[drgondog]

You are correct on the low level emphasis in PTO for both B-25s and A-20s. Pappy Gunn was the architect of the field mods for the heavy nose armament in both ships. The original airframes were the C and D versions of B-25. The cheek mods and nose mods were incorporated in later production versions like the G.

The heavy nose package including cheek 50's were dominantly for shipping and strafing airfields. In most ships the bombadier was not used - unlike MTO and ETO.

These ships were crucial in the Battle of Bismark Sea... with forward firing 50s and skip bombing techniques.

I still have to do some checking but I don't think field mods were performed on the B-25 C/D/F versions - only when G came to theatre did the cheek mounts come with it to the MTO and ETO. German flak much better than Japanese flak..