Editing North American B-25 Mitchell (section)

===US Army Air Forces===
[[File:Army B-25 (Doolittle Raid).jpg|thumb|A B-25 Mitchell taking off from USS ''Hornet'' for the Doolittle Raid]]

The B-25B found fame as the bomber used in the 18 April 1942 [[Doolittle Raid]], in which 15 B-25Bs led by [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Jimmy Doolittle]] attacked mainland Japan, four months after the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]] (a 16th plane which participated was forced to abort, landing in Russia, where it and the crew were initially interned). The mission gave a much-needed lift in morale to the Americans and alarmed the Japanese, who had believed their home islands to be inviolable by enemy forces. Although the amount of actual damage done was relatively minor, it forced the Japanese to divert troops for home defense for the remainder of the war.

The raiders took off from the carrier {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} and bombed Tokyo and four other Japanese cities. Fifteen of the bombers subsequently crash-landed en route to recovery fields in eastern China. The losses resulted from the task force being spotted by a Japanese vessel, which forced the bombers to take off {{convert|170|mi|km|abbr=on}} early, fuel exhaustion, stormy nighttime conditions with zero visibility, and the failure to activate electronic homing aids at the recovery bases. Only one B-25 bomber landed intact, in [[Vladivostok]], where its five-man crew was interned and the aircraft confiscated. Of the 80 aircrew members, 69 survived their historic mission and eventually made it back to American lines.
[[File:B-25C 90 BS.jpg|thumb|North American B-25C Mitchell of the [[90th Fighter Squadron|90th BS]], 3rd BG(L) [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]], [[Girua Airport|Dobodura Airfield]] 1943]]
Following additional modifications, including the addition of a [[Plexiglas]] dome for navigational sightings to replace the overhead window for the navigator, and heavier nose armament, [[De-ice|de-icing]] and anti-icing equipment, the B-25C entered USAAF operations. Through block 20, the B-25C and B-25D differed only in the location of manufacture: C series at [[Inglewood, California]], and D series at [[Kansas City, Kansas]]. After block 20, some NA-96s began the transition to the G series, while some NA-87s acquired interim modifications eventually produced as the B-25D2 and ordered as the NA-100. NAA built a total of 3,915 B-25Cs and Ds during World War II.

Although the B-25 was designed to bomb from medium altitudes in level flight, it was frequently used in the [[South West Pacific theatre of World War II|Southwest Pacific theatre]] in treetop-level [[strafing]] and missions with parachute-retarded fragmentation bombs against Japanese airfields in [[New Guinea]] and the Philippines. These heavily armed Mitchells were field-modified at [[Townsville]], Australia, under the direction of Major [[Paul I. "Pappy" Gunn]] and North American technical representative Jack Fox. These "commerce destroyers" were also used on strafing and [[skip bombing]] missions against Japanese shipping trying to resupply their armies.

Under the leadership of [[Lieutenant General]] [[George C. Kenney]], Mitchells of the Far East Air Forces and its existing components, the [[Fifth Air Force|Fifth]] and [[Thirteenth Air Force]]s, devastated Japanese targets in the Southwest Pacific Theater during 1944 to 1945. The USAAF played a significant role in pushing the Japanese back to their home islands. The type operated with great effect in the [[Pacific Ocean Areas (command)|Central Pacific]], [[Battle of the Aleutian Islands|Alaska]], [[North African campaign|North Africa]], [[Battle of the Mediterranean|Mediterranean]], and [[South-East Asian theatre of World War II|China-Burma-India]] theaters.

The USAAF Antisubmarine Command made great use of the B-25 in 1942 and 1943. Some of the earliest B-25 bomb groups also flew the Mitchell on coastal patrols after the Pearl Harbor attack, prior to the AAFAC organization. Many of the two dozen or so antisubmarine squadrons flew the B-25C, D, and G series in the American Theater antisubmarine campaign, often in the distinctive, white sea-search camouflage.

==== Combat developments ====

===== Use as a gunship =====

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[[File:North American B-25 Mitchell.JPG|thumb|A view of a B-25G shows the midship location of dorsal turret.]]
In anti-shipping 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&nbsp;in (12.7&nbsp;mm) machine guns and a manually loaded [[75 mm Gun M2/M3/M6|75&nbsp;mm (2.95&nbsp;in) M4 cannon]],<ref name=Merriam>Merriam, Ray, ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=R7GjzzNMpu4C&pg=PA8 "U. S. Warplanes of World War II."] ''World War II Journal, No. 15,'' 1 July 2000, p. 8.</ref> one of the largest weapons fitted to an aircraft, similar to the British [[Ordnance QF 6-pounder|57&nbsp;mm gun]]-armed [[De Havilland Mosquito#Strike ("fighter-bomber") variants|Mosquito Mk. XVIII]] and the autoloading German 75&nbsp;mm long-barrel ''Bordkanone BK 7,5'' heavy-caliber ordnance fitted to both the [[Henschel Hs 129#Hs 129 B-3|Henschel Hs 129B-3]] and [[Junkers Ju 88#Ju 88P|Junkers Ju 88P-1]]. The B-25G's shorter nose placed the cannon breech behind the pilot, where it could be manually loaded and serviced by the navigator; his crew station was moved to a position just behind the pilot. The navigator signaled the pilot when the gun was ready and the pilot fired the weapon using a button on his control wheel.

