Project Description

MPH

272

WEAPONS

18

SEATS

6

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North American B-25 “God and Country”

Role: Medium Bomber

National Origin: United States

Manufacturer: North American Aviation

First Flight: 1941

Primary User: United States Army Air Force, Royal Air Force, Soviet Air Force, US Marine Corps

Number Built: 9,816

The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American twin-engine, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation named in honor of Major General William “Billy” Mitchell. She was bought in 1962 by Tallmantz Aviation of Long Beach, CA and began the next chapter of her life as a photo ship for Hollywood.  Pacific Prowler has participated in over 80 Hollywood feature films including: Seven Wonders of The World, Catch 22, Around the World in 80 Days, For Whom the Bell Tolls. From 1996 to 1999 she only flew 60 hours, mostly to air shows as “Girls Rule”.

By the early 2000s she was renamed “Top Secret”, and under the operation of 99th Street Inc. of San Antonio, TX, she hardly flew at all; rather, she languished in disrepair in a falling down hangar.  In late 2002/early 2003, Jim Terry purchased the aircraft and renamed her “Pacific Prowler”. The plane spent the first several months in Tulsa OK, where students at the Tulsa Tech Center and volunteers got the plane airworthy.  For the next 10 years, Pacific Prowler flew the airshow circuit flying just over 1,000 hours while being based in Ft. Worth TX. In the Fall of 2013, Pacific Prowler was sold and is now operated under the name “God and Country” by the Mid America Flight Museum based in Mt. Pleasant Texas.

About MAFM’s B-25 “God & Country”


The North American B-25, now named  “God And Country” , is one of 41 B-25s that is airworthy in the World. The B-25 Mitchell Bomber was made famous on the daring Doolittle Raid on Tokyo which took place on April 19, 1942 which was just four months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.   The B-25 Bomber went on to become the most versatile medium bomber of World War II, seeing combat in every theater of operation.
God And Country  is a “J” Model North American B-25 Mitchell, and was built in 1944 at North American’s Kansas City plant and was accepted for service in the AAF in early 1945 which was too late to see combat.  She came out of storage in 1946,  and beginning in 1949, served as VIP transport in the new US Air Force until 1958 when she experienced a gear-up landing and was declared as salvage.

She was bought in 1962 by Tallmantz Aviation of Long Beach, CA and began the next chapter of her life as a photo ship for Hollywood.  Pacific Prowler has participated in over 80 Hollywood feature films including:
Catch 22 
Around The World in 80 Days 
For Whom The Bell Tolls 
Disney’s 360 Degree ‘Circle Vision’ movies

In the 1960s, this plane flew to all four corners of the world to film the Seven Wonders Of The World at low level for Disney Studios for use in their 360 degree videos as seen at the Disney Parks.  In the mid-1980s she was sold to Universal Aviation and was operated by Aces High in the UK (as ‘Dolly’) – being employed specifically to film The Memphis Belle in 1989.  She retired from movie-work in the mid-1990s and went into a serious restoration period.  In 1996, while owned by World Jet of Florida, her camera nose was removed and the traditional military nose replaced

From 1996 to 1999 she only flew 60 hours, mostly to air shows as “Girls Rule”.   By the early 2000s she was renamed “Top Secret”, and under the operation of 99th Street Inc. of San Antonio, TX, she hardly flew at all; rather, she languished in disrepair in a falling down hangar.  In late 2002/early 2003, Jim Terry purchased the aircraft and renamed her “Pacific Prowler”. The plane spent the first several months in Tulsa OK, where students at the Tulsa Tech Center and volunteers got the plane airworthy.  For the next 10 years, Pacific Prowler flew the airshow circuit flying just over 1,000 hours while being based in Ft. Worth TX.
In the Fall of 2013, Pacific Prolwer was sold and is now operated under the name “God And Country” by the Mid America Flight Museum based in Mt. Pleasant Texas. Of the 41 Airworthy B-25’s, God And Country is among the nicest and is maintained in Airworthy condition and flown regularly.

Our aircraft’s basic timeline and technical info:
1944 – Built by North AMerican at their plant in Kansas City – originally designated as a B-25J, serial #44-30823A
1949-1958  – Used as VIP transport by the USAF and re-designated as a VB-25J; in 1956 went through an extensive update by Hayes of Huntsville,  AL (making it essentially a zero-hour aircraft) and re-designated again to VB-25N (Hayes pilot-trainer); experienced a gear-up landing in 1958 – considered salvage by the Air Force at this point
1958-1962 – Bought as salvage by Wenatchee Air Service of WA – registered as N1042B
1962-1985 – Bought and used by Tallmantz Aviation for movie-work as a cameraship
mid-1980s – Bought by Universal Aviation Corp. and operated by Aces High of the UK as “Dolly”
mid-1990s – Bought by World Jet of Florida; restored to military configuration including the camera nose being removed and replaced with the more          traditional nose bubble in 1996; operated as “Girls Rule”
early 2000s – Operated by 99th Street Inc. of San Antonio, TX as “Top Secret”
2002 – Purchased by Jim Terry (now registered under Pacific Prowler LLC) and maintained and managed by the non-profit, educational group, the Greatest Generation Aircraft non-profit.
2013 – Aircraft sold and now operated by Mid America Flight Museum in Mt. Pleasant Texas and the aircraft re-named “God And Country”

General characteristics

  • 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: 237 knots (272 mph, 438 km/h) at 13,000 ft (3,960 m)
  • Cruise speed: 200 knots (230 mph, 370 km/h)
  • Range: 1,174 nmi (1,350 mi, 2,174 km)
  • Service ceiling: 24,200 ft (7,378 m)

Armament

  • Guns: 12-18 x .50 in (12.7mm) machine guns and 75 mm (2.95 in) T13E1 cannon
  • Hardpoints: 2,000 lb (900 kg) ventral shackles to hold 1 external Mark 13 torpedo
  • Rockets: Racks for eight 5 in (127 mm) high velocity aircraft rockets (HVAR)
  • Bombs: 3,000 lb (1,360 kg) bombs