Anyone with experience in the B-25?

[Fearless Tower]

Might have an opportunity to fly one and was looking for tips/techniques...etc.

I've heard that the brakes are ridiculously sensitive and with no nose-wheel steering can make taxiing a challenge.

I've also heard that the controls are very heavy making maneuvers like steep turns a real handful.

Any advice or recommendations?

 

[stearmann4]

Your typed PIC will probably tell you, if you lose an engine on take off...you're going down straight ahead. No climbing out SE.

MR-

 

[Huggyu2]

I got about 15 minutes in one this year, including a landing, and taxiing it. Yes, the brakes are quite sensitive. But landing it seemed pretty easy.
I was surprised at how loud the cockpit was. The noise cancelling headset was good to have.
All in all, it was pretty neat. I hope I can do more of that in the future.

 

[Mud Eagle]

The Capt I flew with nearly punched me on the landing roll out when I tried to tap the brakes to help maintain centerline (bad jet habit, as it turns out!).

Yeah, those brakes are sensitive.

+1 on Huggy's observation about the noise level in the cockpit. The prop arc is about 4 feet from your ear!

Coming from a military jet background, I did think the controls were a bit heavy -- both hands on the wheel even to make a gentle roll kind of thing -- but it was not outrageous. Took a few minutes to get used to it, then it was 'normal'.

Honestly the toughest thing from my perspective was managing those big radials. You had to think well ahead of power applications and reductions in order to not hurt the motors. No bitch-slapping the throttles around like in a jet. Not a big deal on climb-out, but on the RTBs the power reductions and speeds had to be thought out rather than just a reaction.

Typical radial stuff, but that was a new one for a jet guy. You appear to have T-6 time in your bio there, so shouldn't be that big of a deal for you.

 

[Fearless Tower]

The Capt I flew with nearly punched me on the landing roll out when I tried to tap the brakes to help maintain centerline (bad jet habit, as it turns out!).

Yeah, those brakes are sensitive.

+1 on Huggy's observation about the noise level in the cockpit. The prop arc is about 4 feet from your ear!

Coming from a military jet background, I did think the controls were a bit heavy -- both hands on the wheel even to make a gentle roll kind of thing -- but it was not outrageous. Took a few minutes to get used to it, then it was 'normal'.

Honestly the toughest thing from my perspective was managing those big radials. You had to think well ahead of power applications and reductions in order to not hurt the motors. No bitch-slapping the throttles around like in a jet. Not a big deal on climb-out, but on the RTBs the power reductions and speeds had to be thought out rather than just a reaction.

Typical radial stuff, but that was a new one for a jet guy. You appear to have T-6 time in your bio there, so shouldn't be that big of a deal for you.

Yeah, between the DC-3 and the SNJ, I've definitely familiar with with the care and feeding of round engines. I think the thing that got me wondering the most is how others had described the controls as 'heavy'.

The DC-3 is certainly a big plane, but I don't recall the controls being particularly heavy (well, other than holding yoke back for taxi). Pitch and rudder in the -3 seemed fairly reasonable. Roll using ailerons alone was extremely sluggish, but that was more of a reponse rate thing rather than feeling heavy....you can turn the wheel one-handed just fine.....but it may take a minute or two before anything happens!