The Amerika bombers (1 Viewer)

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Hi all
I did see that programm, and couldn't figure out an issue now being discussed here.
One of the amerika Bomber designs was a no return Bomber to coin a phrase surely?
Well, faced with that and the fact they got a vickers Vimy across the pond, I wondered why a Kondore couldn't deliver a bomb, it's crew going to ground after, such an attack would justify the loss of one plane!
All that reamians to be asked is would the dirty bomb be small enough for the Kondore to carry.
I didn't know such doubt about the Kondore was about.
 
A Condor did not have the range to fly to the United States even one way. The Fw 200 had a ferry range of 4,440 km (2,760 mi) and that was loaded with fuel and no bomb. From France to the East Coast of the US is over 3000 mi. It would not make it.
 
A Condor did not have the range to fly to the United States even one way. The Fw 200 had a ferry range of 4,440 km (2,760 mi) and that was loaded with fuel and no bomb. From France to the East Coast of the US is over 3000 mi. It would not make it.

Chris - I think the Fw200 flew diplomatic pouches and a couple of passengers from Lisbon to Montevideo during WWII - what is that range?
 
THE GERMANY BOMBER

May I ask You about Your thoughts regarding the Lancaster and B29 successors? They have been not that frequently covered here. How much could be produced ( in which timeframe) and deployed? Did their strategic concept of transatlantic raids was sound? What do You think of them technically and how could they look in 1946 (assuming all nations uses neither nuclear, chemical or biological bombs). What is Your estimation about their potential performance?

Thanks in advance,
delc
 
THE GERMANY BOMBER

May I ask You about Your thoughts regarding the Lancaster and B29 successors? They have been not that frequently covered here. How much could be produced ( in which timeframe) and deployed? Did their strategic concept of transatlantic raids was sound? What do You think of them technically and how could they look in 1946 (assuming all nations uses neither nuclear, chemical or biological bombs). What is Your estimation about their potential performance?

Thanks in advance,
delc

The B-36 carried a global strike ability unsurpassed in its day and with the the introduction of the air-to-air refueling. Look at SAC's size and ability from 1947 through 1954.

As far as producibility - in 8 years almost 400 were produced and that was under a "Peacetime" production pace.
 
Chris - I think the Fw200 flew diplomatic pouches and a couple of passengers from Lisbon to Montevideo during WWII - what is that range?

5116 nautical miles (and that's the Great Circle route without any allowance for wind drift etc).

Tha's 5887 statute or land miles

Would take 25:35 at a ground speed of 200 knots.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
 
As a follow-on to the Amerika Bombers program, I also saw another about 1950's US Air Force plans to use an atomic-powered stategic bomber. I don't remember the experimental model name it was given, but this thing was huge. It looked like a B-36 on steroids. The concept was to design a SAC airframe that could loiter on station indefinitely way up north as a deterrent to the Soviet threat. The sheer weight alone from all of the lead plating to shield the crew from radiation in addition to the reactor... man... that's a lot of sheet metal. I suppose that the US Navy wanted one, as well, and had contracted out with the British to build a sea-plane powered by a reactor. In the end, Ike killed all of this and went with the nuclear-powered submarine fleet. I suppose the 1950's was an exciting time in aviation with all of the stuff that was being concocted, but I can see that most of this stuff was a by-product of Nazi Germany's war effort
 
As a follow-on to the Amerika Bombers program, I also saw another about 1950's US Air Force plans to use an atomic-powered stategic bomber. I don't remember the experimental model name it was given, but this thing was huge. It looked like a B-36 on steroids. The concept was to design a SAC airframe that could loiter on station indefinitely way up north as a deterrent to the Soviet threat. The sheer weight alone from all of the lead plating to shield the crew from radiation in addition to the reactor... man... that's a lot of sheet metal. I suppose that the US Navy wanted one, as well, and had contracted out with the British to build a sea-plane powered by a reactor. In the end, Ike killed all of this and went with the nuclear-powered submarine fleet. I suppose the 1950's was an exciting time in aviation with all of the stuff that was being concocted, but I can see that most of this stuff was a by-product of Nazi Germany's war effort

The 'specification' was WS-125A. A requirement for a nuclear powered bomber. This was to be Convair's entry, the Convair NX-2. The project was abandoned as unrealistic in 1956.



Consolidated did produce the NB-36H Crusader, which was a flying test-bed for an airborne nuclear reactor, but it did not power the plane. It looked very similar to a B-36H, but with a different nose section.
 
Chris - I think the Fw200 flew diplomatic pouches and a couple of passengers from Lisbon to Montevideo during WWII - what is that range?

Do you know the route used, and what stops were made?

Aircraft had been flying to South America from Europe since the 1920s, stopping over at the Canaries and Cape Verde islands. The longest hop on that route is from the Cape Verde islands to Brazil, about 1600 - 1700 miles.
 
