Noseart on B-25 Mitchell aircraft

Please allow time for images to load. Updated - 5 September 2020

See also...

AAC, USAF, ANG
USN, USMC
French Air Force
Other Armed Forces

North American B-25 Mitchell - Bettie Belle (below) of the 3rd Antisubmarine Squadron



In regards to bat noseart, one group of particular interest is the 499th Medium Bomb Squadron that operated
in the Pacific during WWII. Their unit flew the North American B-25 Mitchell. This group was involved in ground-attack
missions and anti-shipping strikes. Each a/c in the squadron had the nose painted to look like the head, body, and
wings of a huge bat. There is no better source for information about this squadron or it's aircraft than:
Lawrence Hickey's book: Warpath across the Pacific. Int’l Hist. Res. Assoc. Boulder CO, pp. 448.



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Betty's Dream', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron



LEFT: North American B-25D-5 Mitchell 'Lucky Bat' (1st version, when sqd. was formed), 499th Medium Bomb Squadron.
RIGHT: Note how the glazing is pointed over and the mission tally has been moved from the nose to below the pilot's window.



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Lucky Bat', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron, c/o PacificWrecks.org (left)



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Dirty Dora' and 'Dirty Dora II', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron.
www.adamsplanes.com



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Dirty Dora II', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Doodle' 499th Medium Bomb Squadron (LEFT: c/o PacificWrecks.org).
These artwork on these photos do not match that of "Doodle" below. Different a/c? Which came first?



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Doodle Jr', 499th BS c/o Johnathan Watson Collection
via Replica in Scale (http://replicainscale.blogspot.ru) www.adamsplanes.com



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Wilda Marie', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron.
From the Johnathan Watson Collection, via http://replicainscale.blogspot.ru

North American B-25 Mitchell 'Hung Lo', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron
See Richard Voitier's Website

North American B-25 Mitchell 'Pretty Pat', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron www.adamsplanes.com



North American B-25 Mitchell 'Jay Hawk', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron



Left - North American B-25 Mitchell 'My Duchess', 499th Medium Bomb Squadron. Right - North American B-25 Mitchell,
499th Medium Bomb Squadron... name? See Hickey's (1984) Book for a complete photo roster of this squadron's a/c.



Left - NA-B-25 Mitchell. Colorized photo of the REAL 'Betty's Dream', 345 BG (Jeff Ethell collection)
Right - Captured at an airshow: B-25 Mitchell painted to look like 'Betty's Dream' of the 499th Medium BS.





Ferguson, M.B. 1991. Bats outa Hell over Biak. Self-Published, Charleston IL. pp. 153.



Schiffer Publishing. 1997. Warpath - the story of the 345th Bombardment Group in WWII. Schiffer Publishing ltd. pp. 277+.



Hickey, L.J. 1984. Warpath across the Pacific. Int’l Hist. Res. Assoc. pp. 448.


Websites:
www.pacificwrecks.com
www.adamsplanes.com