The North American B-25 Mitchell was one of the premier
US warplanes of WWII. It gained
immortality early in the United
States' involvement in the war when a small group of B-25s
under Lt. Col Jimmy Doolittle took off from the deck of the USS Hornet and
executed a surprise attack on military targets on the Japanese island of Honshu. Subsequently, Mitchells would see
service in every US theatre of war, doing duty as a
tactical bombers, coastal patrol aircraft, photo-reconnaissance and
photo-mapping planes, and, when fitted with additional guns and rockets, as
superb ground-or shipping-attack platforms. The US supplied B-25s to the British Royal Air Force
and to the Soviet Union, which flew them
against the Nazis on the Eastern Front. Through period photographs and detailed
information, the career of the Mitchell is covered from the experimental NA-40
prototype to the final production B-25J model. US Marine Corps PBJ versions are
also chronicled. Illustrated with nearly 200 photographs, more than 80 of them
rare period photos in original colour, plus colour profiles and detailed line
drawings.
