B-25H/J Mitchell by Italeri

1/72 scale
Kit No. 129
Cost: $ 26.00
Decals: Two versions, both USAAF (China-Burma-India Theatre, 1944, and Meditteranean Theatre, 1945)
Comments: Raised panel lines, engraved panel lines for control surfaces, fairly detailed cockpit, option for H version with 75mm cannon, or J version with glazed nose, detailed exterior

History

The B-25 Mitchell was developed in response to a U.S. Army Air Corps request for proposal for a twin-engined medium attack bomber, and took its maiden flight in January 1939. The B-25 served in nearly every theatre of war: the Pacific, the Far East, North Africa and the Mediterranean, and was sent to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Act. Curiously, there is little record of the Mitchell serving with the U.S. Army Air Forces in England, although they were operated in Europe by the RAF and employed in the Meditteranean Theatre.

Named after Major General Billy Mitchell, the strident aviation pioneer and advocate whose 1925 court martial publicized both the need for America to develop a strong air arm and the political hostility to that goal — both among top military brass who were offended by Mitchell’s insubordination and the Congress, which was tight-fisted throughout the 1920’s with military appropriations — the B-25 eloquently vindicated Mitchell in perhaps the moment of its greatest fame, the April 18, 1942 bombing raid on Tokyo, Japan, just over four months after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. While the damage the bombers inflicted was light, the psychological effect was tremendous, particularly for the United States, which after Pearl Harbor had received a steady stream of bad news from the Pacific and the Far East, including the fall of Singapore and the doomed battle American forces were then waging against the Japanese in the Phillipines (the Americans would be forced to surrender Corregidor, their last stronghold, on May 6, 1942). A less well known point of distinction is that the B-25 is among the aircraft credited with sinking the first enemy submarines off both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

The prototype was delivered to Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio on July 4, 1939. Its top speed with Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engines was only 265 mph, but once they were replaced with Wright Cyclone radials, this initially increased to 285 mph during flight tests, ultimately reaching 332 mph. The prototype initially had a large greenhouse canopy which was eliminated in favor of a more traditional windscreen design, and the shoulder-mounted wings were moved to a mid-fuselage position. Engine nacelles were redesigned for greater aerodynamic efficiency and extended to a position aft of the fuselage. A tail cone with a .50 caliber machine gun was added for rear defensive firepower.

The first unit to receive the B-25 Mitchell was the 17th Bombardment Group based at McChord Field in Washington State during 1941 — which began flying coastal patrols in the weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack. The 17th would later perform the same duty on the Atlantic Coast and off the Gulf of Mexico.

Just as the B-25A represented a modification to increase protection in the form of armor plate around the cockpit and self-sealing fuel tanks, the B-25B, the subject of this kit, ushered in more defensive firepower. It was the B that first featured the installation of Bendix electrically operated machine gun turrets in both dorsal and ventral positions, both housing two .50 caliber machine guns. The ventral turret was fully retractable and operated by a gunner who knelt over a periscope-gunsight, an uncomfortable position if if had to be manned for any length of time, and one which caused some crewman to experience vertigo. The ventral turret would later be phased out beginning with the B-25C.

The gun turrets were an impressive modification that were never fully adopted by the air forces of the Axis powers; they had to be designed not only for aerodynamic efficiency, but with sufficient room internally for not merely the guns, but the gunner, ammunition, mountings and electrical equipment to power them. In addition, a fire interrupter system had to be devised to keep the gunner from shooting off bits of his own airplane as he tracked enemy aircraft.

B-25H: Flying Artillery

Particularly in the Pacific, the B-25 was repeatedly modified for the anti-shipping role. These modifications included replacing the nose glazing with an all metal nose bristling with up to eight .50 caliber machine guns (B-25G), or four .50 caliber machine guns and a 75mm cannon (B-25H), which was reputed to have nearly stopped the aircraft in mid-air when fired, due to its fierce recoil. The B-25H was a formidable weapon when deployed against Japanese shipping. Theoretically it could also have been used as flying artillery against ground troops, but the H was mainly deployed as a naval air weapon. The B-25 Mitchell, as the instrument of the Tokyo Raid, gave American morale a huge boost at a moment when the war news from other quarters was very grim indeed. For this, it would forever seal its reputation in American aviation history.

