The WW2 Bomber Chopped Up and Packed with Massive Guns

[@mattmartin5747]

This was my first model airplane I ever put together my self and have always had a fascination with this plane from seeing it at air shows and in museum. I just saw one a month ago taking my son to his first air show and the funny part in all of that is the same plane passed over our house before the air show and my son wanted to see that plan more than anything at the show. It just goes to show the importance of showing history to young ones to help keep these birds in the sky.

[@derekmay8679]

One of mine too 😂.... I was model mad for a good while as a kid ... Mosquito, spitfire, B25 Etc ....Good old airfix....

[@Del350K4]

Well said, sir! Childhood airshow memories are among the clearest in my aged mind.

[@SuperBommer1]

My Matchbox b25 till this day one of the kits I remember most fondly from when I was a kid Now I have a few 48 scale b25s to build

[@garykubodera9528]

Just imagine what kind of havoc those several-up to the 18!50cal guns they mounted caused...🤔 You could day they were the great grandfather to the A-10 warthog attack aircraft! 😀 Thanks for this great video! A disabled US Army Veteran

[@scroungasworkshop4663]

Imagine the noise in the cockpit.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

Proabably not much as it weighed it down and made it a sitting duck

[@russellmarriott9396]

Thanks for your service Gary 🇬🇧🇺🇸

[@billness2635]

Having read Pappy Gunn’s biography and Jay Stouts book of being a Pilot in the Air Apaches of Gunns making, I think Pappy Gunn’s contribution to defeating Japan and defending the Philippines and his interred family needs to be appreciated by everyone!

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

@billness2635 What if you Haven't read the Colonels Biography? Would you know anything about this,? acquired Virtue?

[@davidzemotel4122]

I like how all the stories start with a poetic description of which way the wind is blowing lol. Great videos man, I’ve watched so many. Absolutely fascinating stories about real people who are legit heroes and put their a$$ on the line for the good of the world!

[@a.ksh376]

I've read a novel about these B25s. six .50 cals packed into the nose was such a massive fire power it could saw a flotilla into two with a burst of fire.

[@Avtomat4774]

The naval variants had 12 of em, plus 6 more in defensive turrets in the top, tail, and waist.

[@sandordula5207]

​@@Avtomat4774Exactly! 👌🏻👍🏻

[@ghostinchains664]

Six? The gunship B-25 had up to TWELVE forward firing 50 calibers. 4-6 in the nose plus 4 in the side blisters plus the upper turret. Some were even fitted with 8 wing mounted rockets.... and don't forget the 75mm cannon

[@ghostinchains664]

​@Avtomat4774 many had deleted turrets and waist gunner positions, especially the naval version

[@sim.frischh9781]

There were FIGHTERS with more .50s in the front. B25 could have up to a dozen. PLUS the cannon.

[@DavidLee-df888]

When I was *much* younger I used to read "Battle", a British war comic. A gunship Mitchell was the mount for Johnny Red, a British pilot fighting for the Russians against Germany, for a while. It was always good to see the multiple.50 calibre machine guns chopping up the bad guys...

[@GordonHouston-Smith]

I was trying to remember the name of the comic and character. Loved it. Thank you:-)

[@TranscendianIntendor]

Indestructible is the book from which this has to be drawn. Pappy Gunn was the driving force. His family had been captured in Manila and suffered.

[@MakerBoyOldBoy]

Several books detail Gunn and his accomplishments. His field modifications on the B-25 and A-20 were revolutionary and created s new classification; the Gunship or Strafer. These aircraft and air crews changed the PTO.

[@alexius23]

RAAF played a major role in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea

[@a.ksh376]

on a side note, they had to tear everything not absolutely necessary out of the cabin to lighten the aircrafts to fit it to carry six 50 cals with lots of ammo

[@superfleapilot7484]

Not true. They simply took the place of the bombarder position. Bomb sight and crew member.

