Cold War bombers

[mrhenniger]

Is that a Russian Copy or a lend Lease a/c from the USA? Lets hope that the rumors of "everything has a price" be true and lets get that a/c somewhere safe and out of the weather..

So model is it, "B"?

I have the following ID in my notes...

Model: North American B-25D-30-NC Mitchell
S/N: 43-3355 USAAF
C/N: 100-23681

Mike

[Swiss Mustangs]

here's an old thread from FP Forum:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showth ... 070&page=1

Martin

[RickH]

That's no D. D didn't have the bottom turret, it was the first B-25 to have the staggered big side windows and it had the redesigned rear fuselage that incorporated the upright rear gunners position. All items that were refined in the J model.

[Don Martin]

Which model B-25s had the remote-controlled(see picture) belly turrent?!

[bdk]

In any case the rear turret (upper) and rear windows are wrong. I don't recall any B-25 having a lower turret. I don't see the rear gunners position. My guess is that it is a modified D.

[Tom Crawford]

"The defensive armament of the B-25 was clearly ineffective, and so the "B-25B" featured twin Bendix power turrets, each with two 12.7 millimeter Brownings. One of the turrets was placed on top of the rear fuselage and was manned. The other was a retractable belly turret, positioned just forward of the top turret and remotely sighted through a periscope. The tail gun was deleted, but the 7.62 millimeter Browning in the nose was retained. The additional armament resulted in an increase in weight, which further reduced performance since the engines remained unchanged. The wingspan and length of the aircraft were increased slightly. A total of 120 B-25Bs were delivered, all in 1941, finishing off the original USAAF (the "Army Air Corps" having been superseded by the "Army Air Forces" on 29 June 1941) B-25 production contract."
So this must be a "B" model........

[RickH]

The B-25 in question is not a modified D. It is either a B or C model. The B & C models had the remote ventral turret The original prone tailgunners position was deleted when the turrets were added. It's true that the plexiglass on the dorsal turret is not the correct profile. My guess is that the plexi is a locally made facsimile. The turret position is correct as are the fairings. The rear fuselage taper is consistent with the A,B, & C airframes.

[bdk]

Interesting! How about the side windows- are those correct?

[RickH]

The windows are consistent with the A,B, & C. The staggered enclosed large waist windows were introduced in the D.

[airnutz]

Additional tips for being a C-model, the exhaust stack on a B looks like...
www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h53000/h53291.jpg ,not as short
round stacks on the Monino machine. And the navigators "bubble"
of C-mods later than 41-12817, rather than the flat rectangular
plexy-panel of the earlier B's. Also a solid tail-skid as opposed to the early
oleo version. Couldn't see that detail though. It's 2005 and I did not find
a decent "walkaround" set of photos or the serial #. A disgracefully
lackadaisical attitude has developed in the new millennia!!
Geez..why would one go WayTheFk out to Monino and keep taking the
same stand-off photo..and no stern-shot ta' boot?

[DaveM2]

Is that a Russian Copy or a lend Lease a/c from the USA? Lets hope that the rumors of "everything has a price" be true and lets get that a/c somewhere safe and out of the weather..

So model is it, "B"?

I have the following ID in my notes...

Model: North American B-25D-30-NC Mitchell
S/N: 43-3355 USAAF
C/N: 100-23681

Mike

A bit more on the origin of this aircraft.
The B-25 on show at Monino came from an area 300km North of Vladivostok - Olga Harbour. Several wrecks were discovered there.

Dave

[airnutz]

Whut...we get a Buffalo for a few P-3's, but we can't get a Ser# for a case
of Vodka? I have seen some Super Walkaround photos of some of the
Monino jets but no-one has "done" the B-25! I'll up the ante--a case of
Russian Vodka for the Monino B-25 Walkarounds!!! Another case for the
serial #!!!

edit: I can afford a case of Russian vodka..how much could it be..20bux?

Last edited by airnutz on Wed Jul 20, 2005 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[tom d. friedman]

the 25 looks to be russkie modified & has some bogus details. top turret definetely not stock nor u.s. the under belly turret in question is either that, or a russian wart, or the russian historian that researched the restoration tipped a little to much vodka. the lines of the plexi nose look weird too. definetely not wartime mods!! note douglas c-47 in background. best, tom

[RickH]

Tom, the DC-3/C-47 is most likely an LI-2. Unlicensed Russian copy.