North American B25 Mitchell
The North American B25 Mitchell bomber was operated by eleven air forces around the world during World War II and proved to be a very effective weapon - adaptable and very reliable. TFC's B25D served with the RAF and is the only D model still flying. Ordered as 43-3318 in 1943, it was delivered from Kansas directly to the Royal Canadian Air Force as KL161 with whom it served firstly at North Bay, and then at the Central Flying School at Trenton Ontario. The RCAF used it as a target tug when all other duties ran out and the machine served at both Cold Lake and Uplands in this role before being placed into storage in 1960. It was disposed of in 1962 and, despite being registered as CF-0GQ by its new owner, the machine saw very little flying until it moved to Alaska in the hands of North Star Aviation who were based in Fairbanks. North Star registered the aircraft on the US register as N88972, and flew the machine to their base, although did very little with after this time. Aero Trader of Chino were the next recipients of the aircraft - although it had been bought at this stage by The Fighter Collection and placed for restoration with Aero Traders. the aircraft underwent a complete rebuild at Chine, before being flown across the Atlantic in an epic 9 hour hop which saw it leave St John's in Newfoundland and touch down at Luton in the UK on the 7th of November 1987. It arrived at Duxford the following day, and has been the mainstay of the heavy summer schedule ever since - supplying both an impressive airshow iten in her own right - but also providing transport of the engineering support for the fighters during the stay overs at foreign and some UK airshows.
It has been painted to represent a 98 Squadron aircraft during the invasion of Europe in June and July of 1944. 98 Squadron was one of the first two RAF squadrons to use the Mitchells on operations. Our aircraft also carries the Fighter Collection logo - the Indian head, as well as the Snow White character 'Grumpy', after whom the aircraft is named, and just has to be seen with a full complement of TFC fighters surrounding her.
SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 67.5'
Length: 53'.
Height: 16'-4".
Weight: ? lb.loaded
Engines:(2) Write Cyclone 2000-29 of 1700 hp each
Cost: $?
Serial Number:N/A
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 272 mph.
Cruising speed:?? mph.
Range: 1350 miles
Service Ceiling: 24,000 ft.
ARMAMENT
Eleven 0.50 Caliber machine guns and 3000 pounds of bombs
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