[@brianartillery]

The stunning aerial scenes in the 1968 'Battle Of Britain' movie, were filmed using a B-25 converted to a camera platform. It's tail fins were painted different colours, so that the Spitfires, and Buchons (Bf-109), could be directed to follow the camera aircraft. The B-25 was fast enough to keep up with the fighter aircraft being filmed, and cameras on board were easily moved, and were often used from gun positions.

[@Phaaschh]

You just beat me to it! That B25 ended up at Shoreham. I remember clambering all over it in the 1970s. By that time it was semi- derelict.

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

No time for Sergeants as well. Andy Griffith. Planes on the ramp. What does this have to with the Gunships on the screen?

[@Phaaschh]

@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe der. 3 guesses.

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

@Phaaschh Resorting ot Bot Gibberish?

[@mantatrip9319]

this channel has become even better and kudos to whoever edits the music.

[@DrivermanO]

But they can't edit the summary. Nothing to do with B-25. Its the intro to the George Buerling in Malta video!

[@FernandoTRA]

Do not like music in this type of videos. Or at least they could turn the volume down.

[@vincentsmidowicz2931]

Above and Beyond ~ Cracking video. Cheers

[@Absaalookemensch]

Technically nothing prevented a .50 cal multi-barrelled motorized gatling gun from being made. Two of those with 5,000 rounds ammo each would have been a killed CAS machine.

[@danstotland6386]

Outstanding video. With exhaustive research. Keep up the good work..

[@alanm.4298]

My Dad flew B29s out of Saipan in WWII. After the war and a one year break from military service, he joined the newly formed US Air Force as a pilot and flight instructor in the heavy bombers and new refueler variants (B29, B50, B36, KB29, KB50). He only occasionally got ro fly the smaller B25, but declared it was his favorite. After the big bombers, he said flying the B25 felt like going from driving a slow, lumbering bus to a quick, nimble sports car.

[@douglaseuritt3919]

I worked in the Kansas City plant where North American built some of these in WWII ( GM bought the facility after the war). In the backyard there were still 2 concrete traps full of sand where they would zero the nose guns before the AAF ferry pilots would fly them to wherever they were going. The pilots lounge where the ferry pilots waited for their plane was still there too, even the chalkboards were still on the wall!

[@thesh8101]

They put a lot into the hard nose, they shoehorned in a 75mm cannon on a few as a trial. They also made a hard nose a20 and a26 (not to be confused with the b26) and put that with skip bombing and missiles and you had a pretty nasty attack planes.

[@davekisor1486]

While Dad's guard unit was on Woodlark Island, he wanted to go on the Rabul raid and qualified as a waist gunner on a B-25. His unit moved out 3 daze before the raid.

[@johnfowler6600]

Missed the fact than they also served as forest fighting tankers in the west. Some of the crazyest pilots would fly down the canyons at less than tree top level to drop fire retard chemicals right on the wildfires and anything close.

[@tauncfester3022]

So back in 1967 my Father and my Uncle, who was a Pacific heater USN ace, got us all permission to climb around inside the B25 and B25 fire retardant bombers at Redmond, OR. The B-24 was really patched up and had many bullet holes. The inside of both were coated in red dust from the retardant. it got on everything including my shirt and pants.

[@johne4879]

I am surprised that when the 75mm gun didn’t work out, they didn’t try a 40mm Bo fours or another AA canon

[@anonymousgeorge8317]

The variant of the m2 that was used for aircraft could fire up to 800 rounds a minute so if you finger it at 600 just for safety then 18 guns could put out 10800 rounds per, for comparison the gun in the a10 has a maximum rate of 3400 rounds per minute. That thing must have been terrifying.

[@MrCateagle]

First attempt to fit a 75mm cannon to an aircraft was in the 1930's when rhe USSR fitted a 74mm cannon to a TB-3 with a bobbed nose; it woeked well but the follow up wirh two additional cannons outboaed of the engines in eaxh wing. You missed the B-25 modified to serve as Gen. Eisenhowee"s exexutive transport.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

The RAF also used one to haul Churchills fat @$$ around in !!!

[@rickm2573]

A few used to fly into Eagle Field and give flight tours, just two taking off together shook the ground, very impressive. 🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@bsmith4u2]

And thus, the mighty A-10 Warthog was conceived.

