Best medium bomber?

[wmaxt]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

i'm just waiting for CC to come along and say the droopsnoot P-38 was the best medium bomber...........

While they were very effective at Path finding (visual and radar) and bombing, including with several normal P-38s carrying up to 5,200lb loads up to 450 mi radius, The powers that be decided that with the large numbers of bombers available it was not necissary to use the P-38 for those missions unless it was needed for a specific target.

Ploesti was that kind of target, after all the other attempts of destroying the refineries were inadequate they sent the P-38s. The P-38 raid was the most effective though it didn't stop the refining completely or permanently. The Germans/Romanians were exceptional at damage control/repair. Droop Snoots were not used on the main raid though may have been used at a later date.

[BombTaxi]

Originally Posted by KraziKanuK

To compare an a/c's performance, one has to ask if it would have better or worse while flying for the other airforce. So, would the Mossie have done better or worse in LW service than the LW's NFs?

Now thats a criterion I can work with! I think this should go to the approporiate thread in the polls section though, that is where this particular strand of the discussion belongs

[KraziKanuK]

should have included 'for example' BT.

[mosquitoman]

I think the thing is that we all have our preferences and we're not going to be swayed by any conflicting views

[DAVIDICUS]

"I think the thing is that we all have our preferences and we're not going to be swayed by any conflicting views"
----------------------------------------------------

I agree. The A-26 Invader was clearly the best of the best!

[mosquitoman]

Nah it's got to be the Mossie just look at those clean lines, that cavernous bomb bay, the guns and cannon on the front and the rockets on the wings

[DAVIDICUS]

Some of the A-26 B models had eight .50 cal. machine guns packed in the nose and six .50 cal. machine guns mounted in the wings in addition to dorsal and ventral mountings of two .50 cal. machine guns each. The dorsal .50's could be locked into a forward firing position enabling the pilot to unleash the fury of sixteen .50 cal's. (At a cyclic rate of 700 rpm, that's a total of 11,200 rpm or 187 rps!)

Of course, the above was in addition to bombs in the internal bomb bay and rockets mounted under the wings.

Compared to that, the Mosquito was just an annoying wooden insect capable of inflicting a mere topical, itchy welt.

[mosquitoman]

Okay. hows about Russian planes as I'm sure the Pe-2 and Tu-2 (I think) were equal medium bombers

[the lancaster kicks ass]

or even some jap designs??

[mosquitoman]

good point, Jap bombers didn't have the armour of protective armament though. The bombload wasn't the best as range was what the Japanese wanted

[cheddar cheese]

Originally Posted by DAVIDICUS

Some of the A-26 B models had eight .50 cal. machine guns packed in the nose and six .50 cal. machine guns mounted in the wings in addition to dorsal and ventral mountings of two .50 cal. machine guns each. The dorsal .50's could be locked into a forward firing position enabling the pilot to unleash the fury of sixteen .50 cal's. (At a cyclic rate of 700 rpm, that's a total of 11,200 rpm or 187 rps!)

Of course, the above was in addition to bombs in the internal bomb bay and rockets mounted under the wings.

Compared to that, the Mosquito was just an annoying wooden insect capable of inflicting a mere topical, itchy welt.

Ah, guns, nice!

Id prefer a B-25H though.

[DAVIDICUS]

I wonder how effective that 75mm gun actually was. A prototype of the A-26 was to have a 75mm gun and two fifty caliber machine guns packed into the nose but they decided it wouldn't be that effective with a manual, slow rate of fire. Perhaps the A-26's mission requirements required less shipping attacks.

How successful was the B-25H with it's gun?

[mosquitoman]

I've heard reports that 3 shells hurt a Jap destroyer so much it had to be beached and one shell mad planes disentegrate

[DAVIDICUS]

From http://www.341stbombgroup.org/aircraft/b25h.htm

"Combat sorties confirmed that the cannon-armed B-25H offered no particular advantage over specially-adapted strafers armed exclusively with machine guns. At this stage in the war, targets specifically suited for cannon attack were relatively few and far between, and many targets that were vulnerable to the cannon were also vulnerable to a battery of 0.50-inch machine guns or to bombs. Consequently, the use of the heavy cannon was generally abandoned in the South-West Pacific by August of 1944."

I bet 16 fifties can cause a plane to disintegrate too. Besides, I heard that the A-26 could leap tall buildings in a single bound.

[mosquitoman]

I never knew the A-26 had legs with which it used to leap