage

Users of the B-25 were Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Netherlands, Soviet Union, and the United States.³

Delivery

The B-25As were first delivered in 1941 to the 17th Bomb Group.²

First Combat

The B-25 Mitchell was first use in combat was on December 24, 1941 when one sunk a Japanese submarine.¹

The B-25s were used in New Guinea and the Philippines.³

From Shangrai La

B-25Bs, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, took off from the carrier Hornet in April 1942 to bomb Tokyo.^1,2,3 The raid was a huge moral builder for the Americans who were in much need of a success.¹ When asked by reporters where the planes were from, President Roosevelt said "Shangrai La."¹

Skip Bombing

The B-25s were often used in skipping a bomb on the water into the side of its target.¹

Scratch One Destroyer

A Japanese destroyer was sunk by seven shots from a B-25H's 75 mm cannon.¹

United States Marines

The United States Marines used the Mitchells in the Pacific and called them PBJs.¹ 687 were delivered.⁴

Royal Air Force (RAF)

The RAF received 314 B-25Js.³

After World War II

Some B-25s were still used as trainers into the 1950s (until January 1959³).^1,3

	North American B-25 Mitchell3	North American B-25C Mitchell3	North American B-25D Mitchell3	North American B-25G Mitchell3	North American B-25H Mitchell1,3	North American B-25J Mitchell2,3
Type	Medium bomber3	Medium bomber3	Medium bomber3	Medium bomber3	Medium bomber1,3	Light bomber2 Medium bomber2,3
Crew	5 - 63	5 - 63	5 - 63	5- 63	51 Pilot, co-pilot, gunners (3)1 5 - 63	5 - 63, 62
Engine (Type)	2: Wright R-2600-9 Double Cyclone3			2: Wright R-2600-133	2: Wright R-2600-92 Cyclone piston1,3	2: Wright R-2600-92 piston2,3
OR	2: Wright R-2600-13 Double Cyclone3
Cylinders	Radial 143			Radial 143	Radial 141	Radial2
Cooling
HP	1,700 each3			1,700 each3	1,700 each1,3	1,700 each2,3
War emergency HP					1,850 each3	1,850 each3
Propeller blades	3 each3			3 each3	3 each1
Dimensions
Span		67' 7"3 20.6 m3	67' 7"3 20.6 m3		67' 7"1 20.6 m1	67' 7"2,3 20.6 m2,3
Length		52' 11"3 16.13 m3	52' 11"3 16.13 m3		51'1 16.13 m1	52' 11"2,3 16.13 m2,3
Height		15' 10"3 4.82 m3	15' 10"3 4.82 m3		15' 9"1 4.98 m1	15' 10"3, 16' 4"2 4.98 m2,3
Wing area					610 ft2 1 56.67 m2 1	610 ft2 2 56.67 m2 2
Weight
Empty		20,300 lb3 9,208 kg3	20,300 lb3 9,208 kg3		19,400 lb1, 19,975 lb3 8,836 kg1, 9,061 kg3	19,480 lb2, 21,100 lb3 8,836 kg2, 9,571 kg3
Loaded		34,000 lb3 15,422 kg3	34,000 lb3 15,422 kg3		36,000 lb1, 36,047 lb3 15,876 kg1, 16,351 kg3	33,500 lb3, 35,000 lb2 15,196 kg3, 15,876 kg2
Maximum load						41,800 lb3 18,960 kg3
Performance
Speed - early version					275 mph1 500 kph1
Speed @ 13,000' / 3,960 m						272 mph2,3 438 kph2,3
Speed - armed @ 13,125' / 4,000 m					240 mph1 438 mph1
Speed @ 15,000' / 4,570 m		284 mph3 457 kph3	284 mph3 457 kph3
Cruising speed		233 mph3 375 kph3	233 mph3 375 kph3			230 mph3 370 kph3
Climb						1,110'/minute3 338 m/minute3
Climb to 15,000' / 4,570 m		16.5 minutes3	16.5 minutes3			17.5 minutes2
Service ceiling		21,200'3 6,462 m3	21,200'3 6,462 m3		23,800'1 7,375 m1	24,200'2,3 7,375 m2, 7,376 m3
Range		1,500 miles3 2,414 km3	1,500 miles3 2,414 km3
Range with bomb load					1,300 miles1 2,200 km1	1,350 miles2 2,173 m2
Range with 3,200 lb / 1,451 kg bomb load						1,275 miles3 2,052 km3
Armament						12: 12.7 mm MG2
Nose		2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3	1: 75 mm cannon3 4: 0.5" MG3	1: 75 mm cannon1,3 4: 0.5" MG3
OR					Up to 16: 12.7 mm MG1
Forward fuselage				4: 0.5" MG3	4: 0.5" MG3
Dorsal turret		2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3
Ventral turret		2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3
Waist positions				2: 0.5" MG3	2: 0.5" MG3
Under wings				8: 5" rocket3 8: 127 mm rocket3	8: 5" rocket1,3 8: 127 mm rocket1,3	8: 5" rocket2 8: 127 mm rocket2
Bomb load		3,000 lb3 1,361 kg3	3,000 lb3 1,361 kg3	3,200 lb3 1,451 kg3	3,000 lb1, 3,200 lb3 1,360 kg1, 1,451 kg3	3,000 lb2 1,360 kg2

Sources:

1. Aircraft of WWII, General Editor: Jim Winchester, 2004
2. Fighting Aircraft of World War II, Editor: Karen Leverington, 1995
3. Aircraft of WWII, Stewart Wilson, 1998
4. PBJ Mitchell Units of the Pacific War, Jerry Scutts, 2003

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