[@chriscarbaugh3936]

Hardly! Think IL-2, maybe … really she’s a one off 👍

[@rogerdoering5510]

Your giving all the credit for success to the plane,I ca t help but think that the crews might have something to do with that success credit where credit is due!!!

[@MGB-learning]

Great video

[@sumukhvmrsat6347]

Star wars Y wing vibes , 😅 , very effective and flexible medium bomber platform

[@Firehawk95]

I can't imagine the sound of all those 50's going off simultaneously and I have to wonder how much they slowed the plane down from recoil.

[@Azazel2024]

They aren't Cannon but id imagine it definitely did

[@ecarots9469]

But not as much as the 75

[@Dr-Bread]

heck yeah b25

[@alexius23]

5th Air Force was a low priority for supply. Because Kenny was so far from Washington & he had the support of MacArthur Kenny was allowed to innovate.

[@tauncfester3022]

Note that although the 50 cal was big, it wasn't massive. The Bristol Beaufighter with it's 4, 20mm cannons were probably more effective and they were faster. The Japanese IJN called the Beaufighter equipped with surface attack guns the 'whistling death' and it was much more effective against the armored superstructures of light destroyers and other convoy defending ships.

[@downunderrob]

The Beaufighter was known as Whispering Death, since its engines are quieter than its contemporaries. The Vought Corsair Fighter-bomber was called Whistling Death.

[@Bigsky1991]

But the " Ma Deuce" in its fast firing Army Air Forces M4 version firing at twice the cyclic rate of a ground version M2...then quadrupled, firing incendiary and armor piercing rounds...shreds Aircraft, wrecks/ disables surface vessels.

[@Scudboy17]

Most of the targets of the B25's were commerce ships and not heavily armored warships. Even an armored ship can be crippled if 1 .50 cal makes it in through window or an open door/hatch. .50's will either ricochet off of any armored surface inside or pulverize anything not made of metal- like crew and machinery.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

@@downunderrob Which one served in the Pacific first (rhetorical Question)?

[@downunderrob]

@@Rusty_Gold85 The Beaufighter would be my guess.

[@XRM123-f5k]

AT 03:24, YOU ARE SHOWING A VULTEE BT-13 / BT-15 “VALIANT” BASIC TRAINING A/C.!!!

[@Rusty_Gold85]

I think the US Army stuck with the premise up to 1943 a bomber could defend itself up to the bombing site and return. The loss of crews to unescorted missions started to show with the loss off experienced crews and the increase in rookies starting to fill the Barracks instead

[@davef.2329]

At 25:30, A PBY Catalina cockpit.

[@Hiddensecret9]

Beurling’s disinterest in reports or credit highlights his focus on the act of flying rather than the consequences of his actions. Does this detachment make him a more effective soldier, or does it dehumanize the nature of aerial combat?

[@richardcline1337]

Can you envision a B-25 Mitchell with jet engines? That plane would be awesome if the airframe could handle the stress.

[@dgalcaide_]

I think you messed up with the description of the videos, this one was for the falcon of malta

[@shootfirst2097]

There is an entire BOOK written about this rogue engineer Pappy Gun

[@artawhirler]

Does this book have a title??

[@shootfirst2097]

@@artawhirler "Indestructible" by John R. Bruning, and 'The Saga of Pappy Gunn" by George Kenney

[@TheGamerZapocalypse]

...seems like the inspiration for the A-10 Warthog...

[@oweneather1435]

The Australian Bristol Beaufighter, with two 1,700 hp Hercules giving a top speed well over 300 mph, must were the inspiration for the " gunship" B 25. High speed, agile and tough, it was already smashing Japanese ships and bases. How? It's massive forward firing battery of FOUR 20mm cannon and, Wing mounted, SIX .50 cal Browning's. In the same attacks in the Bismark Sea Battle, the RAAF Beaufighters demolished anti aircraft guns and command bridges of the eight escort destroyers, reports stating that " bridges exploded and bodies tossed in the air like dolls". This left the unarmed escorts open to the attacks of other bombers, including the B 25s. BTW, the 5th Air Force low level tactics, as well as Command systems, were established by war experienced RAAF pilots and commanders from 2 years experience in Europe and North Africa.

