Best medium bomber? (1 Viewer)

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Some of the A-26 B models had eight .50 cal. machine guns packed in the nose and six .50 cal. machine guns mounted in the wings in addition to dorsal and ventral mountings of two .50 cal. machine guns each. The dorsal .50's could be locked into a forward firing position enabling the pilot to unleash the fury of sixteen .50 cal's. (At a cyclic rate of 700 rpm, that's a total of 11,200 rpm or 187 rps!)

Of course, the above was in addition to bombs in the internal bomb bay and rockets mounted under the wings.

Compared to that, the Mosquito was just an annoying wooden insect capable of inflicting a mere topical, itchy welt. :agrue:
 
DAVIDICUS said:
Some of the A-26 B models had eight .50 cal. machine guns packed in the nose and six .50 cal. machine guns mounted in the wings in addition to dorsal and ventral mountings of two .50 cal. machine guns each. The dorsal .50's could be locked into a forward firing position enabling the pilot to unleash the fury of sixteen .50 cal's. (At a cyclic rate of 700 rpm, that's a total of 11,200 rpm or 187 rps!)

Of course, the above was in addition to bombs in the internal bomb bay and rockets mounted under the wings.

Compared to that, the Mosquito was just an annoying wooden insect capable of inflicting a mere topical, itchy welt. :agrue:

Ah, guns, nice! :D

Id prefer a B-25H though.
 
I wonder how effective that 75mm gun actually was. A prototype of the A-26 was to have a 75mm gun and two fifty caliber machine guns packed into the nose but they decided it wouldn't be that effective with a manual, slow rate of fire. Perhaps the A-26's mission requirements required less shipping attacks.

How successful was the B-25H with it's gun?
 
From http://www.341stbombgroup.org/aircraft/b25h.htm

"Combat sorties confirmed that the cannon-armed B-25H offered no particular advantage over specially-adapted strafers armed exclusively with machine guns. At this stage in the war, targets specifically suited for cannon attack were relatively few and far between, and many targets that were vulnerable to the cannon were also vulnerable to a battery of 0.50-inch machine guns or to bombs. Consequently, the use of the heavy cannon was generally abandoned in the South-West Pacific by August of 1944."

I bet 16 fifties can cause a plane to disintegrate too. Besides, I heard that the A-26 could leap tall buildings in a single bound. :lol:
 
The strafer B-25's were basically equal in armament to the A-26's. Some even had racks for rockets. The A-26 could bring an additional two fifties to bear, but when you're talking about that many guns, two more don't confer superiority.

The flight performance of the A-26 was quite clearly head and shoulders above the B-25 though.
 
I have seen the A-26 Invader classified as an attack bomber, a light bomber and a medium bomber.

It's various roles and functions were indistinguishable from the B-25 Mitchell.

With it's 6,000lb bomb capacity (4,000lbs internal and 2,000lbs external) it could walk the walk of a medium bomber like the B-25, but at a running pace.
 
Yes but how can you take an aircraft seriously when it was was built of wood by people with bad teeth.

Surely you wouldn't disagree. :lol:
 
But the mossie lost some of its vital speed and maneuverability with a 'Cookie'in the bomb bay...and the Mitchell/Invader had the benefit of being tougher and the advantage of a defensive armament.
 

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