Named after Gen. Billy Mitchell, the Army Air Corps' most famous figure of the 1920s and 1930s, the North American B-25 proved to be one of the best American weapons of World War II. First flown on August 19,1940, the B-25 was a rugged, adaptable and accurate medium bomber. Famed for its role in the Doolittle Raid on Japan, the B-25 served around the world and flew with several air forces. North American produced the Mitchell in many different models, nearly 10,000 B-25s in all. The Mitchell proved to be highly flexible and was fitted with a wide variety of armaments. Some versions of the B-25 were armed with no less than fourteen forward firing .50 cal. machine guns; while other B-25s boasted a 75mm tank gun mounted in the nose. Besides being used as a horizontal bomber, the B-25 was used as a low-level attack and anti-shipping aircraft.  Since the end of World War II, B-25s have been used as private transports and are common participants at air shows. Today, "How `Boot That!'?", the crown jewel of the Cavanaugh Flight Museum's collection, is the most original flying B-25 anywhere in the world. Constructed in Kansas City, Kansas, the Army Air Force accepted this B-25 in August 1944. Assigned to the 380th Bomb Squadron, 310th Bomb Group, 57th Bomb Wing, the aircraft arrived in Italy shortly after its completion. From the fall of 1944 through late spring 1945, this aircraft completed more than eighty combat missions over northern Italy, southern Austria and what was Yugoslavia. The majority of these missions targeted rail bridges in the Brenner Pass, a 100 mile corridor through the Italian Alps which sheltered the main railway line from Germany to Italy. |
