Best Bomber Killing Aircraft......

[Erich]

by the way it was quite common for US heavy bomber crews to abandon ship through the bomb-bay

 

[cheddar cheese]

That would look pretty funny, i can just imagine a plak and white piece of film footage of a B-17 with a load of men dropping out the bomb bay in quick succession

 

[NightHawk]

now theres a real smart bomb.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Not really, as men tend not to explode terribly well.

 

[Erich]

not so funny if you would have been in their position

there were also belly hatches as well as a side fuselage hatch

 

[NightHawk]

you can allways starp your self to a bomb.

 

[cheddar cheese]

What good is that?

 

[NightHawk]

you can make your self a smart bomb.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but you have to ask, how smart is someone that straps themselfs to a bomb to make it a smart bomb??

 

[Lightning Guy]

The bomb bay was a common method of exit for those on the flight deck (pilot, co-pilot, flight-engineer) and anyone in the radio room immediately behind the bomb bay. I've seen some footage of this being done. It might look silly, but it was the quickest way out for those individuals in a situation where time was of the essence.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but it couldn't be done in a lancaster, the bomb aimer and tail gunner had the best chance of getting out.....................

 

[Lightning Guy]

Point for the B-17!

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well not really because to escape you have to be shot down, point taken away from the B-17..............

 

[Lightning Guy]

B-17 was a lot harder to shoot down that the Lanc.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

if this was both at day i would agree, and i'll agree anyway but can i just point out that as the lancaster flew at night the fighters had to get allot closer to the lanc to identify and take aim at it, bringing the fighter well in range of the lanc's defensive armorment where the attacker would be "strongly disscouraged" from attacking...................

 

[Lightning Guy]

The same advantage would have applied to the B-17 if it had flow at night. The simple fact is that the B-17 was better able to withstand battle damage.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i said i agreed with that, i'm just saying that it tokk more than allot of people think to bring one down because of the reasons i mentioned, as well as the corkscrew......................

 

[NightHawk]

LG is back. its been ages from the last time i saw you posting.

 

[NightHawk]

but you have to ask, how smart is someone that straps themselfs to a bomb to make it a smart bomb??

well shahids do it all the time.

 

[cheddar cheese]

if this was both at day i would agree, and i'll agree anyway but can i just point out that as the lancaster flew at night the fighters had to get allot closer to the lanc to identify and take aim at it, bringing the fighter well in range of the lanc's defensive armorment where the attacker would be "strongly disscouraged" from attacking...................

But because the Lancaster had relatively thin armour, it would only take one or 2 lucky hits to bring it down. And I'm sure that before an enemy pilot withdrew from the pursuit, he would take a quick pop at it.