North American B-25 Mitchell
The B-25 Mitchell was a versatile medium bomber. During the Pacific War, C Model to J Models saw combat service.
Made famous by their used on the April 18, 1942 "Doolittle Raid" over Japan.
The C Model was built at North American in Inglewood, California.
The D model was built in North American in Kansas City, Kansas.
B-25 Strafer Variant
During the middle of 1942 in Australia, "Pappy" Gunn pioneered the modification of the nose section of a B-25C and B-25D Mitchells into a strafer variant. Initially, 3rd Bombardment Group B-25s were field modified to remove the nose crew positions and
instead up to eight forward firing .50 caliber
machine guns plus and additional four
bolted to each side of the nose. Later, B-25s were modified into "strafer" variants by the 4th Air Depot at Garbutt Field near Townsville.
First model with a nose mounted 75mm cannon.
The B-25H had a nose mounted 75mm cannon in the nose that was manually loaded. A total of 1,000 were built.
B-25's in service with the U. S. Navy or U. S. Marine Corps were
known as the PBJ Mitchell. Over 700 Mitchells were delivered to the Navy and Marines, including
These were C, D, G, H and J model Mitchells. These USMC groups
were trained to drop torpedoes, which required flying with the
bomb bays open, although they never used this tactic in combat.
They also trained with “Tiny Tim” rockets, and H
models with 75mm nose cannons. Some were equipped with radar
In service with other Nations
Many Allied nations also used the B-25, in the Pacific,
the NEIAF. Some countries around the world continuing to use
B-25's until the 1960's!