The Kit

Italeri’s B-25 H/J Mitchell is injection molded in dark olive plastic and consists of 86 parts, including 9 clear parts for the windscreen/canopy, dorsal turret, waist gunner windows, rear gunner fairing, navigation lights, and glazed nose for the J version. The kit is crisply molded with raised panel lines, although there are a few rather heavy engraved lines for the control surfaces and bomb bay doors. The wings have an appropriate dihedral angle, and the ailerons, elevators, and twin rudders feature a nicely done stressed fabric effect.

There is no interior sidewall detail for the cockpit, which features individual seats and control yokes with separately mounted bomber-style control wheels, a central floor-mounted console, and a main instrument panel with an accompanying decal. The kit also features a rarity: two seated pilot figures. I built the glazed nosed J version of this kit back in 1983, so I can vouch for the fact that construction is absolutely trouble-free with no fit issues whatsoever.

The B-25H, even without its 75mm cannon, was capable of laying down a devastating barrage of .50 caliber machine gun fire, between its four nose guns, four guns in the twin packs fitted to the fuselage, and two additional machine guns in the top turret. It was a formidable aerial weapon.

There are sufficient parts to build the all-metal blunt-nosed B-25H of the box art, featuring four .50 caliber machine guns and a 75mm cannon, or the B-25J with the glazed nose and a bombardier position up front. Regardless of which version you choose, these later versions of the B-25 both featured additional armor protection on both sides of the cockpit (Parts 11 and 12) and the twin-pack .50 caliber machine gun fairings (Parts 21 and 22) below and just aft of the extra armor plating.

The kit features radial engines of average detail, and one-piece propellers, and crisply detailed engine cowlings featuring the multiple exhaust vents that characterized later versions of the B-25 series, complete with engraved cooling gills. Should you build the kit with the landing gear down, the instructions note that a nose weight of 18 grams will be needed to prevent it being a tail-sitter — regardless of the version you opt for.

Markings

The instructions make no reference to the markings whatsoever, but the bottom of the kit box features a two-view color profile of the two versions of the B-25 for which markings are provided. The kit decals are not extensive, consisting of little more than the national insignia, a marking for the main instrument panel in the cockpit, and serial numbers for the tail.

The B-25H version with the 75mm cannon in the nose flew with the 1st Air Commando Group in Burma in 1944, and is to be painted in a scheme of Olive Drab of Dark Gull Grey. It  features a Black 6 marking, outlined in white, as well as the word “Polly” in cursive, both of which appear on the nose. Additionally there is a small White 17 marking just below the cockpit windshield on both sides. The decal sheet does not include the white diagonal stripes on the fuselage, so these will have to be painted on. The tail serial for this version is 34271, shown in yellow.

The second version is for a glazed nose B-25J, and appears in a paint scheme of overall Aluminum with Olive Drab anti-glare panels on the upper fuselage forward of the cockpit and on the upper inboard half of the engine cowlings. It is an aircraft of the 310th Bomb Group based on the island of Corsica in 1945. The yellow and red horizontal stripes on the outer twin vertical tails, and their black borders, will have to be painted, as decals are not provided for them. The tail serial for this version is 327563, shown in black.

Conclusion

This is a great kit of the B-25 that has a modicum of detail and no fit issues to complicate construction. It goes together easily, so the real challenge will be deciding how to paint and decal it. Highly recommended.

Reference

B-25 Mitchell in Action – Squadron/Signal Publications, Aircraft No. 34 by Ernest R. McDowell; Copyright 1978 by Squadron Signal Publications, Inc., Warren, Michigan.