B-25

[Kazaa]

Yes, Yes, Yes, that sounds like the business !

[toon]

just got off phone with the man.he was in the 38th bomb group ,5th af..71st  bomb squad.the 71st  was the wolfs head.he knew a couple guys in the 345th..one was k.t. witt..and his squad was called the treetop terrors.he said later in the war the 822nd and the 823rd got the model with the 75mm.but they were used mainly for barge sweeps and shipping.he got to go on a couple missions with that plane but didnt like it.too damn noisy.

[mussie]

Originally posted by Kazaa
So what would the B-25 add to the game of Aces High 2 ?

How about 14 foward firing 50 Cals

[FiLtH]

Ya it would be nice to see the B25. But like every other plane after 2 weeks the novelty wears off (except the spit16)and most guys are back in the big birds.

[Kazaa]

If we could get the later B-25H then that would be a sweet bird.

It had nice speed, good turret locations and a nice bomb load.

I would fly it for sure

[Toad]

Originally posted by COBA94
just got off phone with the man.he was in the 38th bomb group ,5th af..71st  bomb squad.the 71st  was the wolfs head.he knew a couple guys in the 345th..one was k.t. witt..and his squad was called the treetop terrors.he said later in the war the 822nd and the 823rd got the model with the 75mm.but they were used mainly for barge sweeps and shipping.he got to go on a couple missions with that plane but didnt like it.too damn noisy.

Yeah, my dad is deaf in some hearing ranges from the B-25; he used to sit right next to a ringing telephone in the "bell ringer" days and never hear it at all.

I looked around for 38th stuff. You might pass this on:

The 38th Bomb Group, The Sun Setters, will hold its next reunion in Mesa, Arizona, USA on 28 - 30 September 2006

Went to a 345th reunion last September with my Dad; he had a great time and so did I.

He must have know K.T. Witt early on; the 345th only used "Treetop Terrors" a short time; they went with "Air Apaches".  After the 345th arrived at Nadzab (late Feb 1944) a contest was held and Tree Top Terrors was picked as a group nickname. When they moved to Biak in the middle of July they picked a new name, Air Apaches. Sgt. Pushetonequa, an actual American Indian designed the Indian Head logo.

[Stoney74]

Originally posted by mussie
How about 14 foward firing 50 Cals

Where does that number come from?  The most dedicated forward firing guns I can find are on the H model, with 4 in the nose, and 4 on the blisters, or with the same set up on certain blocks of the J models.  I guess if you turn the dorsal turret forward, it would be 10, but the other 4 guns were in the tail and waist.  Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?  I've seen pictures of B-25's with 8 guns in the nose on a J model, but I can't find anything that refers to that as a factory installed set up.  Possibly a field mod? Can someone look that up in America's 100,000 or something?

[Edit] I just remembered America's 100,000 is a book on fighters...and I found a reference to a factory installed 8 gun package.  It said that most units equipped with the 8 gun nose removed the 4 blister guns.  That keeps us at an 8 forward firing gun net...not counting the dorsal turret.

[Toad]

I think they are referring to the first J models with the 8-gun solid nose and the two two-gun blisters on the sides of the cockpit. Early on they devised a way to lock the top turret forward and fire it from the cockpit as well. That'd be 14.

The blister guns were removed because they were pretty hard on the airframe and because the J's were too heavy.

[Stoney74]

My point is that since HTC usually models the planes in their conventional/typical configurations, I'd say a J model wouldn't have the 8 gun nose package.  Most J models were built with glass noses for dropping bombs, and the more typical 3X.50 cal up front, and the blister guns.  What's more, if they did put an 8 gun nose on it, and in use they removed the blister guns, then give us an 8 gun nose with no blisters.  Let's be honest, all those forward firing guns (and the 75mm gun) could be why we don't have a B-25 yet.  If you look at the game balance issues it could cause, it may have given HTC pause.  Given the history of the plane and number produced, there's no reason not to already have it at this point.  What I don't want to see is a perked B-25.

I like the B-25, I'd fly the B-25 almost exclusively as a medium bomber, but I think all of the talk about the 75mm and "14 forward firing .50 cals" gets away from the actual aircraft itself, and has people thinking "we need this because it will be an uber-destroyer plane".  I hope we eventually get it, because of its historical significance--not because a few variants had all that firepower.

[AutoPilot]

If you look at the game balance issues it could cause,

Just think, instead of the bomber jocks bombing the hangers in FT , they would be low level straffing them instead.

[Toad]

There were ~480 B-25g's, the first with the 75mm. There were about 1000 B-25H's built, all of those built in Kansas City. The models with 75mm were by no means a "rare" bird. Roughly 1500 out of 9900 had the big gun, about 15%.

As for the B-25J "solid nose" strafer, these were both field modifications and factory issue.

Remember that a huge number of C/D models were modified to 8 forward firing guns by putting 4 in the nose and 2 on each side in the blister packs.

Production J models were standard from the factory with the 4 guns in side blisters.  

There were ~480 B-25g's, the first with the 75mm. There were about 1000 B-25H's built, all of those built in Kansas City. The models with 75mm were by no means a "rare" bird. Roughly 1500 out of 9900 had the big gun, about 15%.

As for the B-25J "solid nose" strafer, these were both field modifications and factory issue.

Remember that a huge number ( probably all in the SWPAC) of C/D models were modified to 8 forward firing guns by putting 4 in the nose and 2 on each side in the blister packs.

Production J models were standard from the factory with the 4 guns in side blisters. The nose could be plexiglass or a solid 8 gun nose there were 453 12 gun J's from the factory. The dash of the model number identified those with the 8 gun nose.  There were several dash numbers that signified the 8 gun nose. There were 4,390 J models produced in Kansas City, making it the most heavily produced of the Mitchells.

The solid 8 gun nose was also available for field modification and the changeover was relatively easy. The depot at Townsville, Australia, orginators of the "strafer B-25" modded a lot of J's to 8 gun configuration.

In short a lot of B-25J's flew for quite a while with 12 forward firing guns. Over 450 were delivered that way and an unknown number were field modded. (Consider again that almost every C/D in the Pacific was modded to strafer configuration in the field. )Towards the end of the war, the side blisters were removed for weight and maintenance considerations.

[Stoney74]

I knew the 75mm variants weren't rare, just wasn't sure about the 8 gun J models.  I had read that most J's were made in the bomber variant, not the strafer variant.  Good numbers--kind of stuff I was hoping to see.

[A20Gman]

A-26 too

[Suave]

Didn't the b25H have a radar gunsight ?

Did you guys see that movie at zenos on the b25H flying fire mission. In the video they used a formation of the planes like a flying artillery battery. The whole formation of b25s started shooting miles from the target.

[Suave]

http://www.riemarfamily.com/falcon%20in%20action.html