North American Mitchell Mk.II & Mk.III

The B-25 was one of the most famous, rugged, twin engined bombers developed during World War II. It was produced in larger quantities than any other American twin engined combat aircraft. Named in honor of Brigadier General William Mitchell, the B-25 distinguished itself in the European, Mediterranean, and Pacific Theaters. The B-25 was made immortal on April 18, 1942, when it became the first United States aircraft to bomb the Japanese mainland. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, sixteen Mitchells took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, flew 800 miles (1287 km) to Japan, and attacked their targets. Most made forced landings in China. They were the heaviest aircraft at the time to be flown from a ship at sea.

The B-25J was the final production version of the Mitchell. It was also the version of the Mitchell to be built in the largest numbers, a total of 4318 being built. It was manufactured exclusively at North American's Kansas City plant, the Inglewood plant having switched over to the manufacture of the P-51 Mustang fighter after the last B-25H had been delivered. Kansas City briefly built both the B-25D and J at the same time, the first J being accepted in December 1943 and the last D in March of 1944.

The B-25J returned to the conventional bombardier nose compartment with one or two fixed or flexible .50 cal nose guns. Four other fixed and six more flexible guns were featured in the same arrangement as with the B-25H variant. The crew was increased to six, as the bombardier was returned to man the sight. Eight hundred of the B-25Js were built. Many of the bombardier nose B-25Js were converted to the solid nose in the field using nose kits supplied by North American. The eight nose guns upping the number of .50 cal machine guns from 12 to 18.. Underwing racks were added to many B-25Js so that they were able to carry four 5" rockets. Another field modification was the addition of a 150-gallon fuel tank in the radio compartment for added range. This easily made the B-25J gunship the most lethal medium bomber in WWII.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) was an early customer for the B-25 via Lend-Lease. The RAF Mitchells generally retained the retractable ventral turret, since protection from below was absolutely essential for medium-altitude operations over Europe. The RAF was the only force to use the B-25 on raids against Europe from bases in the United Kingdom. The USAAF used the Martin B-26 Marauder for this purpose instead. The first Mitchells to reach the RAF were 23 B-25Bs which were designated Mitchell I by the RAF. They were delivered in August 1941, and were assigned to an operational training unit based in the Bahamas. These planes were used exclusively for training and familiarization and never achieved operational status. The first operational B-25s to serve with the RAF were B-25Cs and Ds, which were designated Mitchell II by the RAF. Some of these were used in England, but again most of them went to the Bahamas. A total of 93 Mitchell Is and IIs had been delivered to the RAF by the end of 1942. The Mitchell II served with No. 2 Group, the RAF's tactical medium bomber force. The first RAF operational combat mission flown with the Mitchell II took place on January 22, 1943, when six aircraft attacked oil installations at Ghent.

The RAF was allocated 316 B-25Js as Mitchell IIIs. Deliveries took place between August 1944 and August of 1945. However, only about 240 of these planes actually reached Britain, with some being diverted to the Bahamas, some crashing during delivery and some being retained in the USA. The Mitchell IIIs that did reach Britain were issued as replacement aircraft for 2 Group's Mitchell IIs from November 1944, although two Group squadrons retained the Mk II since they regarded it as having a better control response than the Mk III because it was lighter.

On January 1, 1945, No. 80 Squadron lost 13 Mitchells on the ground during the Luftwaffe's New Year's Day raid on Allied airfields on the Continent. Surprisingly, many B-25s survived the demobilization that followed World War II, and many have been preserved in flying condition.

GB Planes and Specifications