B-25 Takeoff Accidents After the Release of “Thirty Second…”

[Dan Jones]

Somewhere, some years ago, I read something about the USAAF suffering a number of B-25 take-off accidents after the release of the movie “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” that showed the max performance takeoff technique the Raiders used and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about that?

[JohnB]

I can see some hotshot captain giving it a try.
After all if Van Johnson could do it...

Seriously, the B-25 had/has a good reputation for being forgiving, meaning someone might be more willing to push it than a type with a demanding reputation. Like a short-wing B-26.
My father had Mitchell time and enjoyed it, and I know two warbird pilots with B-25 ratings, again, it has a good reputation.

[A26 Special K]

I’m typed and experienced in the B-25. It will fly off at a speed less than Vmc. If an engine fails after liftoff, there is no choice but to pull the power off the good engine instantly or roll over to crash inverted. It will also stall at some point. Not a good plan. The Doolittle Raiders got away with it on the carrier with carrier wind over the deck plus gale force winds somewhere between 50 and 60 mph. All the more reason to respect the crews and the maintenance people for making sure all those engines performed as planned. While the engines had their carbs adjusted for long range cruise, a few airplanes had engines “misadjusted” at the Sacramento Depot back to best power. Doolittle was furious but there wasn’t time to fix them. In the worst case, the airplane that diverted to Russia had the highest fuel burn problem. It was the only B-25 to make it down intact. The Russians kept it and eventually turned the crew over to the US thru Iran.