B-25 Mitchell: The Magnificent Medium

by Norman L. Avery, Edward M. Young

A revised edition of the first-ever comprehensive look at the B-25 Mitchell. Provides detailed accounts of the evolution of the low-level "strafer" version and the 75mm cannon-carrying model, supplemented by action photos. For military history enthusiasts.

200 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1992

Reviews

[Dan Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book begins with several pages explaining the development of aircraft during the 1920s and 1930s to fill the role of delivering bombs to enemy targets. It explains the eagerness of the U.S. military to obtain a twin-engine bomber by the time war broke out in Europe in 1939, and then settles on the story of the B-25 Mitchell bomber - arguably the best, most versatile medium bomber platform in the Army Air Corps. The B-25 saw action in every theater of WWII and this book documents the role it played in all of them. It's packed with photographs documenting the many variations and modifications made to the original design in order to fulfill specific tasks. The book concludes with detailed information on the various air forces around the world that purchased post-war B-25s for their own use, as well as the many post-war civilian applications to which the aircraft was put to use. If anything, this book is a big too detailed and the many numbers and charts do become a bit burdensome at times. Hence the reason for only 4 stars. I would also have enjoyed reading more crew accounts of combat in the B-25 from a first-person perspective.

[Jim]

I've read several books on the B-25 now, and this one is frequently referred to as the best. It's an excellent treatment but I would say that it's more complementary to other works on the aircraft such as Scutts' book than a superior one. It's interesting to compare the various histories of the aircraft and compare what the different authors emphasized and how they interpreted things. This book states that the initial wing dihedral of the prototypes were a serious problem, for example, while other works do not indicate that the matter was much of a problem. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the B-25.