How to Fly the North American B-25 "Mitchell" Medium Bomber (1944) | Tokyo
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This is the film used to train pilots on how to fly the North American B-25 Mitchell during World War 2 . The Navy Department produced it for use by all services. Named after Billy Mitchell, the controversial pioneer of heavy bombing, this is the plane that Jimmy Doolittle chose to fly off the deck of carrier Hornet for the dramatic raid on Tokyo. Extremely versatile, the North American B-'25 was the US's most produced medium bomber, fighting in all theaters and exported to virtually all Allied air forces. An effective level bomber, it could also be equipped with a multitude of additional machine guns, rockets, and even a 75mm canon, for low level ground attack. "After watching Spencer Tracy roar off the deck in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," I became a B-25 fan!" Zeno, Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-In http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com Don't miss our B-25 DVD with two more videos & 95-page B-25 pilot's manual: http://bit.ly/HUzHnT Visit our aviation DVD store at http://www.zenosflightshop.com for the World's largest selection of World War 2 & vintage jet aircraft aviation videos.
Comments
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today we say thank you to are vet's who served are armed forces just to say thank you for your service
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Why can't they just make it like a car where you turn on the key and go?
What's with all the gauges switches and levers? -
When I was a kid there was one at the local airport I saw it fly quite a few times. What happened to it was a tragedy, someone had bought it and hired a pilot to fly to their location he was doing a few touch and goes and then on one of them, crashed it. He was killed and the plane destroyed.
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A B-25 is not designed for digging tunnels ;)
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Awesone video. Now I consider myself capable of flying a B-25. So I will go somwehere and find me one to fly. I will tell the owner I am trained for flying it. :-)
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Wow, the B-25 stalls nicely. I expected it to drop a wing. It just sort of eased forward and kept flying. Really amazing!
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Sigh! Now I want one....
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Now that i know how to fly this beast, where's my B-25?!
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My dad was a F/O on the Mitchell, flying for the English over France in 1944!
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My first job out of high school was servicing cars and I got to know an older gentleman who was a regular customer. He said he flew B-17's and B-25's in the Pacific during WWII. He said both planes were great but the B-17's rudder he claimed could be a little tricky on landings/takeoffs. He absolutely loved the B-25 because he said it was so easy to fly and always rock steady. My curiosity made me ask how they relieved themselves on long missions and he chuckled and said "the relief tube between your legs".
The B-25 was a superb example of American ingenuity-reliable, not overly complicated, sturdy, and could handle any task given it. The configuration that was over the top killer was the 6 or 8 .50 calibers mounted on either side of the nose along with 4 rear ones. They even mounted a cannon underneath. The idea was on strafing runs the forward guns would hammer the target first, and then when the plane was past the target, the 4 rear ones would pepper the target a second time. Can you imagine all of those .50's blazing away? I've read that prolonged firing from all those .50's actually damaged the fuselage and stressed the airframe. -
amazing aircraft. but a lot too remember.
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hjjjj
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Thanks ZW for posting this one! I've always loved the B-25 as my dad was a young B-25 pilot in 1943 when he was given orders to report to Tunis, Tunisia with his crew to join in the North Africa campaign. He ferried a brand new B-25 across the Atlantic to serve in Jimmy Doolittle's outfit. IIRC that was about a year and a half after Doolittle's famous Tokyo raid. Luckily he came back with all his fingers and toes and was assigned at Morris Field (now Douglas International) in Charlotte, NC as a B-25 instructor pilot. He only ever had great things to say about the "Mitchell".
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"Thanks, guys!!"
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R.I.P Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, United States Army Air Service. Thank you for your service and thanks all the other heroes. The US has them in Spades. We need more of them.
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My Pop flew 79 missions over Northern Italy, bombing the bridge over the Brenner Pass, keeping the Germans hungry and stranded in Italy so they were not able to join their fellow soldiers at the Siegfried Line. He was just a kid but did a man's job.
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Notice the narrator says "a good pilot always starts the right engine first"... but in the video the pilot started the left engine, lol... (if you check the oil pressure gauge footage, not the rotating engine)
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This reminds me of why it took so long for me to get my 737 wings...I kept screwing up how to manage the cowling adjustments when landing...damn, I could be really stupid at times. Thankfully, I always kept my manifold pressure settings dead on!
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YAY, NOW I KNOW HOW TO PILOT A PLANE
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Check out General George Kenney's report on the air campaign off New Guinea; some interesting facts there about the B-25 and how he up-armed it.