These included several limited models such as the F-10 reconnaissance aircraft, the AT-24 crew trainers, and the United States Marine Corps' PBJ-1 patrol bomber.

In March 1939, the US Army Air Corps issued a specification for a medium bomber that was capable of carrying a payload of 2,400 lb (1,100 kg) over 1,200 miles (1,900 km) at 300 mph (480 km/h).

NAA manufactured the greatest number of aircraft in World War II, the first time a company had produced trainers, bombers, and fighters simultaneously (the AT-6/SNJ Texan/Harvard, B-25 Mitchell, and the P-51 Mustang).

The only significant complaint about the B-25 was its extremely noisy engines; as a result, many pilots eventually suffered from some degree of hearing loss.

The airframe of "Patches" was so distorted from battle damage that straight-and-level flight required 8° of left aileron trim and 6° of right rudder, causing the aircraft to "crab" sideways across the sky.

Using similar mast height level tactics and skip bombing, the B-25 proved itself to be a capable anti-shipping weapon and sank many enemy sea vessels.

Later in the war, as the USAAF acquired bases in other parts of the Pacific, the Mitchell could strike targets in Indochina, Formosa, and Kyushu, increasing the usefulness of the B-25.

The five bombardment groups – 20 squadrons – of the Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces that used the B-25 in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations were the only U.S. units to employ the B-25 in Europe.

[15] The RAF received nearly 900 Mitchells, using them to replace Douglas Bostons, Lockheed Venturas, and Vickers Wellington bombers[citation needed].

The mission gave a much-needed lift in morale to the Americans and alarmed the Japanese, who had believed their home islands to be inviolable by enemy forces.

Although the amount of actual damage done was relatively minor, it forced the Japanese to divert troops for home defense for the remainder of the war.

Some of the earliest B-25 bomb groups also flew the Mitchell on coastal patrols after the Pearl Harbor attack, prior to the AAFAC organization.

XVIII and the autoloading German 75 mm long-barrel Bordkanone BK 7,5 heavy-caliber ordnance fitted to both the Henschel Hs 129B-3 and Junkers Ju 88P-1.

Company promotional material bragged that the B-25H could "bring to bear 10 machine guns coming and four going, in addition to the 75 mm cannon, eight rockets, and 3,000 lb (1,360 kg) of bombs.

The co-pilot's station and controls were removed and replaced by a smaller seat used by the navigator/cannoneer, The radio operator crew position was aft of the bomb bay with access to the waist guns.

NAA also produced a strafer nose-first shipped to air depots as kits, then introduced on the production line in alternating blocks with the bombardier nose.

Others were assigned to units of the Air National Guard in training roles in support of Northrop F-89 Scorpion and Lockheed F-94 Starfire operations.

The Boeing XPBB Sea Ranger flying boat, competing for B-29 engines, was cancelled in exchange for part of the Kansas City Mitchell production.

Following the AAFAC format, the Marine Mitchells had search radar in a retractable radome replacing the remotely operated ventral turret.

Some VMB-612 intruder PBJ-1D and J series planes flew without top turrets to save weight and increase range on night patrols, especially towards the end of the war when air superiority had been achieved.

As part of its move from Bomber Command, No 305 (Polish) Squadron flew Mitchell IIs from September to December 1943 before converting to the de Havilland Mosquito.

On 30 June 1941, the Netherlands Purchasing Commission, acting on behalf of the Dutch government-in-exile in London, signed a contract with North American Aviation for 162 B-25C aircraft.

In February 1942, the British Overseas Airways Corporation agreed to ferry 20 Dutch B-25s from Florida to Australia travelling via Africa and India, and an additional 10 via the South Pacific route from California.

They acquired the Mitchell II in September 1943, performing operations over Europe against gun emplacements, railway yards, bridges, troops, and other tactical targets.

Other damaged B-25s arrived or crashed in the Far East of Russia, and one Doolittle Raid aircraft landed there short of fuel after attacking Japan.

This lone airworthy Doolittle Raid aircraft to reach the Soviet Union was lost in a hangar fire in the early 1950s while undergoing routine maintenance.

Following the liberation of France, this squadron transferred to the newly formed French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) as GB I/20 Lorraine.

[51] A bit after 16:00 on 27 August 1967, a converted civilian B-25 mistakenly dropped eighteen skydivers over Lake Erie, four or five nautical miles (7.5–9.3 km) from Huron, Ohio.

The air traffic controller had confused the B-25 with a Cessna 180 Skywagon that was trailing it to take photographs, causing the B-25 pilot to think he was over the intended drop site at Ortner Airport.

[55] On Nov. 1, 1941, just one month before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a B-25 bomber on a training mission flying out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, crashed near Benton Ridge, Ohio.