Best Bomber of WW2 (continued)

[cheddar cheese]

It is rather. The tail seems very low to the ground too, did it have a tailwheel?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes she did...........

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I was wonder about it too. It does not seem to have anyplace to retract to. I bet this was just a prototype and they hadn't solved the landing gear issues yet????

 

[cheddar cheese]

Aha I just noticed, I though it had a tricycle undercarriage but at a second glance it is a tail dragger.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

C.C thanks, but then how can we bring them to Aviation?
Was the Ju-87 the best Dive Bomer?

The Stuka was deffinatly not the best Dive Bomber. It was effective at the start of the war but was too slow to be effective later on. I am with RG and would go with the Dauntless.

i've always thought that undercarage was a bit strange.......

Actually the landing carraige did completely pull up into the wheel well. It just looks like that but as you said it was quite strange looking.

Below is a picture of a 177 which had the same undercarraige and shows that they fully retracted. Interesting this one has bombs under the wings aswell as what looks like 2 torpedos under the fuselage.

As was stated by RG the 277 was too late to be even put into production. The Luftwaffe needed fighters not bombers and yes Hitlers obsession wiht dive bombers was crazy.

Henkel He-277

Type: Heavy Bomber, Recce and Anti-Shipping Aircraft
Origin: Ernst Heinkel AG
Models: V1 to V3, B-5, B-6 and B-7 Series
Production: N/A
First Flight: Late 1943
Engine:
B-5:
Daimler-Benz DB 603A inverted V12
Horsepower: 1,850hp
Number: 4

B-6:
Jumo 213F
Horsepower: 2,060hp
Number: 4

Dimensions:
Wing span (B-5): 31.44m (103 ft. 1¾ in.)
Wing span (B-6): 40.00m (131 ft. 2¾ in.)
Wing Surface Area: N/A
Length: 22.15m (72 ft. 8 in.)
Height: 6.66m (21 ft. 10½ in.)
Stabilizer Span: N/A

Weights:
Empty (B-5): 21,800kg (48,067 lb.)
Loaded (B-5): 44,490kg (98,096 lb.)
Performance:
Maximum Speed: 354 mph (570 kph)
Cruise Speed: N/A
Range (B-5): 6000km (3,728 miles)
Range (B-6): 7200km (4,474 miles)
Initial Climb: N/A
Endurance: N/A
Service Ceiling: N/A

Armament:
N/A

Avionics:
N/A



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:
An attempt by Heinkel to rectify the problems of the He 177 by mounting four single engines in place of the dual coupled engines, the He 277 was originally met with indifference by Goering. Heinkel was actually banned from developing this aircraft and secretly proceeded by designating it the He 177B. During a meeting with Hitler, Heinkel mentioned the aircraft as a solution to a specification Hitler was making. Hitler ordered the type into production, at which point it reclaimed it's legitimate name of He 277. Numerous prototypes were built but on July 3, 1944 production was halted as the German aviation industry focused on fighter production..

 

[mosquitoman]

It's undercarriage should retract, if it doesn't my model's all wrong!

 

[Anonymous]

I just ment the undercarriage in the photo I posted didn't look like it could fit into the nacel. I suspect the 277 needed bigger gear than the 177, and that photo is of a test plane with non-retractable landing gear.

How are those wheels going to fit into that nacel?

=S=

Lunatic

 

[mosquitoman]

They split in 2 so the individual wheels go either side of the engine nacelle

 

[cheddar cheese]

I was thinking that but I cant see any places for them go where they would be covered

 

[mosquitoman]

I don't think they were

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well they fitted inside the wing, they simply had no covers, like the B-24..........

and it was because there are four main weels that split and go either side of the engine that i said i thought it was strange, and because they're not straight, if you see them from the side they go straight down them protrude forward........

 

[cheddar cheese]

How do you know so much about the 277? It isnt British

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i know nothing about the -277 but i know enough about the -177..........

 

[Anonymous]

The tire appears thicker than the wing, so how would it fit into the wing?

 

[MP-Willow]

The He-277 could have been trouble! If Hitler did not have an obsesion with Dive bombers
As for the dauntless, I would agree that it was good, but as the war went on it was getting old as well. And it was a carrier plane. Did it see you in the Army Air Core?

 

[Anonymous]

The Dauntless was followed by the Helldiver, which was clearly superior.

But really, the TBF/M Avenger was the workhorse in the Pacific. It could carry up to 2000 lbs of bombs plus 10 HVAR's. Some also carried up to 4 more 500 lbs bombs on the wings. It was not really a true "dive bomber" but it was capable of a fairly steep divebombing attack and it had a real computing bombsight.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Well every picture of the 277 ive seen the wheels retract completely but as Lanc said they were uncovered. RG you may be correct that the picture you have does not completly though.

Just a question while we are talking about dive bombers, did the English really have a main dive bomber or did they just mainly use ground attack?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

no we didn't have a dedicated dive bomber that was ever really used...........

 

[Gemhorse]

Actually, there was a He-274 'High-altitude' with 4 x DB603 A-2's version, that also received alot of the 'forbidden' He-277 attention....the wheels retracted as Mossy says, and they do have retractable doors all-round for the undercarriage, it kinda reminds me of the Fw-200 Condor undercarriage....Anyway, it had a different tail, like a Bf-110 but slightly angled.......Yeah, like Willow says, we would've had problems if they had come on stream, and that one Kiwimac used to mention, a real fast Junkers 4 engined I think.......

Britain had the Skua which I think was a dedicated dive-bomber early-on, but the Spitfire, Typhoon and early Mustangs were used for 70 degree dive-bombing with good results....probably others as well....

Dauntless's were my favourite.....we had a bunch of 'em down here....

 

[cheddar cheese]

and that one Kiwimac used to mention, a real fast Junkers 4 engined I think.......

You mean the Messerschmitt Me-264? Yeah that would have been bad news too.