Famous American things: The B-25 Mitchell

Last week the original President’s Air Force One Constellation landed at the Mt. Pleasant airport for a lay-over for the night on its way to VA for repairs and restoration. e escort plane was a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. As a lover of old war birds, I was attacked more to the B-25 than the Connie. e B-25 World War II bomber was one of the most versatile aircra of that era. The plane was manufacture by North American Aviation that was actually owned by General Motors during those war years, but retained the name. It was named in honor of Major General William “Billy” Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Its first offering to the Army Air Corps in 1938 was deemed underpowered. The second offering was fitted with two 1,600 Horse Power engines that solved the under power problem. Another problem was a constant-dihedral, meaning the wing had a consistent, upward angle from the fuselage to the wingtip in flight. is design caused problems with stability. So the wing was redesigned which gave it a distinctive forward looking profile.

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