North American B-25 Mitchell The Ultimate Look - From drawing Board to flying Arsenal

William Wolf has written some of the most detailed books on American bomber aircraft available. This weighty book continues his series by looking at one of the most versatile weapons in the 1940s American arsenal - the North American B-25 - and is exceptional in the depth of its coverage.

In Part 1 Wolf starts with three short chapters on how North American developed from its inception to a manufacturing company capable of designing and building advanced combat aircraft. Two much lengthier chapters cover the design, development and production of the B-25, setting it fully in the context of late 1930s rearmament and other companies rival designs. Wolf documents how the design evolved from the initial lightly-armed B-25 (without a suffix) through to its final wartime form, the B-25J armed with up to 18 machine guns as well as bombs and rockets. Marine PBJ-1s are covered, as are B-25 transports and the few machines used as VIP transports.

Part 2 comprises 27 chapters and is a tremendously detailed description of the B-25. It examines every aspect of the aircraft from nose to tail. If you want a description of the different types of rivets used to hold it together, and photographs of the rivet guns used to make them, then they are here. Chapters cover the R-2600 engines, electrical systems, photographic equipment, control surfaces, oil system, etc. To give an idea of the level of detail the heating, ventilating and defrosting system is covered by chapter 14 in eight pages, illustrated by three pictures from the B-25J flight manual and three of the author's own pictures.

Part 3 consists of three very long chapters and is a similarly detailed look at the B-25's armament. The various 0.5" turrets, blisters and mountings of the gun armament of the various models are described as well as the famous 75mm cannon carried by the B-25G and H, which alone receives 11 pages. I was particularly interested in the full account of the generally unsuccessful Bendix lower turret with its periscopic sight. This section also covers B-25 ordnance, from standard bombs to more unusual weapons such as parafrags, spike bombs, depth charges and rockets to the (never used operationally) torpedo. The techniques and tactics used to deliver these weapons are discussed. Bombsights and radars are also detailed.

Part 4 discusses in nine chapters the crew duties and stations and how the B-25 was flown - from take-off procedures to landing, stalls, autopilot use and single-engined operations. Chapters also cover how the aircraft was to be abandoned in an emergency.

Part 5 is a overview of B-25 units in the USAAF, Marine PBJ units and foreign operators such as the British, Dutch and even Soviet Union. Three brief appendixes cover the surviving B-25s the author has examined, B-25s in the movies (!) and the three B-25 personnel who received the Medal of Honor.

Physically the book is a well-produced hard back. It is illustrated throughout with many black-and-white pictures, often taken from B-25 flight manuals or other period documents, and a similar number of period or modern colour pictures, many taken by Wolf himself when examining surviving B-25s to illustrate particular pieces of equipment or elements of design. There are also a handful of colour profiles of various B-25s.

Wolf has deliberately scoped his book to examine the B-25 as a machine, covering the rationale for its initial design, how that design evolved, and what its components and armaments were in tremendous detail. He does not cover the operational use of the B-25 (except where such use resulted in changes to the design) so if you are after detailed histories of B-25 units or stories of B-25 aircrew you should look elsewhere.

At 477 pages this book is a tremendous achievement, one that is difficult to fault. It is unmatched as a description of the B-25 and its weaponry and I unreservedly recommend it to anyone interested in the B-25 as an aircraft.