[@downunderrob]

Though your not wrong about the Beau, there is one thing I'll call into question. The Beau didn't have the Browning .50cal, but Browning .303 MG.

[@oweneather1435]

@@downunderrob All references I've seen indicate the Australians fitted . 50 cal. Building under licence.

[@downunderrob]

@@oweneather1435 Well I'm off to do some digging then. 👍

[@chriscarbaugh3936]

The Beau, a British plane built in OZ was designed as a heavy strike fighter. Pretty fantastic plane really. Whereas the B-25 was “just” a bomber.

[@downunderrob]

​@@oweneather1435And wouldn't you know it. The first place I looked, the Australian Military Aviation website, states that the Mk.21 Beaufighter flown by the RAAF. Had its 6 .303 MG, replaced by 4 .50cal HMG. I still have reference books and periodicals going back to the 1970s, on my shelves. None of them, as I recall. Mention that armament change. So thanks for that, I've learned something new.

[@thebobloblawshow8832]

You never disappoint. Great doc. 👍👍

[@VFRSTREETFIGHTER]

Read Indestructible by John R. Bruning

[@Neklar]

Who remembers Johnny Red in Battle Action Force comic flying a B-25 gunship on a mission from Russia to London? 😊

[@nigeldepledge3790]

At 16:31 - ". . . However, integrating such a massive weapon into the B25 presented unique challenges, such as shortening the bomber's nose by 26 inches . . ." Um, what? Why did they *shorten* the bomber's nose to accommodate such a "massive" weapon as the cannon?

[@sandymackay4017]

Excellent vid.

[@alexius23]

In the film Catch 22 (1970) the movie used many B-25’s. The big take off scene was entirely real…no special effects. As a result there are many movie saved B-25’s in flight museums. In Milwaukee….at Billy Mitchell Field, there is a B-25 bomber at the airport entrance.

[@annehersey9895]

Please!!! If you’re going to play music while narrating, have it much lower than your voice so some of us with hearing problems don’t have to struggle to hear your great narration. I love this channel but this videos music is too loud-not usually a problem!

[@HandsomeSquidward-q7g]

For WW2 this plane is the closest you can come to having "ENUFF DAKKA"

[@ducomaritiem7160]

Oh wow! I saw Germans with 88 flak in Tokyo shooting at Doolittle's planes! Never knew that!

[@ssnerd583]

.......think about it for a sec..... 18....EIGHTEEN.....50cal machine guns firing on the same target for even just 1 full second...18 of even the slowest firing of the M2 variants would put almost 110 rounds down range per second.....and each round is in the 3000ft-lb range....oi!!! Talk about SHRED!!!

[@VFRSTREETFIGHTER]

If you enjoyed this video I can not recommend reading Indestructible by John R. Bruning enough. Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn was an amazing man who should be better well known today, this book did a lot to solve that.

[@artawhirler]

Thanks! I'll try to find it!

[@VFRSTREETFIGHTER]

@@artawhirler It's a great book, absolutely worth reading. What Pappy Gunn did was astonishing.

[@truckdaddy1957]

I had no idea that the Japanese anti aircraft gunners used 88mm guns or wore Stahlhelm helmets.

[@artawhirler]

Lotta people don't know that. 😂

[@chrisnewport7826]

A way to fight.

[@jeffreyrobinson3555]

First heard about these in a novel by Martin Cadin, this was back in the 1970s it was a few years later that I found out they were real

[@nikbear]

Mosquito Tetse, P38 Lighting, Beaufighter,B25, anything with a profligate of firepower in the nose,.......gets my vote 👌 absolutely awesome 🫡

[@falcondmp]

6:47 crews were impressed by the ability to take battle damage… really? How would they have known… the us wasn’t in the war at that time…

[@patrickporter1864]

The brits told them everything.

