USAAF Attack & Light Bombers: Needs & Desires

[Zipper730]

tomo pauk , yeah I'm pretty curious too.

 

[Zipper730]

What planes did the RAF use for the fighter/attack/reconnaissance roles and the fast-attack bomber?

Off memory based on the aircraft the RAF had in their inventory, I get

1. Fighter/Attack/Reconnaissance
   • Hurricane
   • Spitfire
   • P-40's
   • Typhoon
2. Fast Attack-Bomber
   • Beaufighter
   • Mosquito

Miss anything or get anything wrong?

 

[pbehn]

What planes did the RAF use for the fighter/attack/reconnaissance roles and the fast-attack bomber?

Off memory based on the aircraft the RAF had in their inventory, I get

1. Fighter/Attack/Reconnaissance
   • Hurricane
   • Spitfire
   • P-40's
   • Typhoon
2. Fast Attack-Bomber
   • Beaufighter
   • Mosquito

Miss anything or get anything wrong?

Mustangs of various types.

 

[Zipper730]

Forgot about the Mustang!

 

[pbehn]

Forgot about the Mustang!

Not huge numbers but very effective at what they did.

 

[wuzak]

What planes did the RAF use for the fighter/attack/reconnaissance roles and the fast-attack bomber?

Off memory based on the aircraft the RAF had in their inventory, I get

1. Fighter/Attack/Reconnaissance
   • Hurricane
   • Spitfire
   • P-40's
   • Typhoon
2. Fast Attack-Bomber
   • Beaufighter
   • Mosquito

Miss anything or get anything wrong?

I would separate them like this:

Fighter

• Hurricane
• Spitfire
• P-40
• Typhoon
• Tempest
• Mustang

Night Fighter

• Mosquito
• Beaufighter

Fighter/Bomber

• Hurricane
• P-40
• Typhoon
• Mosquito
• Beaufighter

Reconnaissance

• Mosquito
• Spitfire

Fighter/Reconnaissance

• Mustang
• Spitfire

Light/Medium Bomber

• Mosquito
• A-20/Boston

Some aircraft appear in multiple categories. Even the Spitfire did fighter/bomber duties, though I didn't put it there.

 

[pbehn]

I would separate them like this:

Fighter

• Hurricane
• Spitfire
• P-40
• Typhoon
• Tempest
• Mustang

Night Fighter

• Mosquito
• Beaufighter

Fighter/Bomber

• Hurricane
• P-40
• Typhoon
• Mosquito
• Beaufighter

Reconnaissance

• Mosquito
• Spitfire

Fighter/Reconnaissance

• Mustang
• Spitfire

Light/Medium Bomber

• Mosquito
• A-20/Boston

Some aircraft appear in multiple categories. Even the Spitfire did fighter/bomber duties, though I didn't put it there.

The British received around 800 P-47s used in the far east as fighter bombers.

 

[Zipper730]

I would separate them like this

I just used the categorization the Desert Air Force used for its criteria. Regardless, it does appear that you end up ultimately with the following planes fitting these categories...

1. Hawker Hurricane
   • Fighter
   • Fighter/Bomber
2. Supermarine Spitfire
   • Fighter
   • Fighter/Reconnaissance
   • Reconnaissance
   • Fighter/Bomber (rarely)
3. Curtiss P-40
   • Fighter
   • Fighter/Bomber
4. Douglas A-20
   • Light Attack/Bomber
5. Bristol Beaufighter
   • Fighter/Bomber
   • Night Fighter
6. Hawker Typhoon
   • Fighter
   • Fighter/Bomber
7. North American P-51
   • Fighter
   • Fighter/Reconnaissance
8. De Havilland Mosquito
   • Light Attack/Bomber
   • Fighter/Bomber
   • Night Fighter
9. Republic P-47
   • Fighter/Bomber
10. Tempest
    • Fighter
    • Fighter/Bomber

I would have thought the Beaufighter would have been used as a light attack-bomber to be honest, but I'm also surprised that the P-47 wasn't generally used in the fighter role as it was fast and could fly at considerable altitude.

 

[Zipper730]

Regarding Single-Engined Attack/Bombers

Prior to December, NAA's primary beltway bandit (I have to look up his name) was very well connected to War Department planners and began shaping the argument (with Kindelberger/Atwood) that a modified Mustang design to provide bomb capability, heavy armament and dive bombing capability could compete for Dive Bomber funding remaining for FY 41.

I honestly thought the A-36 was kind of a bureaucratic jiujitsu move to help shove the P-51 program along?

an Army Board convened in early 1943 . . . recommended that MC 'cease and desist from developing slow battlefield attack aircraft.

Interestingly, it would appear that MC was able to develop the XA-41 was able to fly in early 1944.

While developing aircraft without sufficient speed, that was probably smart: I'm not sure it was totally smart to abolish all single-engined bombers to be honest. Generally, I subscribe to an attitude that if one engine does the job, that's fine; if two engines do the job: Go for it.

As an interesting piece of information, when the English Electric Canberra began development: It was originally to be a single-engined aircraft. The design admittedly started off as a fighter-bomber (that said, some of the RAF's fighter-bombers were light-bombers that could maneuver well enough to mix it up with fighters and live) that would be an effective jet-fighter replacement for the Mosquito (the FB variants), but evolved into a light-bomber design outright.

The reason for the switch from a single-engine to twin-engines seemed to be volumetric related (they wanted to use an enlarged development of the RR Nene which didn't leave enough room for fuel and bomb-load) than adequate engine power for speed. They weren't averse to using a single-engined design on principle.

The USAAF did not abandon attack aircraft until tests of XA-41, which resembled the AD Skyraider's fatter, uglier sister. They concluded that compared to the P-51, P-47, and P-38 the A-41 could not defend itself nor be used for air superiority. Bombed-up fighters could do just about as good as dedicated attack aircraft and after they dropped their bombs could do air combat. So the "A" designation went away and the USAF found itself in the unfortunate situation of having to scramble to find enough F-51's to do CAS that were already in the theater until a bunch of Mustangs could be referbed and shipped over from the USA.

The Mustang was not at all the best attack aircraft for the mission in Korea but it was all they had. Jets did not have the range or bombload. The USN was much better off with the F4U and AD. The F-47N would have been much better than the F-51 but they had been phased out. P-47's stored at Tinker AFB Ok were sold at prices so cheap that selling the fuel in the airplanes enabled the buyer to pay for them. The F-82 would have been good but all they had were night fighters.

The A-26 replaced the A-20, B-25 and B-26, but in Korea it was used in strike and interdiction roles rather than strafing and CAS, in other words, level bombing and some rockets.

Vietnam finally forced the USAF to realize they needed some "A" airplanes.

And ultimately, that led down the road to the F-105.