Largest bomb load of a WWII fighter?

michael rauls · Jan 15, 2020

Seems like there's a trend forming here, that amoung the more powerful generally mid to late war types 4000lbs seems to be pretty consistently the upper limit. Kind of suprising, for me anyway. I expected alot more variation in capabilitiy.

Shortround6 · Jan 15, 2020

It may be (but might not) due to available weapons stations and the size/weight of available bombs. Which means only certain combinations work.

Admiral Beez · Jan 15, 2020

michael rauls said:
Seems like there's a trend forming here, that amoung the more powerful generally mid to late war types 4000lbs seems to be pretty consistently the upper limit. Kind of suprising, for me anyway. I expected alot more variation in capabilitiy.

If running on perhaps 1/4 fuel load, could 5,000 lbs. of bombs be exceeded by a single seat, single engine fighter? We don't want to over stress the wing spar or snap the undercarriage.

Of course the single engine, single seat A-1 Skyraider, first flown in March 1945 carried 8,000 lbs. of bombs, but the Spad was no fighter. Though with a top speed of over 320 mph it wasn't much slower than several of the older Japanese fighters then still in service, such as the 330 mph Ki-43.

Shortround6 · Jan 15, 2020

You are going to need one hell of a fighter.

A P-47D-25 carried 370 gallons of internal fuel, (2220lbs) even running on 25% (93 gallons for P-47?) that only frees up 1665lbs to add to the existing 2500lb bomb load.
Maybe if you leave over 800lbs worth of guns and ammo home?

DarrenW · Jan 15, 2020

Can anyone here confirm/deny that due to ground clearance the Thunderbolt was incapable of carrying a centerline bomb larger than 500 lbs? I have read anecdotal evidence of this but nothing concrete. Scale drawings that I have suggest it would be a tight fit (the bomb fins of a 1,000 pounder come dangerously close to scrapping the ground). Centerline drop tanks larger than 75 gallons were cigar shaped having a narrow cross section so there's definitely more clearance. This would explain the oft-quoted max bomb load of 2,500 lb (two 1,000 lb bombs on wing racks/one 500 lb bomb on centerline rack). Pilot's manuals of the day confirm this load-out:

P-47D

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/attachments/p-47-aaf-manual-pdf.67677/

Page 73

P-47N

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/attachments/p-47-thunderbolt-pdf.33638/

Page 58

I'm sure that the P-47 was structural strong enough and had plenty of power to haul 4,000 lbs of bombs so maybe it was ground clearance after all. The belly of the Hellcat and Corsair did not hang as low as the Thunderbolt so they could carry a bomb as large as 2,000 lb on a centerline rack without clearance issues, though this spot was largely reserved for a drop tank for increased range and loiter time.

jmcalli2 · Jan 16, 2020

IdahoRenegade said:
Specifically a front line fighter capable of air superiority missions, as well as functioning as a fighter-bomber? I understand the P-38 carried 4000 bomb loads regularly (or a total of 4000lbs with a mix of drop tanks and bombs). I have seen claims that the Corsair also had a 4000 bomb load-can someone confirm this? And did it do so during WWII, or later in Korea? I have seen references for the '51 limited to 2000 lbs. How about the '47, the Spit or the Hurricane? And the 190 and 190? Thanks in advance.

P-61 COULD carry 4 x 1600 lb bombs. That's 6,400. No idea what the range with that load would be.

rinkol · Jan 16, 2020

The internal bombloads carried by the Bristol Blenheim were generally limited to 1000 lbs. Furthermore, provisions for external ordnance were limited to a few hundred lbs at best.

Shortround6 · Jan 16, 2020

jmcalli2 said:
P-61 COULD carry 4 x 1600 lb bombs. That's 6,400. No idea what the range with that load would be.

That is the often quoted bomb load and while technically true, the US dropped something under 300 of the 1600lb bombs in Europe during WW II. The need for armor piercing bombs that would go through 7 in of steel being fairly rare (maybe dropped on sub-pens?), which means the "normal" load for the night fighter playing at being a bomber was 4,000lbs.
The US had no available bomb in between the 1000lb GP and the 1600lb AP and as a general rule of thumb, could only hang one bomb per rack or pylon. P-40s with six 250lb bombs being pretty much the exception.

vikingBerserker · Jan 16, 2020

I don't see the P-61 being an air superiority fighter.

Husky · Jan 16, 2020

vikingBerserker said:
I don't see the P-61 being an air superiority fighter.

Nor I

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