Geoffrey Sinclair
Staff Sergeant
- 849
- Sep 30, 2021
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End of story!Armed with Chadwick's assurances, Ramsey returned to Los Alamos and briefed Parsons on the suitability of the Lancaster as a Thin Man carrier. At this stage the AAF had not been included in Manhattan discussions, but the project's commander-in-chief Maj Gen Leslie Groves soon approached his equivalent within the AAF, Gen Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold. Groves was assured of AAF support, under the proviso that the AAF should provide the delivery platform and its crew. When the possibility of the Lancaster was put to them, both rejected it, insisting on the only American option: the B-29."
It is a sweet & slick looking beaut isnt it? Like a girl waayy, wayyyyyy out of your league.You are all forgetting just how much better looking the B-29 is.
Perhaps but do read this thread. It is not only politics but just plain old hardware.It was politically unconscionable to NOT use a USAAF bomber!
You are all forgetting just how much better looking the B-29 is.
As with the Spitfire, the only real consideration. All this talk of load and range, height and speed is complete baloney like "spanwise lift distribution" it just shows desperation.You are all forgetting just how much better looking the B-29 is.
The Stirling, Lancaster and Halifax were capable of many things, but delivering a strategic effect wasn't one of them.
It wasn't until late 44 that the RAF had enough heavies to thrown neigh on 1,000 a time at a target, but they still lacked the abuklity to deal knock out blows..
When B San came calling - whole Japanese cities died.
It is all hindsight, Hitler would not surrender under any circumstances and had no care what happened to Germany or anyone in it. If Japan had the same fruitcake in charge there were enough others like him to make the US keep dropping bombs until the USA got sick of it themselves. Fire bombing Tokyo didnt end the war as firebombing Hamburg didnt, they did reduce the enemy's ability to fight though.Eh?
You're at it *again*.....?!
None of those three are tactical bombers. So what are they then?
What term would you use to describe nocturnal area bombing *other* than strategic?
I'm not getting into the rights or wrongs of the area bombing campaign, but cities like Hamburg suffered very much the same fate as those in Japan. No, it wasn't done in a single blow. And yes, it was more costly in aircrew and machines. But its intent was pretty much indivisible from the rationale for using the A-bomb. The area bombing campaign delivered a strategic effect. Maybe not to the extent that Harris imagined, but a very sizeable one, never the less.
Indeed.It is all hindsight, Hitler would not surrender under any circumstances and had no care what happened to Germany or anyone in it. If Japan had the same fruitcake in charge there were enough others like him to make the US keep dropping bombs until the USA got sick of it themselves. Fire bombing Tokyo didnt end the war as firebombing Hamburg didnt, they did reduce the enemy's ability to fight though.
From what I read it was around 2 per month. The whole concept of strategic bombing depended on the idea that an opponent in a hopeless situation would give up. The idea that an opponent wouldnt give up and no means to make him surrender existed was never considered. There have been discussions here of when Hitlers situation became hopeless, some say from the start, or from 1940 when UK didnt surrender, or 1941 when Moscow wasnt taken, then the USA entering the war, Stalingrad, Kursk but it didnt matter, because the one person that mattered didnt care and the loyal few around him kept it like that. It defied all logic, and still does.Indeed.
That Hiroshima *wasn't* a knock-out blow in and of itself, proves that the will might have been there to fight on.
As I remember, the Japanese initially thought that the Americans couldn't possibly deliver another bomb of the same power in quick succession, necessitating the second drop.
Again, with hindsight, there seems to be some ambiguity as to how many more A-bombs the allies had ready to continue the campaign. Some sources suggest one, others between three and five available within the next three or four months.
I don't think that there was any ambiguity. One more ready by about 19th Aug plus a production schedule laid out in Maj Gen Groves memo of 30 July. See para 4.Again, with hindsight, there seems to be some ambiguity as to how many more A-bombs the allies had ready to continue the campaign. Some sources suggest one, others between three and five available within the next three or four months.
In Oct 1943 Chadwick was in Canada overseeing Lancaster production there. The article then goes on -
"While there, Ramsey went to meet him. During their discussions, Ramsey produced illustrations of bomb casings of both kinds, gun-type and implosion type, and - without revealing their unique nature - asked whether a Lancaster could potentially carry them. Chadwick, somewhat intrigued, didn't ask either, but assured Ramsey that it could.
Armed with Chadwick's assurances, Ramsey returned to Los Alamos and briefed Parsons on the suitability of the Lancaster as a Thin Man carrier. At this stage the AAF had not been included in Manhattan discussions, but the project's commander-in-chief Maj Gen Leslie Groves soon approached his equivalent within the AAF, Gen Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold. Groves was assured of AAF support, under the proviso that the AAF should provide the delivery platform and its crew. When the possibility of the Lancaster was put to them, both rejected it, insisting on the only American option: the B-29."
They did use the Lancasters heavy bomb release mechanism though.
The Thin Man (gun type) was a British design but for what ever reason (I can't remember the exact reason now) it was deemed to have design errors and was redesigned into the Little Boy which also was a gun type.
I posted earlier that the RAF was working in flight refueling but was deemed to risky for the atomic mission.