B-25 Bomber Fly Day is scheduled for April 9th, 2011.

B-25 Bomber fly DayThe North American B-25 Mitchell was one of America’s most renowned airplanes of World War II. The impressive aircraft was made famous by Gen. Jimmy Doolittle during the April 18, 1942 Tokyo Raid, and immortalized in the film, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.

Led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle and flown from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, 16 B-25s successfully completed the first strike on Japanese soil during World War II. While all the planes were lost in the raid, 69 of the 80 aircrew survived their historic mission and eventually returned to American lines.

The B-25 is an American, twin-engine, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It saw duty in every combat area flown by by Allied air forces in every theater of World War II. Originally intended for level bombing from medium altitudes, it was used extensively in the Pacific Theater for attacking Japanese airfields from treetop level.

The only American warplane to be named after an individual, General Billy Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation, there were nearly 10,000 B-25s produced.

Due to the dire need for Army bombers, one of the predecessors of the B-25, dubbed the NA-62, went straight to work, without any experimental or service- test versions. Modifications were made during production runs, or to existing aircraft at field modification centers around the world.

See the B-25 take flight at Lyon Air Museum, Sunday, April 9 around noon, conditions permitting, and check out more information on the B-25.

North American B-25 “Mitchell”

MANUFACTURER: North American Aviation

MODEL: B-25J Mitchell

ARMY AIR CORPS SERIAL NUMBER: 44-29465

PROTOTYPE FIRST FLIGHT: August 19, 1940

CREW: Six-Pilot, Co-pilot, Navigator/Bombardier, Turret Gunner/Engineer, Radio Operator/Waist Gunner, Tail Gunner

POWER: Two 1,700 horsepower Wright Cyclone R-2600
14-cylinder radial piston engines

WEIGHTS: Basic Empty Weight – 19,480 pounds
Gross Weight – 35,000 pounds

FUEL CAPACITY: 974 gallons

RANGE: 1,350 miles (2,200 miles with ferry tanks)

WING SPAN: 67 feet, 7 inches

LENGTH: 52 feet, 11 inches

HEIGHT: 16 feet, 4 inches

SERVICE CEILING: 24,200 feet

TYPICAL ARMAMENT: Twelve .50 caliber machine guns

TYPICAL BOMB LOAD: 4,000 pounds

NUMBER BUILT: Approximately 9,985

SPEEDS: Maximum – 275 miles per hour at 15,000 ft.
Cruising – 230 miles per hour

Details to come…