The article has some great photos of the 50 cals and a few of the 75mm.

https://www.thearmorylife.com/b-25-mitchell/

Thanks for the link to a very informative article. Cool photos as well!

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
The article has some great photos of the 50 cals and a few of the 75mm.

https://www.thearmorylife.com/b-25-mitchell/

Thanks much for the post! I’ve always liked that airplane.

The B-25 sure made it's mark on early ww2 history with the Doolittle's Raid.

Pappy Gunn was a certified badass!

OZ

Pappy Gun also converted early A-20s from glass nose to gunships in my fathers squadron. All the A-20 work was low level, strafing,parafragging and skip bombing into ships.
89th Attack Squadron and 13th squadron, Townsville and Charters Towers Australia and then Port Moresby, New Guinea. Dad was there 1/1942 through 1943.

Martin Caidin wrote a pretty good story about these airplanes in the novel "Whip". It's in the old Bantam series of paperback war books.

One of the first model airplanes I ever built was at B-25H model very similar to this one. Ever since it's always had a special place in my heart.






The model I built was armed with
- four (4) .50 Cal in the nose as in the image
- one (1) 75mm cannon lower left nose
- two (2) .50 cal in blisters on the right side
- two (2) .50 cal in blisters on the left side
- two (2) .50 cal in the top turret
- one (1) .50 cal in the right window mount
- one (1) .50 cal in the left window mount
- two (2) .50 cal in the tail gunner position

This meant that in a diving attack, they could bring ten (10) .50 cal (nose guns, blister guns, top turret) and one (1) 75mm cannon to bear on the target. When pulling out they could bring four (4) .50 cal (top turret & tail) to bear on the target.

Anyone have any ideas where the concept for the A-10 might have been born?

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
Ever since it's always had a special place in my heart.

Anyone have any ideas where the concept for the A-10 might have been born?

A-10 has always been my favorite (along with the AC=130)

But this has always been close in my heart as well.

They are very similar in terms of size.

See: Here

Always been my favorite WWII plane since I built a Revel kit and hung it from my childhood ceiling.

My uncle flew B-25's in North Africa (he also buzzed Rye, NY in his B-25, but that is another story). Always been a favorite of mine.

I have a really good book that has a lot of information on this subject.
HARVEST of the GRIM REAPERS, The illustrated history of the 3rd and 27th Bombardment Groups during World War II.
This is a very heavily researched book. It is 500 plus pages with numerous photographs, footnotes, printed on glossy paper and with a hardcover. NOT cheap but a great reference for those interested.

quote:

Originally posted by Loswsmith:

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
Ever since it's always had a special place in my heart.

Anyone have any ideas where the concept for the A-10 might have been born?

A-10 has always been my favorite (along with the AC=130)

But this has always been close in my heart as well.

They are very similar in terms of size.

See: Here

Good link!

B-25 was engineered by North American Aviation.

North American Aviation = awesome.

Think of all the aircraft that this one company produced that changed the outcome of wars.

T6
P51
B25
F86
X15
XB70
B1


Amazing

Mitchells and Mustangs - my two WWII favs. Made models of both as a kid.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:

Barbie III. I flew on her twice when she was stationed out of Phoenix. Awesome experience, especially since the B-25 has always been one of my all-time favorite airplanes (well, since I was 5 or 6 and read about the Doolittle Raid). IIRC, that is the second B-25 equipped with the 75mm cannon as a test article, and also IIRC, she never saw combat. Still, an amazing ride.