Was a four engine torpedo bomber ever considered? (1 Viewer)

[Thumpalumpacus]

The 225 slant six was magnificent.

Dad had a 73 Dart Sport 6-cyl, four on the floor, carpet on the door. 1979, living in Paso Robles.

We would go up to Ft Hunter-Liggett on weekends and fill the trunk up with firewood, one of the side-bennies he had from his job there -- plenty of free oak. I got to see parked Sherman tanks as an added bonus. (Using google image to recheck, I think they were Easy-8s, they had the muzzle brake and beefy front). Another bonus, we'd sometimes come home down PCH, and that was sure pretty.

But good lord, I hated splitting the wood when we got home.

 

[Howard Gibson]

Wouldn't a four engined aircraft be easy to hit with flak?

How abut the Hs293? Not a torpedo, but definitely dropped by multi-engined aircraft. The He177 should have been four engined.

 

[Shortround6]

The He177 should have been four engined.

It was.

You could declutch one engine in each pair, and fly (slowly) on the remaining two engines.

Not sure how this worked in practice, shared oil supply/shared coolant?
restarting cold engines (1/2 to 1 hour low speed cruise) might have been 'exciting' for the crew. You had large started motors but bringing the cold engines up to operating temperatures/pressures quickly might have required 'finesse"

 

[SaparotRob]

I took H.G.'s statement to mean four separate nacelles, as intended by all that is Holy, praise be B-17.

 

[Howard Gibson]

I took H.G.'s statement to mean four separate nacelles, as intended by all that is Holy, praise be B-17.

He177s were sort of four-engined. Vickers Warwicks had only two engines, but were intended as heavy bombers, and would had similar manoeuverability when engaged by anti-aircraft fire.

The original post was about four engined aircraft. You could conceivably design a heavy torpedo bomber around a single Pratt & Whitney R-4360. You could have the same performance and wingspan as a B-17, and the same inability to dodge flak.

 

[GrauGeist]

Heinkel was working on a version of the He177 that was to have four seperate engines, each in their own nacelle.

The He274 was a spin-off of the intended He177/277 design.

 

[SaparotRob]

He177s were sort of four-engined. Vickers Warwicks had only two engines, but were intended as heavy bombers, and would had similar manoeuverability when engaged by anti-aircraft fire.

The original post was about four engined aircraft. You could conceivably design a heavy torpedo bomber around a single Pratt & Whitney R-4360. You could have the same performance and wingspan as a B-17, and the same inability to dodge flak.

Touché.

 

[GTX]

Touché.

Indeed:

 

[SaparotRob]

Does climbing higher away from AAA than the other guy count as dodging?

 

[Dimlee]

In the parallel universe, where the Manhattan Project was sabotaged by Soviet spies, and Operation Olympic didn't succeed and the Empire had time and resources to build a fleet of SIX-engined torpedo bombers...

View: https://youtu.be/wdjEJ7m7fVs?si=R5tG_EKc-AMmfXQ1

 

[GrauGeist]

In the parallel universe, where the Manhattan Project was sabotaged by Soviet spies, and Operation Olympic didn't succeed and the Empire had time and resources to build a fleet of SIX-engined torpedo bombers...

View: https://youtu.be/wdjEJ7m7fVs?si=R5tG_EKc-AMmfXQ1

The six engined bomber concept was part of "Project Z", which was the Japanese version of the German's "Amerikabomber" program.

One of the proposals, Nakajima's G5N, was designed to carry two torpedoes.

Of the three proposals, only Nakajima's G10N was intended to have six engines.

 

[Howard Gibson]

I have another thought about this discussion.

How fast can you fly and successfully drop a torpedo? The advantages of speed are obvious. If your torpedo bomber cannot exceed 200mph as it approaches a ship, the superior speed of potential torpedo planes like Fw190s and Blackburn Firebrands are of no use. The defense firepower of a B-17 sized aircraft might be an advantage. You still have to avoid anti-aircraft on your ship.

Could a B-17 carry a torpedo?

 

[Alan Stevens]

I have another thought about this discussion.

How fast can you fly and successfully drop a torpedo? The advantages of speed are obvious. If your torpedo bomber cannot exceed 200mph as it approaches a ship, the superior speed of potential torpedo planes like Fw190s and Blackburn Firebrands are of no use. The defense firepower of a B-17 sized aircraft might be an advantage. You still have to avoid anti-aircraft on your ship.

Could a B-17 carry a torpedo?

How about a P-61 with all that forward firepower?

 

[Shortround6]

How about a P-61 with all that forward firepower?

Depends on the torpedo.
Some torpedoes had to be aimed ahead of of the target ship by aiming the aircraft ahead of the target ship in which case fixed gun armament is useless.
Some torpedoes could be aimed off, torpedo gyro could be set to different course than the plane was flying.
Fixed guns are now somewhat more useful.
Except thar the idea is to drop the torpedo from 600-1000 yards away from the ship and then perform evasive action. Not do a strafing run right over the ship with everything bigger than a pistol firing at your belly.
Granted attacking fast warships requires a different attack pattern than attacking slow merchant ships.

 

[GrauGeist]

Could a B-17 carry a torpedo?

Even though the B-17 was equipped with underwing shackles, it was not designed to carry torpedoes, nor did it ever.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

In the parallel universe, where the Manhattan Project was sabotaged by Soviet spies, and Operation Olympic didn't succeed and the Empire had time and resources to build a fleet of SIX-engined torpedo bombers...

View: https://youtu.be/wdjEJ7m7fVs?si=R5tG_EKc-AMmfXQ1

Dude, those bombers are shitting salmon!

 

[muskeg13]

Lockheed P-38F Lightning

The next F-version was the P-38F-1-LO (Model 222-60-15), which differed from the P-38F-LO in being modified after delivery to carry a pair of drop tanks or a pair of 1000-lb bombs under the wing center sections. Each rack could also carry a Smoke Curtain Installation or a 22-inch torpedo. This version had SCR-525 and SCR-522 radio. 149 of the P-38F-1-LO version were built.

 

[tonycat77]

We got acoustic guided torpedos by the end of WW2, imagine a fleet of b-17s dropping 4 each from altitude or something and they used a drogue chute, like what happens with modern asw aircraft.

They were too slow to hit any real warship, but they would easily break a formation in a convoy.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The P-61 will need to yaw towards the target ship after launching its torpedo. Until then, the upper turret will do its best to keep the enemy gunners down. Though it must be locked against shooting off the props?

 

[GrauGeist]

We got acoustic guided torpedos by the end of WW2, imagine a fleet of b-17s dropping 4 each from altitude or something and they used a drogue chute, like what happens with modern asw aircraft.

They were too slow to hit any real warship, but they would easily break a formation in a convoy.

Kenny's B-17s of the 5th AF were highly successful with their low-level skip bombing attacks.

Torpedoes could have been deployed in the same fashion.