I had this postcard and decided to find more information about it.
North American B25 Bomber antique postcard at http://www.jewelant.com
From Wikipedia article North American B-25 Mitchell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_B-25_Mitchell
The B-25 was named in honor of General Billy Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation.
The B-25 was a descendant of the earlier XB-21 (North American-39) project of the mid-1930s. Experience gained in developing that aircraft was eventually used by North American in designing the B-25 (called the NA-40 by the company).
The majority of B-25s in American service were used in the Pacific. They fought on Papua New Guinea, in Burma and in the island hopping campaign in the central Pacific.
In Burma, the B-25 was often used to attack Japanese communication links, especially bridges in central Burma. It also helped supply the besieged troops at Imphal in 1944.
In the Pacific, the B-25 proved itself to be a very capable anti-shipping weapon, sinking many ships.
The first B-25s arrived in Egypt just in time to take part in the Battle of El Alamein. From there the aircraft took part in the rest of the campaign in North Africa, the invasion of Sicily and the advance up Italy.
The U.S. Eighth Air Force, based in Britain, concentrated on long-range raids over Germany and occupied Europe. During World War Two the British RAF received nearly 900 Mitchells, using them to replace Douglas Bostons, Lockheed Venturas and Vickers Wellington bombers.
Although the B-25 was originally designed to bomb from medium altitudes in level flight, it was used frequently in the Southwest Pacific theatre on treetop-level strafing and missions with parachute-retarded fragmentation bombs against Japanese airfields in New Guinea and the Philippines
The B-25 first gained fame as the bomber used in the 18 April 1942 Doolittle Raid, in which 16 B-25Bs led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle attacked mainland Japan, four months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) was an early customer for the B-25 via Lend-Lease. The RAF was the only force to use the B-25 on raids against Europe from bases in the United Kingdom, as the USAAF used the Martin B-26 Marauder and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress for this purpose instead.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was an important user of the B-25 Mitchell,
The Australians got Mitchells by the spring of 1944.
During World War II, the Mitchell served in fairly large numbers with the Air Force of the Dutch government-in-exile
The U.S. supplied 862 B-25 (of B, D, G, and J types) aircraft to the Soviet Union under lend-lease during the Second World War via the Alaska–Siberia ALSIB ferry route.
Well over 100 B-25Cs and Ds were supplied to the Nationalist Chinese during the Second World War. In addition, a total of 131 B-25Js were supplied to China under Lend-Lease.
During the war, the Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB) received a few B-25s under Lend-Lease.
At least 21 Mitchell IIIs were issued by the Royal Air Force to No 342 Squadron, which was made up primarily of Free French aircrews.
At 9:40 on Saturday, 28 July 1945, a USAAF B-25D crashed in thick fog into the north side of the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors.
There are more than one hundred surviving North American B-25 Mitchells scattered over the world, mainly in the United States. Most of them are on static display in museums, but about 45 are still airworthy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_North_American_B-25_Mitchells
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SPECIFICATIONS
Crew: 6 (one pilot, one co-pilot, navigator/bombardier, turret gunner/engineer, radio operator/waist gunner, tail gunner)
Length: 52 ft 11 in (16.13 m)
Wingspan: 67 ft 7 in (20.60 m)
Height: 16 ft 4 in (4.98 m)
Wing area: 610 sq ft (56.7 m²)
Empty weight: 19,480 lb (8,855 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 35,000 lb (15,910 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Wright R-2600-92 Twin Cyclone 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 1,700 hp (1,267 kW) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 272 mph (237 kn, 438 km/h) at 13,000 ft (3,960 m)
Cruise speed: 230 mph (200 knots, 370 km/h)
Range: 1,350 mi (1,174 nmi, 2,174 km)
Service ceiling: 24,200 ft (7,378 m)
Armament
Guns: 12–18 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns and 75 mm (2.95 in) T13E1 cannon
Hardpoints: 2,000 lb (900 kg) ventral shackles to hold one external Mark 13 torpedo[35]
Rockets: racks for eight 5 in (127 mm) high velocity aircraft rockets (HVAR)
Bombs: 3,000 lb (1,360 kg) bombs
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List of aircraft of World War II
The List of aircraft of World War II includes all the aircraft used by those countries which were at war during World War II from the period between their joining the conflict and the conflict ending for them. See this article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_of_World_War_II
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Note: jewelant.com has this postcard, and if you like it, it is possible to order a print of it to hang on your wall. The original was scanned in high resolution, and would make a fine addition to any military collection. Just email jewelant and inquire.
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