Mitchell B25 Bomber WW2

Fawlty

Fawlty

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As we approach Remembrance Sunday, and for anyone that is interested ( I know there are some flyers on the forum), I have come across an interesting PDF. It is the original pilot training manual for the Mitchell B25 Bomber WW2.
Lots of technical stuff, but also general information, which shows what these brave crews had to contend with when operating this aircraft all those years ago under combat conditions.
The link below will enable anyone to download the manual. There are no copyright issues.

PilotTrainingManualForTheMitchellBomber_text.pdf

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
The Smithsonian has Flak-Bait, a B25 that flew over 200 missions during WWII. Crew members were rotated out after 25 missions, if they survived that long, so this plane outlasted at least eight complete crew rotations. The total number of crew would have been higher, probably, as many airmen were killed or seriously injured before completing 25 missions.

The plane was nicknamed by its first pilot, whose dog was nicknamed Flea Bait. Evidently that was a lucky theme.

It's currently in the restoration area at the Udvar Hazy Center at Dulles Airport.

PXL_20221228_193143028~2.jpg
 
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I just finished reading First Light, by Geoffrey Wellum, a British fighter pilot in. WWII. Excellent read. While reading about him and his book, I came across the fact that among bomber crews in WWII, 44% of the men did not survive. Yes, they were rotated out after 25 missions, but few were lucky to complete that many.
 
ibike2havefun said:
The Smithsonian has Flak Bait, a B25 that flew over 200 missions during WWII. Crew members were rotated out after 25 missions, if they survived that long, so this plane outlasted at least eight complete crew rotations. The total number of crew would have been higher, probably, as many airmen were killed or seriously injured before completing 25 missions.

The plane was nicknamed by its first pilot, whose dog was nicknamed Flea Bait. Evidently that was a lucky theme.

It's currently in the restoration area at the Udvar Hazy Center at Dulles Airport.

PXL_20221228_193143028~2.jpg
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I've been wondering what they mean by 'restoration' on this one. Aside from surviving, it's historical significance is defined by the appearance of the aircraft. If the existing markings are original, it would be a shame to restore it to new, never been shot at, condition. We shall see....
 
Oldbikefixr said:
I've been wondering what they mean by 'restoration' on this one. Aside from surviving, it's historical significance is defined by the appearance of the aircraft. If the existing markings are original, it would be a shame to restore it to new, never been shot at, condition. We shall see....
Click to expand...

The official A&S policy is to preserve and display objects in a condition as near as possible to what they were in when received by the Museum, so they definitely won't be making Flak-Bait look factory-new. I suppose it's a matter of trying to contain and correct the inevitable deterioration of materials, even when they are just sitting in a climate-controlled environment.

Here's a link to the official Smithsonian page about the plane...
 
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Oldbikefixr said:
I've been wondering what they mean by 'restoration' on this one. Aside from surviving, it's historical significance is defined by the appearance of the aircraft. If the existing markings are original, it would be a shame to restore it to new, never been shot at, condition. We shall see....
Click to expand...
It is my understanding that the airplane is considered to be the original nameplate. A group at an airfield in Ohio (I forget where, but can find out if you are interested) recovered this nameplate for a B17 or B25 but the entire airframe and wings were completely destroyed. The people involved obtained the original blueprints from Boeing, and they are literally building the plane from scratch. It is an all volunteer effort, but those guys are highly skilled and many worked on these planes in the service. The whole project is being paid for by donations. I think many parts from other planes have been donated, such as the engines, and other large casting pieces that are difficult or expensive to manufacture. The term 'restoration', especially in this case has an elastic nature. There will, literally be very very few original parts to this plane when it is completed.
 
In the summer of 1956 my dad was transferred from Hickam AFB, Hawaii to Eglin Air Force Base, FL. I was 9 months old when we moved into base housing and so Eglin was the only AFB I knew growing up. Dad rode a Cushman Eagle to work when I was in elementary school but that's another story. We moved off base in 1968 and dad retired from the USAF in 1974. By this time the thousands of acres containing Eglin's air fields and armament test ranges was called the Reservation. Outside Eglin's north gate was Doolittle Park and up until 1973 a B-25 Mitchell bomber was on display there because Eglin was where the Doolittle Raiders trained for the 1942 Toyko bombing raid. Eglin had a number of auxiliary fields scattered throughout the piney woods north of Choctawhatchee Bay, the "Reservation." The bombers were going to take off from an aircraft carrier which had not yet been done and the aircrews had to learn how to get a B-25 off the ground in less than 400 feet. They trained for this at Auxiliary Field #1 (Wagner Field) which is still there. One of our FLSTOC routes rode right by it. The air field had three 5,000' long runways shaped in a triangle. To train the pilots the runways had stripes painted across them to delineate take-off distances approximating an aircraft carrier. Eglin has a lot of stories to tell and was a great place to grow up if you were interested in airplanes as I was. In this link about Eglin's air fields scroll down to Auxiliary Field #1. The 1949 USDA photo shows the lines still visible across the runways. Me and my friends rode our enduros all over the Reservation in the early 1970s.
 
Donk said:
Grim fact. The reason it was 25 missions was that statistically a flyer would be killed by them and they would have to replace him anyway.
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At least it's better than the Germans (and I think the Japanese) who didn't rotate out flyers. They were replaced when they were killed or the war ended.
 
STFlips said:
If you are interested, here is a link to one of two still airworthy Lancaster heavy bombers, it will be out today flying over some remembrance services.

www.warplane.com

Aircraft Details - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

www.warplane.com www.warplane.com
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Thanks for this. I visited this museum back in 2009. The site was the home of the former 33 Air Navigation School, Mount Hope during WW2. My father was trained as an RAF navigator there and trained on Avro Ansons. It really is worth visiting.
 
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