And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
The Mitchells owned by several branches were nearly identical coming off the assembly line. Navy made several mods as did the AF. A maverick pilot in the AAF had a 75mm cannon in the nose. Others thought it was a great idea and did it too. I don't remember the Navy having done so.
Talk about the branches having different designators. I once owned an OY-2. The rest of the world knew it as a Consolidated Vultee L-5. But mine had been USMC since the start. My A&P at the time had been a Marine Sgt in the South Pacific (youngest USMC Sgt ever). He shot daggers at me when I called it an L-5 when trying to explain to someone what he was looking at. Later, Al told me, stern and square jawed, Don't say that again.
I hate to be the one to point it out, but those are not 75 mm cannon but rather one of John Browning's greatest inventions. Those are 50 BMG caliber M2 machineguns.
Correct, Anon was pointing out that there were many B-25s that also had a nose installed 75mm cannon. They weren't used that much due to recoil and apparently they tended to fill the cockpits with smoke.
The men in PNG invented many field mods. The parachute AP bomb so following aircraft weren't fragged. The chin turret, the pilot-controlled side .50s (as shown here), quad stacks of .50s per side, rockets on hard points, the nose cannon as mentioned, and more. The pilots wanted something they could shoot too.
Some of those unapproved field mods were adopted by NA back stateside. The chin turret, as example, showed up on the G model.
The crews gave up on the wing rockets. No matter what they did they couldn't stop the rocket exhaust from burning the wings, especially flight control surfaces.
Things were fast paced in those days, any new idea was worth consideration. The first real gunship came out of those efforts. The lineage of Spooky leads right back to WWII PNG.
WRT to Rick's comment . . . a lot of WWII aircraft were mostly aluminum, but it was very common for control surfaces (especially elevators and rudders) to be a skeletal aluminum structure covered with doped fabric. I can easily see why rockets were problematic.
Don't forget the 8 OTHER M2's mounted in the solid nose, plus the top turret could be added to the trigger circuit of all those guns firing when it was locked facing forward! Supposedly, there were some field mounted guns installed inside the wings and/or blister mounted to add to the festivities!
That appears to be a PBJ.
ReplyDeleteNope. It's a Mitchell, see the pik:
Deletehttps://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F8tpxaqr0h0021.jpg&rdt=35721
Ghost, a PBJ is a Mitchell
DeleteThe Mitchells owned by several branches were nearly identical coming off the assembly line. Navy made several mods as did the AF. A maverick pilot in the AAF had a 75mm cannon in the nose. Others thought it was a great idea and did it too. I don't remember the Navy having done so.
DeleteTalk about the branches having different designators.
DeleteI once owned an OY-2. The rest of the world knew it as a Consolidated Vultee L-5. But mine had been USMC since the start.
My A&P at the time had been a Marine Sgt in the South Pacific (youngest USMC Sgt ever). He shot daggers at me when I called it an L-5 when trying to explain to someone what he was looking at. Later, Al told me, stern and square jawed, Don't say that again.
After Old Guys mention I looked it up again and he's right, and so are you Scott. Sorry.
DeleteFor some reason I guess I associated the PBJ with PBY.
Those would look marvelous bolted onto the side of my F250.
ReplyDeleteHear you !
Deleteinteresting muzzle device. a flash reduction field modification?
ReplyDeleteThere were several that 75mm cannon in the nose. I think those belonged to the AAF.
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the one to point it out, but those are not 75 mm cannon but rather one of John Browning's greatest inventions. Those are 50 BMG caliber M2 machineguns.
ReplyDeleteCorrect, Anon was pointing out that there were many B-25s that also had a nose installed 75mm cannon. They weren't used that much due to recoil and apparently they tended to fill the cockpits with smoke.
DeleteThe men in PNG invented many field mods. The parachute AP bomb so following aircraft weren't fragged. The chin turret, the pilot-controlled side .50s (as shown here), quad stacks of .50s per side, rockets on hard points, the nose cannon as mentioned, and more.
ReplyDeleteThe pilots wanted something they could shoot too.
Some of those unapproved field mods were adopted by NA back stateside. The chin turret, as example, showed up on the G model.
The crews gave up on the wing rockets. No matter what they did they couldn't stop the rocket exhaust from burning the wings, especially flight control surfaces.
Things were fast paced in those days, any new idea was worth consideration. The first real gunship came out of those efforts. The lineage of Spooky leads right back to WWII PNG.
Yep, the original A-10.
DeleteWRT to Rick's comment . . . a lot of WWII aircraft were mostly aluminum, but it was very common for control surfaces (especially elevators and rudders) to be a skeletal aluminum structure covered with doped fabric. I can easily see why rockets were problematic.
DeleteB25's never had a chin turret I think you're thinking of the B17's
ReplyDeleteNo, I have it right.
DeleteThe cacophony in the cockpit from 4 M-2 BMGs going off on the other sides of a fractional-inch aluminum sidewall must have been deafening.
ReplyDeleteI hope the pilots were screaming "YEEHAW!" in the dive.
Don't forget the 8 OTHER M2's mounted in the solid nose, plus the top turret could be added to the trigger circuit of all those guns firing when it was locked facing forward!
DeleteSupposedly, there were some field mounted guns installed inside the wings and/or blister mounted to add to the festivities!