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I provided a properly cited source to show that it can carry a FAT MAN bomb.
All the Silverplate mods were fiction until they were done. The Lancaster bomb bay is 33ft by 38in by 61in and there's plenty of room for aux tanks fore and aft of either A bomb design.
Tinian->Japan->Okinawa/Tinian is mostly an overwater flight safe from AA or fighters, which is why even the B-29 flew a low-high-low mission profile. Seriously, you didn't know that?
No...wrong.
Absolutely NO Silverplate missions originated from Okinawa. Period.
All 15 conventional pumpkin bomb test missions were from Tinian.
Both atomic missions were from Tinian.
The 4,000lb HC bomb was 30" in diameter and would fit inside the Lancaster bomb bay.
The 8,000lb HC, 12,000lb HC and 12,000lb Tallboy bombs were 38" in diameter and required bulged bomb bay doors.
The 22,000lb DP Grand Slam bomb was 46" diameter and required the bomb bay doors to be removed - it would not fit inside.
The Fat Man bomb was 60" in diameter.
Your own dimensions show the bomb bay depth (with bulged bomb bay doors) was 38". Fat Man was over 50% bigger than that.
In reference to Post #381, Bockscar only landed at Okinawa because:
1). A faulty transfer pump isolated ~640 gallons of fuel that could not be offloaded so would be dead weight all the way to Japan and back.
2). Sweeney orbited the RV for 45 minutes although Tibbets ordered him to stay only 15 mins
3). They spent 50+ minutes on three bomb runs at Kokura with no visual on the city so diverted (finally) to Nagasaki where:
4). After a three minute bomb run they dropped Fat Man
The end result is that Bockscar did not have the fuel to make it to the emergency site at Iwo Jima, so Sweeney diverted to Okinawa which was NOT the preferred choice. With that in mind, does anyone really think the Lancaster could have pulled off that mission profile? Remember, no plan survives contact with the enemy, what if that HAD been a Lancaster trying to deliver Fat Man?
Now I'm not saying you couldn't do a Tinian --> Target --> Okinawa --> Tinian but the guys planning the mission in 1945 didn't think that was the way to go, who knows, maybe they were wrong.
And for the record, I don't think the Lancaster, for all its accomplishments and capabilities would have been able to deliver the A-Bomb. Realistically, it was no longer ready for Prime Time anymore, those days were past.
Presumably, the Lancaster couldn't do carry "the bomb" without air-to-air refueling, which wasn't a common thing in those days, and the Lanc wasn't set up for that anyway. How long would it take to develop the capability to refuel in the air? How would that be any better than waiting to finish development of the B-29?
It seems to me that even thinking about using the Lancaster just isn't a good way to spend the time and effort.
However, given the low cost of the aircraft, compared to the bomb, ditching the aircraft after the mission is no big deal, especially as the Allied navies had near complete control of the seas.
Hmmm....
What about the cost of the crew's lives? Fly a cheaper but inferior aircraft on one of the most important missions of the war with a nuclear device and attach a ditching requirement on the crew after they just nuked a major population center. And that's if everything worked out.
I am so glad this was all a "what if" perspective. Yea, I believe a Lancaster or Lincoln "could have" achieved a nuclear mission, based on arguments on both sided of this discussion it's clear that the way history played out WAS the better option!!!
I'm just saying that the crew had lots of options to successfully complete a mission, including ditching at a number of prearranged locations. Sweeny avoided ditching by about 2mins as he basically began running out of fuel at touch down.
Well aware about Sweeney's situation, that's called "PILOT ERROR," a little different from a planned ditching to fulfill the most important mission of the war!
Hmmm....
What about the cost of the crew's lives? Fly a cheaper but inferior aircraft on one of the most important missions of the war with a nuclear device and attach a ditching requirement on the crew after they just nuked a major population center. And that's if everything worked out.
I am so glad this was all a "what if" perspective. Yea, I believe a Lancaster or Lincoln "could have" achieved a nuclear mission, based on arguments on both sided of this discussion it's clear that the way history played out WAS the better option!!!
Don't know if this will help any
Keep in mind that both Little Boy and Fat Man had to be manually armed by the weaponeer while in flight.