Piaggio P-108 vs. Boeing B-17 -- Heavy Bomber Comparison

[the lancaster kicks ass]

so you're saying the plane's only problem was the controlls were a little hard to get used too?? perhaps the site that said that also couldn't find out much bout the plane.............

 

[cheddar cheese]

It was an Italian site...It had quite a detailed overview of the plane compared to other sites and also many pictures of each model...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

was she roomy inside then??

 

[cheddar cheese]

I think so...only needed a crew of 7 8)

It was also a multi role bomber

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

oh dear lord they made a version with a huge gun in it, a torp bomber version of it and a transport version, and about one of each, a true multi role aircraft i think you'll agree lads............

 

[cheddar cheese]

Nope, it was...

Day Bomber (P.108B)
Night Bomber (P.108B)
Torpedo Bomber (P.108B)
Anti-Shipping (P.108A)
Civil Airliner (P.108C)
Military Transport (P.108T)
Ground Attack (P.108A)

They built 1 P.108A, and 12 P.108T's. I dont know the numbers for the others, But I'm thinking about 125-130 P.108B's though.

 

[DaveB.inVa]

What about the controls made it hard to get used to?

Also do you have any pictures of the P.108A?

 

[cheddar cheese]

I dont know why, just poor layout I guess...

Yeah I only have the 2 pictures of it...Both in Luftwaffe marking im afraid...

 

[cheddar cheese]

Actually ignore that last one, I just realised thats the T, not the A...

 

[KC13]

163 is an often quoted production total for the P.108B, but in fact probably no more than 36 were produced. 1 prototype and 11 series 1, then 12 series 2 and 12 series 3. Squadron records never list more than 7 as being serviceable so that total rings true. Records also list only 36 MM numbers as being allocated for the B. For more info, track down a copy of Giancarlo Garello's Il Piaggio P.108. Excellent monograph.

Edit: I'll drag out my copy and post more info later, but the conclusion was that the 108B was equivalent to a B-17C.

 

[DaveB.inVa]

It may have heavier armament, but It is stil fairly primative. If you look at the P.108, you will notice it has remote gun turrets, rather like that of the B-29 - and we're talking 5 years earlier and by a country with not nearly as many resources.

There was some discussion about this before on the B-29 yahoo group. The P.108 did have the remote turrets but they werent like the B-29's in that they provided no lead, parallax, altitude and other ballistics corrections. Still its a pretty cool airplane and I wish there was more info about it plus more pictures. I have an old book at home with a nice drawing of a P.108 in colors resembling the desert camo you find on other Italian aircraft.

I also really wish there was more info on the version with the cannon in the nose!!

A yahoo picture search will get you about 4 pages of decent pictures.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=Piaggio+P-108&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&fl=0&x=wrt

 

[JCS]

Heres another shot of the Artigliere for whoever it was that asked about it....

 

[cheddar cheese]

Nice drawings there Dave! 8)

 

[DaveB.inVa]

Correct me if Im wrong... but looking from these pictures and from other pictures on the internet it seems that the P.108 has handed props!!

 

[syscom3]

The B29 remote conrol turrets were fundamentally different from that of the Italian bomber. The turrets of the B29 were controlled by a central fire control station with target data entered into a ballistics computer that then controlled the guns.

The P108 did not have this ballistics computer nor the centralized fire control station.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Nope, it had wing turrets controlled by two observers in dorsal observation turrets...Although not on the level of the B-29, it is a step towards it and fairly advanced and imaginative for the era.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

did it really offer any advantages over just a normal dorsal and ventral turret though? it did on the B-29 because they were using very reliable equiptment, one gunner could, if nessisary control all turrets and it solved the problem of having to pressurise individual turrets, none of which are really advantages it offered the P.108..........

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Nope, it had wing turrets controlled by two observers in dorsal observation turrets...Although not on the level of the B-29, it is a step towards it and fairly advanced and imaginative for the era.

Agreed

 

[cheddar cheese]

did it really offer any advantages over just a normal dorsal and ventral turret though? it did on the B-29 because they were using very reliable equiptment, one gunner could, if nessisary control all turrets and it solved the problem of having to pressurise individual turrets, none of which are really advantages it offered the P.108..........

I think they were just controlled by simple mechanical links - and it had a ventral gun too for good measure.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well then i fail to see the advantages they offer when it's easier to put in manned turrets, which are more accurate given you're sitting behind the guns (don't worry sys i know the B-29's were accurate, they had computers the P.108 didn't) and if you get a jam or problem with the ammo feed there's a chance you can do something about it............