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Were Lancs widely used as escorted daylight bombers later in the war (without perhaps much fanfare)?
Finally, though stories abound regarding the Lancasters prodigious bombload this is a furphy. If a Lancaster is forced to fly above 20,000ft, if a Lancaster is given the same armour and redundancy as a B17 (multiple generators and hydraulic systems) its bomb load drops to similar levels if not less.
The primary reason for the Lancaster not being viable as a day bomber was its low ceiling - 21,500 feet loaded. This was even lower than that of the B-24 (23,500 feet) and far below that of the B-17 (at least 30,000 feet). This low ceiling rendered Lancasters operating in daylight very vulnerable to both flak and fighters. Very late in the war, as the German threat declined, some Lancasters were operated in daylight under heavy escort; however, this was very much an exception. It is good to recall that a major reason why the B-24 began to phase out of the 8th AF from the summer of 1944 was due to its relatively low ceiling. With its even lower ceiling the Lancaster was a non-starter.
How do you explain the use of the B-24 in the 15th AF.The primary reason for the Lancaster not being viable as a day bomber was its low ceiling - 21,500 feet loaded. This was even lower than that of the B-24 (23,500 feet) and far below that of the B-17 (at least 30,000 feet). This low ceiling rendered Lancasters operating in daylight very vulnerable to both flak and fighters. Very late in the war, as the German threat declined, some Lancasters were operated in daylight under heavy escort; however, this was very much an exception. It is good to recall that a major reason why the B-24 began to phase out of the 8th AF from the summer of 1944 was due to its relatively low ceiling. With its even lower ceiling the Lancaster was a non-starter.
Doctrine and training.How do you explain the use of the B-24 in the 15th AF.
The primary reason for the Lancaster not being viable as a day bomber was its low ceiling - 21,500 feet loaded.
Some time ago a member of this forum did a huge amount of research into the losses of the Lancaster and the B24, tracking every mission flown over Europe, by day and by night of the two aircraft. At the end the loss ratio was exactly the same for both aircraft, by day and night.
So to sum up, yes the Lancaster was a viable day bomber and the numbers proved it. You could take this a stage further and say that as the Lancaster carried a payload that on average was 50% more than the B24 and had fewer crew, it was the more efficient bomber.
Not necessarily. It depends on what you are trying to get your Lancasters to bomb and how far away they are from the UK bases. Weight of load has less effect on aircraft performance compared to drag, but increased height presents problems with accuracy. A Lancaster III with a take-off weight of 63,000lbs was capable of operating at 23,000 feet. Clean it up and remove turrets would increase height, but might decrease range and speed. Of course though, with an MTOW of 72,000lbs carrying a Grand Slam, a Lancaster B.I (Special) can only reach a height of 18,000 feet with a reduced range and speed compared to the standard Lancaster III, but that's a given and was under very special circumstances - B.I (Specials) were extensively modified compared to standard Lancaster's.
Of course this is with single stage Merlins, optimized for low/mid altitude performance. With the two stage Merlin 85 the Lancaster could cruise at 254mph TAS at 27000ft @ 2650rpm and 4.2lb boost at 62000lb, this with both forward turrets and radome. Full throttle would be 3000rpm and ~7lb boost at the same altitude. So if you wanted a high altitude Lancaster for daylight bombing, you could have one, as long as there was sufficient supply of two stage engines.
It covered all raid from the date of entry into service. Raids such as the first daylight unescorted raids undertaken be the Lancaster's were in the mix, nothing was left out.Was this over the same time period? After August 1944 the Reich was running out of fuel, out of well trained pilots, out of propellant for FLAK and out of quality explosive fillers to burst its FLAK shells properly. Many of their radars were jammed or degraded with only a few receiving anti-jamming circuits able to penetrate the hundreds of allied "carpet" jammers and hundreds of tons of Windows dropped.
It's not hard to see that the B24's advantages would not benefit it over the Lancaster when in essence the Reich for the most part is defenceless against either.
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/B-17/B-17.htmlI'm sceptical of this.
The Performance of the Lancaster is described here: Lancaster Performance Trials (wwiiaircraftperformance.org)
In essence what can be said about the Lancaster I (with 4 x Merlin XX engines) and the much later Lancaster III with much more capable Merlin 24 engines is that in both cases the aircraft achieves its maximum speed at 16,000ft but then both climb and speed decrease until the aircraft reaches its service ceiling of 23,000ft. An The Lancaster III can simply carry 10,000libs more weight. An aircraft at its service ceiling is at a climb rate of 100ft/minute (0.5m/sec) and is on the edge of a stall with little margin for manoeuvring. With reduced load we can get the Lancaster III operating at 23,000ft but the aircraft will be much slower in speed and climb than a B17G.
The B17 Data shows the aircraft achieving peak speed at not 16000ft like the Lancaster I or III but 25,000f, moreover the speed is higher.
B-17 Performance (wwiiaircraftperformance.org)
Generally speaking the nose turret was of little benefit but some Lancs were equipped with 0.5 in the Dorsal position and some in the tail. Some tail mounts were very sophisticated with radar directed blind fire sights far in advance of anything fitted to the B17 / B24The aircraft would need maybe 1000lbs more armour, secondary hydraulic pumps and generators and 50 calibre guns int he tail and nose.
The 15th flew the same kind of missions as the 8th, even having to fly over mountains to get to their targets which the 8th didn't have to do.Doctrine and training.