North American Aviation’s B-25 Mitchell was named in honour of Major General William Mitchell, widely regarded as the father of the United States Air Force. Two years after his death in 1936, the Air Corps issued Circular No. 38-385 which described the requirements for the next generation of bombers. These included the capability to carry 1,200lb of bombs for 1,200 miles, at a speed of at least 200mph. Companies who submitted their designs to meet this requirement, included N.A.A. Their proposal was for a twin-engine, medium bomber which was given the initial design number of NA-40.

This design could be linked back to N.A.A.’s reasonably successful, but cancelled, NA-39 design of just two years prior. The NA-40 first flew towards the end of 1939, when the war in Europe was already underway. After numerous modifications and improvements that culminated in the design of the NA-62, the type eventually entered service in 1941, now designated as B-25 ‘Mitchell’. It was a close call though, as the NA-40 originally failed to win any orders back in 1939, and orders that were meant to materialise for France, never did due to competition.

With the subject of this HKM kit release, we see the B-25J version, which revisited its earlier medium bomber incarnation, which featured a glazed nose with defensive armament. Some B-25J aircraft were, however, modified back to the Strafer nose. The ‘J’ variant was the final production series type built, totalling 4,318 units out of a total B-25 production of 9,816.

• Big 1/32 Scale