I would like to reply to the opening post with the photo of the B-26 dropping 26-28 bombs.
This photo is not fake. I have tried to find an answer myself to why there were over 20 bombs in the main bomb bay, since there were only twenty bomb stations in it. I have recently found the answer in two sources only and only mentioned once in each source, but it makes me sure that it is true that the B-26 could carry more than twenty 100lbs bombs in the main bomb bay. The first source is the 391st Bomb Group and mission 275, 31 Mar 1945 and the second is the new book "Flak-Bait" by Alan Crouchman, and a mission on Feb 6, 1944.
391st: The forward bomb bay of the B-26 has 20 bomb stations, so some of the 28 bombs loaded into each aircraft were "sling loaded".
Flak-Bait: Much criticism of the 100 GP loads. Thirty too many; they are hard to get rid of and they do not drop properly because of wiring...
The most common 100GP load seems to be 28 bombs (ref the two sources above, which are among the few sources which give details about bomb loads for individual missions).
The B-26 could carry up to 4400lbs in the main bomb bay and 1800 lbs in the aft, though the latter was rarely, if ever, used in the ETO and MTO. I have seen seen information about that the aft was occasionally used on short missions in the ETO, but have found no historical data which supports that. Correction (and erronious part deletd): In "Flak-Bait" we learn that that the bombing equipment was removed in the bomber named Flak-Bait (now in Smithsonian under going restoration). "Flak-Bait" is a B-26B-25. It was from the B-26B-25/C-30 that the bombing equipment in the aft bomb bay was removed.
Some of the common B-26 bomb loads in the ETO:
2x2000
4x1100
4x1000
16x250
8x500 (are two sling loaded, or loaded on station 17 and 18? See also * below.)
6x600
6x500
8x300 (sometimes 10x300)
28x100
120lbs (AN-M41) and 500lbs (AN-M26) fragmentation cluster bombs were also loaded as well as the 260lbs (AN-M81) fragmentation bomb. Often incendiary bombs (100lbs M47, 500lbs, M17 were loaded too. I know of only one mission when the 1600lbs AP bomb was used. On this mission (391st, Aug 11, 1944) three were loaded although there were only two stations open for this bomb (so was the third bomb sling loaded?)
The two sources above mention 150lbs GP bombs from mid-March 1945. This was most likely the T1. It seems 25 of these was usually loaded.
* The numbering of the bomb loading stations seems to be different on the earliest models of the B-26 or may have changed when the aft bomb bay was removed. I have no closer inforation on that. There is a difference between the data in flight manuals.
This photo is not fake. I have tried to find an answer myself to why there were over 20 bombs in the main bomb bay, since there were only twenty bomb stations in it. I have recently found the answer in two sources only and only mentioned once in each source, but it makes me sure that it is true that the B-26 could carry more than twenty 100lbs bombs in the main bomb bay. The first source is the 391st Bomb Group and mission 275, 31 Mar 1945 and the second is the new book "Flak-Bait" by Alan Crouchman, and a mission on Feb 6, 1944.
391st: The forward bomb bay of the B-26 has 20 bomb stations, so some of the 28 bombs loaded into each aircraft were "sling loaded".
Flak-Bait: Much criticism of the 100 GP loads. Thirty too many; they are hard to get rid of and they do not drop properly because of wiring...
The most common 100GP load seems to be 28 bombs (ref the two sources above, which are among the few sources which give details about bomb loads for individual missions).
The B-26 could carry up to 4400lbs in the main bomb bay and 1800 lbs in the aft, though the latter was rarely, if ever, used in the ETO and MTO. I have seen seen information about that the aft was occasionally used on short missions in the ETO, but have found no historical data which supports that. Correction (and erronious part deletd): In "Flak-Bait" we learn that that the bombing equipment was removed in the bomber named Flak-Bait (now in Smithsonian under going restoration). "Flak-Bait" is a B-26B-25. It was from the B-26B-25/C-30 that the bombing equipment in the aft bomb bay was removed.
Some of the common B-26 bomb loads in the ETO:
2x2000
4x1100
4x1000
16x250
8x500 (are two sling loaded, or loaded on station 17 and 18? See also * below.)
6x600
6x500
8x300 (sometimes 10x300)
28x100
120lbs (AN-M41) and 500lbs (AN-M26) fragmentation cluster bombs were also loaded as well as the 260lbs (AN-M81) fragmentation bomb. Often incendiary bombs (100lbs M47, 500lbs, M17 were loaded too. I know of only one mission when the 1600lbs AP bomb was used. On this mission (391st, Aug 11, 1944) three were loaded although there were only two stations open for this bomb (so was the third bomb sling loaded?)
The two sources above mention 150lbs GP bombs from mid-March 1945. This was most likely the T1. It seems 25 of these was usually loaded.
* The numbering of the bomb loading stations seems to be different on the earliest models of the B-26 or may have changed when the aft bomb bay was removed. I have no closer inforation on that. There is a difference between the data in flight manuals.
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