Chris - I think the Fw200 flew diplomatic pouches and a couple of passengers from Lisbon to Montevideo during WWII - what is that range?

Not sure but as others have stated they could stop over on Islands to refuel. Between France and New York or Washington, the Germans had no control over Islands where it could land and refuel.

The Fw 200 could not make it from Europe to the East Coast of the US.
 
I should clear some things up. One, I was thinking of the Fw-200 in so mush as it was a start, all be it a poor start to a program that was utterly devistated by poor vision at the top. That is my opinion.

The second is the latter 4 engine bobers still had potential, but when they started to come on line, the Germans were lacking secure space to test and deploy them. ;)

B-29 replacement, look at the B-52. As much as I like the B-36 and B-47, or the illfated B-70, the B-52 is what came out of all that. Only plane that two generations of pilots, same family even, can fly. You my disagree, but that is my pick :)
 
The ultimate demise of the "Amerika Bomber" project was the fact that all bomber testing and production was put on hold for the emergency fighter program.
 
Do you know the route used, and what stops were made?

Aircraft had been flying to South America from Europe since the 1920s, stopping over at the Canaries and Cape Verde islands. The longest hop on that route is from the Cape Verde islands to Brazil, about 1600 - 1700 miles.


Given that Germany didn't control many Atlantic islands, it developed a rather stunning system whereby a refueling freighter was stationed en route. It would tow a large fiber mat which served the double purpose of calming the waves and providing a "tarmac" for the seaplane, which landed on the water and taxied onto the matting for refueling.

In theory, the tender could even have provided relief crews, but I don't think that was ever done.

The Centennial of Flight website claims that the planes were re-launched by catapult, but my recollection is otherwise: I thought they were flying boats, and that they took off as they had landed.

On December 5, 1929, Germany launched an airmail route to compete with Aeropostale, flying mail from Germany, through Seville, Spain, to the port of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. German ships would pick up the seaplanes by crane, refuel them, then launch them again by catapult. On the other side of the Atlantic, other German fuel ships would sit at anchor. When the German airmail seaplanes landed near the ships, they would refuel and be launched again by catapult to fly into South America, where German immigrants had started continental airmail service
Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
 
Sanger's design was way too advanced for the time. He was seeking to put the aircraft into a low orbit, drop the payload in an arc from Pittsburgh and then push on through to the other side of the world to land in Germany.

This was Sanger's design.

 
The Centennial of Flight website claims that the planes were re-launched by catapult, but my recollection is otherwise: I thought they were flying boats, and that they took off as they had landed.
Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Could also have been referring to the Blohm und Voss Ha 139. Designed for long-range trans-ocean operation by Lufthansa, they were capable of transporting a 500kg payload over 5000kg at a cruising speed of 250km/hr. Stressed for catapult launching and capable of taking-off from and alighting on rough water at a weight allowing sufficient fuel for 1000km. Regular trips were made from Azores to New York and they provided a South Atlantic service.

 
A Condor did not have the range to fly to the United States even one way. The Fw 200 had a ferry range of 4,440 km (2,760 mi) and that was loaded with fuel and no bomb. From France to the East Coast of the US is over 3000 mi. It would not make it.

Have to disagree:-

Fw 200 was the very first airplane to fly non-stop between Berlin and New York making the journey on August 10, 1938 in 24 hours and 56 minutes. The return trip on August 13 1938 took only 19 hours and 47 minutes.

Fw 200V1 was kitted out with auxilary fuel tanks enabling it to cover distances of 6000km.

Floyd Bennett Field - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Attached is the best picture I could find of the FW200 at Floyd Bennett field.
 

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Have to disagree:-

Fw 200 was the very first airplane to fly non-stop between Berlin and New York making the journey on August 10, 1938 in 24 hours and 56 minutes. The return trip on August 13 1938 took only 19 hours and 47 minutes.

Fw 200V1 was kitted out with auxilary fuel tanks enabling it to cover distances of 6000km.

I suspect that Adler is referring to the militarised Luftwaffe version. The civil 1938 version in the the record flights, as you described, was the clean 'unadulterated' version.
The typical civil Fw 200, as described in the 1938 Jane's, credits this version with having a 'normal range' of 775 miles.
"This could be extended to 1,180 miles with increased fuel capacity, 3,500 litres, and reduced payload of 5,170 lbs".

The Fw 200S (special) D-ACON Brandenburg that made those record flights, must have been a flying fuel tank with a useful payload of...?
 
Exactly. No Fw 200 with a bomb load is going to fly across the atlantic with landing to refuel.

Perhaps they could have lobbed a few hand grenades out the window before ditching next to an awaiting U boat?:lol:
 

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