[@falcondmp]

@ who knows … but not in this case since the Raf started using the B 25 in operations from januari 1943

[@bell9620]

Hardly any of the clips were of this new heavily modified B25. Plus to many advertisements.

[@FernandoTRA]

Great video but what's up with the music? It doesn't let one understand the narrator every so often. It just is distracting.

[@patrickrose1221]

B25 married a P47 and they had a Mosquito! 😅👍🕊️

[@xfirehurican]

*Check out & do a vid on the PBJ-1D's and 1J's of VMB-612 that my dad flew tricked out with the Tiny Tim rockets.*

[@j.pershing2197]

Look up "Ole 666" That was the OG

[@VFRSTREETFIGHTER]

Pappy Gunn did it first, read Indestructible by John R. Bruning

[@ocalaskyhigh]

No movie(s) about these, then it didn't happen.

[@flagstafup5857]

So a multi engined aircraft crashes into a skyscraper and the building remains standing? 🤔

[@Bigsky1991]

Yes...one plane empty at about 22,000lbs....the other one flying near the speed of sound, weighing over 87,000pounds

[@jimsmith7212]

Yeah, B-25 flying at very low speed in fog, too.

[@mih0001]

@@Bigsky1991some folks really don’t want to understand F=ma

[@tomriggs3926]

Quite an improvement.... @5:17 they jumped up to a Boeing B-47 Stratojet, oops.

[@noelclothier2390]

My very comment. later we get a shot of fighters (@ 5:45, RAF Spitfires ?!) on dispersal. This intermix of totally unrelated video happens across KZbin. Why? Please don't insult your viewers, we are here for real content, not pointless eye-candy. A further point - pilots impressed by the ability to absorb battle damage - before the start of hostilities (@ 6:54)? Right, that makes sense!

[@noelclothier2390]

And a Havoc @ 9:27 ?! Don't do this, it totally degrades the value of the content.

[@noelclothier2390]

Beaufighters @ 14:20.....

[@micksedunary7304]

Would be nice if your commentary matched the video - just saying

[@patrickpercefull8278]

The music was drowning the narrator out.

[@philliplopez8745]

Got that perky tail .

[@Rusty_Gold85]

Pity the Yanks didn't take the Beaufighter model up . Would have been better , faster and better 20mm guns . As it was They omitted the B25's for the low level raid on Philips Factory Amsterdam

[@grahamwood8085]

I thought the British moscato hah a 6lb cannon first

[@MCV-535]

👍

[@TheBabayga]

I want to do a movie about the B-25 starring Joe Don Baker.

[@klaus-peterborn1370]

Dont know that the Japanese used 88 Flak in german uniforms. (10:09)

[@artawhirler]

Lotta people don't know that. 😂

[@Edam-Channel]

Unfortunately the main repercussion of the Doolittle raid was a horrific reprisal against the Chinese Civilians in the regions where the US crews landed.

[@neilgillespie7435]

Lose the music wrecks it

[@richmorg8196]

They should of put a turret at the front at the beginning like the Wellington and Lancaster then put the big guns at the front on other models

[@mingfanzhang4600]

😊😊😊

[@mingfanzhang8927]

😊

[@mingfanzhang8927]

😮😮😮😊😊😊😮😮😮

[@mingfanzhang4600]

😊

[@douglasbuckland8280]

Is this more AI bullshit?

[@hershh4227]

its giving me grandpa a-10 vibz not gunship vibz

[@ghostinchains664]

The B-25 should've been equipped with the P&W R-2800. Same with the B-17. Why such successful planes were assembled with an inferior engine.....

[@MrCateagle]

Part of that might have been due to production availability. There was a huge demand for R2800s for use in fighters.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

ghosttinchain there was nothing wrong with the wright R2600 as it was the largest radial available before the R2800 !!! it served ell in the B25 and several navy carrier planes mainly bombers !!!

[@ghostinchains664]

@wilburfinnigan2142 compared to the P&W R2800, the Wright was inferior. Just as the Allison was to the Packard Merlin. It was Wright engines that caused so many B-29 engine failures. Boeing switched to P&W when the B-29 was upgraded to the B-50