Warbird Information Exchange

Anyone know what this is under the nose of a Dutch 18 Sq B-25?

Thanks in advance Duggy.

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When I was young "sex was safe & flying was dangerous".

Slipstream assisted spent casing chute?

Or maybe smoke and fumes extractor? I'm not a B-25 expert but do those look like factory installed guns or a field installation?

Randy

I believe it is part of a factory kit. If I recall it is intake for a heater, but may be remembering wrong. You can find a similar scoop on other aircraft.

I’m not saying it’s not a heater but, considering where and how they operated, why would you want a heater on a PBJ?

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Cheers,

Craig

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I struggled with that as well before posting, but that is just what I recall. It could easily be incorrect since the memory of the conversation is 20ish years old.

This ex-NEI (N5-229) RAAF machine also has the fitting - perhaps the Dutch ordered a batch of theirs with them?

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/picture.p ... y/mitchell

According to B-25 expert Carl Scholl, it used the Venturi effect to pull smoke out of the nose and expel it out the back-end of the tube. It was installed on a lot of USAAF glass-nose B-25s in the South Pacific and CBI too. I seem to recall the Revell 1/48 B-25J has this piece as an option (perhaps other kits too?).

This is just a small sampling of the many photos that can be found of Pacific and CBI based USAAF B-25s with the same or similar tube.











Sometimes easy to pass up in photos, unless you're looking for it:

Some of the airplanes in the followup photos also appear to have an additional blast plate installed below the factory armor - it's just forward of the lower package gun. The factory installed a smaller section of reinforced skin, but, in these photos, the new section looks nearly the same dimension as the upper armor plate.

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

If I were to "guess", I would agree to the smoke extraction. I just went through the pics I have of the 3rd Attack Group B-25's (C/D) and nary a one has that tube installed. Also, the greenhouse glass not painted over, AND, the side stacked position of the nose guns, it makes me believe the a/c might be set up for observation or have retained the bombardier, hence the need for the ventilation. I remember Bill Webster and Jim "Two-Gun" Brown saying they felt like they came out of a coal mine after a mission from gun smoke in the cockpit.

_________________
Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.

If I were to "guess", I would agree to the smoke extraction. I just went through the pics I have of the 3rd Attack Group B-25's (C/D) and nary a one has that tube installed. Also, the greenhouse glass not painted over, AND, the side stacked position of the nose guns, it makes me believe the a/c might be set up for observation or have retained the bombardier, hence the need for the ventilation. I remember Bill Webster and Jim "Two-Gun" Brown saying they felt like they came out of a coal mine after a mission from gun smoke in the cockpit.

_________________
Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.