The B-25

The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in every theater of World War II, and after the war ended, many remained in service, operating across four decades. Produced in numerous variants, nearly 10,000 B-25s were built. It was the most-produced American medium bomber and the third-most-produced American bomber overall. These included several limited models such as the F-10 reconnaissance aircraft, the AT-24 crew trainer, and the United States Marine Corps' PBJ-1 patrol bomber.

General Information

Type Medium bomber

National origin United States

Manufacturer North American Aviation

Primary users:

United States Army Air Forces
Royal Air Force
Soviet Air Force
United States Marine Corps

Number built9,816

History

Introduction date 1941

First flight 19 August 1940

Retired 1974 (Indonesia)

Developed from North American NA-40

Developed into North American XB-28 Dragon

General characteristics

Crew: 5 (one pilot, navigator/bombardier, turret gunner/engineer, radio operator/waist gunner, tail gunner)

Length: 52 ft 11 in (16.13 m)

Wingspan: 67 ft 7 in (20.60 m)

Height: 16 ft 4 in (4.98 m)

Wing area: 618 sq ft (57.4 m2)

Airfoil: root: NACA 23017; tip: NACA 4409R[65]

Empty weight: 19,480 lb (8,836 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 35,000 lb (15,876 kg)

Powerplant: 2 × Wright R-2600-92 Twin Cyclone 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,700 hp (1,300 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 272 mph (438 km/h, 236 kn) at 13,000 ft (4,000 m)

Cruise speed: 230 mph (370 km/h, 200 kn)

Range: 1,350 mi (2,170 km, 1,170 nmi)

Service ceiling: 24,200 ft (7,400 m)

Armament

Guns: 12–18 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns and 75 mm (2.95 in) T13E1 cannon

Hardpoints: 2,000 lb (900 kg) ventral shackles to hold one external Mark 13 torpedo

Rockets: racks for ten 5 in (127 mm) high velocity aircraft rockets (HVAR)

Bombs: 3,000 lb (1,360 kg) bombs

The B-25H

In antishipping and strafing operations, the USAAF had an urgent need for hard-hitting aircraft, and North American responded with the B-25G. In this series, the transparent nose and bombardier/navigator position was changed for a shorter, hatched nose with two fixed .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns and a manually loaded 75 mm (2.95 in) M4 cannon.

The B-25H series continued the development of the gunship version. NAA Inglewood produced 1000. The H had even more firepower; most replaced the M4 gun with the lighter T13E1, designed specifically for the aircraft, but 20-odd H-1 block aircraft completed by the Republic Aviation modification center at Evansville had the M4 and two-machine-gun nose armament. The 75 mm (2.95 in) gun fired at a muzzle velocity of 2,362 ft/s (720 m/s). Due to its slow rate of fire (about four rounds could be fired in a single strafing run), relative ineffectiveness against ground targets, and the substantial recoil, the 75 mm gun was sometimes removed from both G and H models and replaced with two additional .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns as a field modification.

Controls

AG1 for canopy

AG2 for bomb bay

AG3 for ability to fire rear turret guns (I'm too dumb to make them auto target)

AG4 for nav lights

AG8 for engines

VTOL down for flaps

Trim for trim

Comes with quite detailed interior(for me at least) and quite good flight handling.

Happy flying!