The Royal Air Force, U.S. Navy, and Soviet VVS each conducted trials with this series, but none adopted it. The G series comprised one prototype, five preproduction C conversions, 58 C series modifications, and 400 production aircraft for a total of 464 B-25Gs. In its final version, the G-12, an interim armament modification, eliminated the lower Bendix turret and added a starboard dual gun pack, waist guns, and a canopy for the tail gunner to improve the view when firing the single tail gun. In April 1945, the air depots in Hawaii refurbished about two dozen of these and included the eight-gun nose and rocket launchers in the upgrade.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

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 [[75 mm gun (US)#T13E1 / M5|T13E1]],<ref name=Merriam /> 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&nbsp;mm (2.95&nbsp;in) gun fired at a muzzle velocity of {{convert|2362|ft/s|abbr=on|lk=on}}. 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&nbsp;mm gun was sometimes removed from both G and H models and replaced with two additional .50&nbsp;in (12.7&nbsp;mm) machine guns as a field modification.<ref>Kinzey 1999, pp. 51, 53.</ref> In the new FEAF, these were redesignated the G1 and H1 series, respectively.

[[File:B-25H.jpg|thumb|A restored B-25H "Barbie III" showing 75&nbsp;mm M5 gun and four 0.50 Brownings with belt feeds]]

The H series normally came from the factory mounting four fixed, forward-firing .50&nbsp;in (12.7&nbsp;mm) machine guns in the nose; four in a pair of under-cockpit [[wikt:conformal|conformal]] flank-mount gun pod packages (two guns per side); two more in the manned dorsal turret, relocated forward to a position just behind the cockpit (which became standard for the J-model); one each in a pair of new waist positions, introduced simultaneously with the forward-relocated dorsal turret; and lastly, a pair of guns in a new tail-gunner's position. Company promotional material bragged that the B-25H could "bring to bear 10 machine guns coming and four going, in addition to the 75&nbsp;mm cannon, eight [[unguided rocket|rockets]], and 3,000&nbsp;lb (1,360&nbsp;kg) of bombs."<ref>Yenne 1989, p. 40.</ref>

The H had a modified cockpit with single flight controls operated by the pilot. The co-pilot's station and controls were removed and replaced by a smaller seat used by the navigator/cannoneer, The radio operator crew position was aft of the bomb bay with access to the waist guns.<ref>Kinzey 1999, pp. 52–53.</ref> Factory production totals were 405 B-25Gs and 1,000 B-25Hs, with 248 of the latter being used by the Navy as PBJ-1Hs.<ref name=Merriam /> Elimination of the co-pilot saved weight, and moving the dorsal turret forward partially counterbalanced the waist guns and the manned rear turret.<ref>Baugher, Joe. [http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b25_15.html North American B-25H Mitchell."] ''American Military Aircraft: US Bomber Aircraft'', 11 March 2000. Retrieved: 28 May 2015.</ref>
<!-- WHEN CORRECTING HERE, CORRECT THE SAME TEXT IN [[Gunship]] ARTICLE, TOO -->

===== Return to medium bomber =====
Following the two-gunship series, NAA again produced the medium bomber configuration with the B-25J series. It optimized the mix of the interim NA-100 and the H series, having both the bombardier's station and fixed guns of the D and the forward turret and refined armament of the H series. NAA also produced a strafer nose-first shipped to air depots as kits, then introduced on the production line in alternating blocks with the bombardier nose. The solid metal "strafer" nose housed eight centerline Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns. The remainder of the armament was as in the H-5. NAA also supplied kits to mount eight underwing 5 inch High Velocity Airborne Rockets just outside the propeller arcs. These were mounted on zero-length launch rails, four per wing.
[[File:Restored B-25J Take-off Time at an air show.JPG|thumb|The restored B-25J Mitchell ''Take-Off Time'' at the [[Mid-Atlantic Air Museum]] for World War II Weekend 2015 in [[Reading, Pennsylvania]]]]
The final, and most numerous, series of the Mitchell, the '''B-25J''', looked less like earlier series apart from the well-glazed bombardier's nose of nearly identical appearance to the earliest B-25 subtypes.<ref name=Merriam /> Instead, the J followed the overall configuration of the H series from the cockpit aft. It had the forward dorsal turret and other armament and airframe advancements. All J models included four .50&nbsp;in (12.7&nbsp;mm) light-barrel Browning AN/M2 guns in a pair of "fuselage packages", conformal [[gun pod]]s each flanking the lower cockpit, each pod containing two [[Browning M2]]s. By 1945, however, combat squadrons removed these. The J series restored the co-pilot's seat and dual flight controls. The factory-made kits available to the Air Depot system to create the strafer-nose B-25J-2. This configuration carried a total of 18 .50&nbsp;in (12.7&nbsp;mm) light-barrel AN/M2 Browning M2 machine guns: eight in the nose, four in the flank-mount conformal gun pod packages, two in the dorsal turret, one each in the pair of waist positions, and a pair in the tail – with 14 of the guns either aimed directly forward or aimed to fire directly forward for strafing missions. Some aircraft had eight [[5-Inch Forward Firing Aircraft Rocket|5-inch (130&nbsp;mm) high-velocity aircraft rockets]].<ref name=Merriam /> NAA introduced the J-2 into production in alternating blocks at the J-22. Total J series production was 4,318.