Bomber Command, World War II (1939-45); and the lies and corruptions of Geopolitics

[33k in the air]

Have you or anyone else found such diagrams showing a different arrangement that allowed either the 8x 1000 lb HE or 4x 2000 lb to be carried internally? I would be very interested.

See page 410 of the Erection and Maintenance Instructions for Army Model B-17G / British Model Fortress II Airplanes (AN 01-20EG-2 dated 25 August 1944). That page shows for various bomb types the maximum number of stations on the bomb racks which could simultaneously carry that bomb type. The main loads of interest:

24 x 100-lb AN-M30 GP
24 x 100-lb AN-M47 incendiary
24 x 120-lb AN-M1A1/M2A1 fragmentation clusters
16 x 250-lb AN-M57 GP
16 x 300-lb M31 Demolition
12 x 500-lb AN-M43/AN-M64 GP
16 x 500-lb AN-M58 SAP
10 x 1,000-lb AN-Mk 33 AP
06 x 1,000-lb AN-M44/AN-M65 GP
08 x 1,000-lb AN-M59 SAP
06 x 1,600-lb AN-Mk 1 AP
02 x 2,000-lb AN-M34/AN-M66 GP

Operationally, the maximum load for some bombs was increased through the use of cluster adapters which allowed more than one bomb to be carried by a station. The new maximums:

38 x 100-lb AN-M30 GP
42 x 100-lb AN-M47 incendiary
38 x 120-lb AN-M1A1/M2A1 fragmentation clusters
20 x 250-lb AN-M57 GP
18 x 300-lb M31 Demolition
16 x 500-lb AN-M43/AN-M64 GP

The aircraft could also carry a maximum of 30 x 260-lb AN-M81 fragmentation bombs.

I'm uncertain of the number of 150-lb T1 GP that could be carried. (The T1 is a little-known bomb that was developed as a more powerful substitute for the 100-lb AN-M30 GP. The bombers of the 8th Air Force dropped 74,920 of these bombs during the last two months of the war.) Given that the T1 had the same diameter as the AN-M30, presumably similar numbers could be carried.

 

[ThomasP]

So the answer is still 'no' there is no reason to believe that the B-17 ever carried 8x 1000 lb HE internally?

8x 1000 lb SAP - yes
8x 1600 lb AP - yes
8x 1000 lb HE (or GP if you prefer) - no