I have a quick question regarding the B-25J which I will throw out to the B-25 veterans and experts out there.  When the 8 gun solid nose B-25J fired its guns, were the expended shell cases and links ejected from the nose, or were they collected and emptied later.  In looking at actual aircraft and pictures, there do not appear to be any slots in the bottom of the nose - so I am presuming they were collected in the nose and emptied later.  Can anyone confirm this for me? 

Secondly, and a similar question, were the twin tail gun shells and links ejected or collected?  I have seen some pictures showing a circular hole in the tail of the aircraft under the guns which I presume is where the shells and links fell through.  Confirmation on this would also be appreciated.

Finally, if anyone has any pictures/diagrams from the B-25 Erection and Maintenance Manual dealing with the above two questions that they might be able to post, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

Ron

Ron,

good question. To the best of my knowledge the shells collected inside the aircraft for as you correctly observed, there are no ejection slots on the nose or tail gun area. There is an ejection feed for the side blister pack guns however.

I'll run this by a couple B-25 pilots I know and get back to you.

Robert

Robert,

Thanks for your response.  I look forward to any information you might be able to provide.

Thanks.

Ron

Ron,

Actually, my mistake. The tail guns on a B-25 did have an ejection system for the empty shells. My uncle was a B-25 tail gunner with the 17th Recon and in one of his shipping attack photos he'd clearly indicated them by writing: "Empty Shells from my tail guns". You can see them in other photos as well.

Still checking on the nose guns. See attached photo for confirmation.

Robert

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