The WW2 Bomber Chopped Up and Packed with Massive Guns

My grandpa was a mechanic, flight engineer, and sometime co-pilot (after the war) on B-25s. They flew out of the Aleutian Islands and bombed northern Japan.

I told my son my grandson will call me pappy gun gun 😂🔫

I can't understand what you are saying.

The A-10 concept bird 😂

You should look up the B-17 they put a Howitzer on… a little birdie told me about that one

My great uncle was a top turret gunner in "Tondelayo", a B-25D from the 500th Bomb Squadron. While filling in on another plane, he ended up in a life raft with a Japanese patrol boat coming to pick him up. A B-25 swooped down and literally shot the patrol boat into pieces. The crew was picked up by a PBY whose pilot (Nathan Gordon) was awarded the Medal of Honor rescuing them. My uncle also said that the cannon armed B-25H was not as popular due to not having a co-pilot, the cannon filling the plane with smoke, and the gunner was prone to be pinned by the sighting equipment if the plane had to ditch.

From what I understand civilians aren't allowed to own fomer USAF air craft, so who is flying the B25s today?

This is the best video you’ve done in a while! Awesome work!

What if? CRT actually stood for, CITIZEN RIGHTS&RESPONSIBILITIES TRAINING? Davenport Iowa dad joke guy, wants to know

Your videos are much better now you are speaking more slowly. They are very good.

one of your better episodes well reserched, well spoken and matching video. 😊❤

I remember hearing the forward firepower was so great they had to be careful of long bursts slowing the plane down so much it would lose lift.

Also that they were heavily used against bases as well as shipping. More awesome than my favorite Thunderbolts.

WRONG SUBJECT INFORMATION IN THE DESCRIPTION.
Excellent video though. Thank you!

My Dad crewed both A-20's and B-25's in the New Guinea South Pacific campaign. Both aircraft were workhorse of Gen Kenny's command. My father was awarded DFC as well as Air Medals for his more than 100 missions. At the outbreak of WW 2 my Dad was 26 years of age and went on to serve 28 years on active duty before being medically retired in 1970.

18 forward facing .50 cals......times 3 rounds per second......I would not want to be on the recieving end of that. 😳😳😳😳😳

A very interesting documentory unfortunatly the bloody music ruined it.

Every time you show a glimpse of the Doolittle's B-25s crowded on the deck of the Hornet, I pause the video and play it back hoping to catch a glimpse of my Dad, then an Aviation Chief Ordnanceman's Mate, looking for his distinctive gait. He helped load the munitions for their attack on Japan, that was the first substantial offensive against the Island of Japan of that war. I don't know if the aircrew had much conversation with the Hornet's ship complement. But my dad almost never talked about combat, although he saw plenty. He liked to talk about exploring the newly liberated islands and building a makeshift catamaran to tool around the anchorage in the lagoon. They used discarded drop tanks, and parachute cloth for the sails.

I,ve always had a soft spot for the Mitchells . Like a big old pick up truck that always got er dun ! Thank you D S!

Great video and story .......................... is it me or on 11.39 does that pilot look like Daniel Craig

I think early WW2 bombers were built to cope with fighters of the P26 caliber. Unfortunately this meant that they were indefensible in the face of the fighters that were holding sway by 1939.

remember reading where old Lancaster bombers were fitted with four (4) 40mm guns in the nose. Pilots said that even in a dive at max speed, when they fired the guns the recoil would almost stall the plane.

Kinda reminds me of the story of old 666

I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

Top notch!!! //Lars

The R.A.A.F & USAAF B-25's were based together at places like Charters Towers and MT Isa areas during WW2 and i think they fought the japanese from Papua New Guinea all the way to Borneo doing groud attacks and anti landing barge attacks,very dangerous,close troop support work,very brave aircrews.LEST WE FORGET.🇦🇺🇺🇲🫡🙏

When you want to be a fighter pilot but you get bombers...hold my beer

I just got done reading a book about pappy gun and this was a great video to watch

12 forward-firing guns in the H model....that is a LOT of "fuck you" coming at you if you're downrange

Someone was asking about it in the comments.
The NA-98X: a B-25H, serial number 43-4406, modified with R-2800 engines, spinners, and squared wings.
It was tried. The wings suffered catastrophic structural failure due to over aggressive maneuvers by a test pilot.

The NA-98X: a B-25H, serial number 43-4406, modified with R-2800 engines, spinners, and squared wings.

Great documentary

How is the Saga of Pappy Gunn not a tv series?

interesting video, spoilt by the music overwhelming the narrative.

Grandpa of the a-10 and ac-130

B-25's were awesome, they had so many configurations you could set them up with. I did hear that the engines damaged some pilots hearing due to position it would throw a lot of the noise right into the pilot though, so if they didnt wear hearing protection it was really loud.

Anyone remember the original movie Catch 22 with Alan Arkin?

.......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!!!

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.

Read the book KAIS, it’s about a rescue operation of a crew from a B25 in the former Dutch Indies, stranded in a swamp they survived on the wing, supplied by their squadron mates dropping supplies, an expedition with a Dutch guide led them to the place and saved the crew from the middle of Jap territory. It was written by a mate of mine who tried to find the plane, he didn’t succeed but in that terrain you can walk 10 meters from it and never see it.
The writer is B. Krueger and also available in English!

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!

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

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

A way to fight.

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

Excellent vid.

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

Lose the music wrecks it

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