BlackSheep
Banned
- 443
- May 31, 2018
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Which leads us to the step not taken, as far as I know…
What if those in charge of the strategic bombing of Germany took a page out of the war in the Pacific's playbook and utilized strafer versions of A-20 and B-25 bombers. Without bombs, carrying extra fuel and increased forward firing guns, could the medium bombers have flown in front of, lagged a bit behind, and/or in other locations along the bomber stream utilizing the forward firepower to disrupt Luftwaffe attacks?
Points given for style, if not results… lolThey tried much wilder things then that. Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Excellent thoughts on all, but, remember dogfighting and/or chasing enemy fighters wasn't the intent. The few examples I cited were instances of altering the course to put enough tracers in someone's direction as to give them something to think about besides the bomber in their sights. Again, I'm no expert, but was speculating on the usefulness of strafers positioned strategically around the bomber formation, in the hopes of disrupting the fighter passes of would be bomber destroyers.A big problem is the different heights that the B-17/B-24s flew at compared to the medium (or light) bombers flew at.
A second one is range.
A 3rd one is what maneuverability do you need?
The 4 engine bombers with turbochargers flew in the low 20's, give or take. The engines maxed out at 25,000ft (approximately) and B-17s often flew a few thousand feet above B-24s (in average) . The A-20s used the 1600hp R-2600 and they maxed out at around 1400hp at 10,000ft (?) They didn't fly well at the over 20,000ft level although that was depending on weight.
Service ceiling is given as 25,800ft but the weight is not given. Service ceiling is the altutude at which the plane can still climb at 100fpm. Or basically the the engines are at full throttle (or max continuous) and the pilot is flight straight (no bank) and gentile climb.
The B-25s used the 1700hp R-2600 and heights a bit higher. But Both planes have FTH over 10,000ft lower than the 4 engine planes.
The Range issue depends on how far you want to fly the A-20G could hold 725 gallons of fuel with 3 tanks in the upper bomb bay. An awful depends on how far you want to go.
B-25 is slower but holds more fuel. But with the more powerful engines and higher drag you burn more fuel per hour.
Now comes the question of what you want the small bombers to do. They can't actually out turn even Bf 110s. Once they turn into a German attack what they do next? By the time they turn 180 degrees to chase the Germans the Germans have competed the firing pass on the big bombers and we trying to line up everybody (Germans and Americans) again. If the mediums are flying abut the same speed as the big bombers they are flying too slow to even turn well (even by their standard ) and the Germans will be running out of fuel by the time the mediums get up to high speed. If the mediums try to cruise at high speed they burn a crap ton of fuel.
Flight operation chart for an A-20B
Pay attention to the left had column, at 15,000ft the engines could burn 310gph. at 25,000ft the engines could only burn 186 gph at the same RPM, the superchargers could only supply about 60% of the air at 25,000. Also note weight of the aircraft, Late A-20s were rated at 24,000lbs normal Gross, 27,000lbs combat gross and up to 30,000lbs Max (like ferry)
Remember, they aren't dogfighting/chasing fighters, but, flying blocking positions to add to the cones of fire from the bomber box.P-70 Nighthawks (the fighter version of A-20) had grave difficulties to catch even G4M Betty, I doubt that even without the radar it could be effective against Axis SE fighters even if according to British Havoc was surprisingly manoeuvrable IIRC.
Sounds fine and dandy but rendered moot when your points of altitude and range are figured in. Which leads me to another thought, what if instead of concentrating so much energy to on the heavies, the Allies put that into an enormous force of mediums, retaining a smaller force of heavies for strategic work? Perhaps, a thread for another day.
I was considering that, too, in conjunction with utilizing a higher ratio of medium to heavy bombers (good or bad strategy that's what I was spitballing along with the idea of a higher proportion of low to low-medium attacks with the intention of minimizing exposure to flak by decreasing the time the bombers were in sight)There is an alternative which has not been put forward:
Hit every target you can that is within escort range. Hit everything you can that is important that is covered by friendly fighters. Then work to gradually extend escort range to make more targets susceptible to attack.
If you can get fighter escort out to as far as the Ruhr, hit the Ruhr day and night until that industrial area is dust.
This was my exact point in the Spitfire thread, by the end of 1942 the Spit MkIX had the legs to go to the Ruhr, they could have made any production their pointless by bombing it back to the dark ages. Forget Berlin until the P51 arrives, bomb the Ruhr to dust.There is an alternative which has not been put forward:
Hit every target you can that is within escort range. Hit everything you can that is important that is covered by friendly fighters. Then work to gradually extend escort range to make more targets susceptible to attack.
If you can get fighter escort out to as far as the Ruhr, hit the Ruhr day and night until that industrial area is dust.
All well and good if the Ruhr actually contains the factories you are interested in.Forget Berlin until the P51 arrives, bomb the Ruhr to dust.