Recent content by RCAFson

There's no doubt that Japan suffered from the B-29's conventional and atomic attacks and that her population was war weary, but Japan, like Germany, was not a democracy and the decision to end the war was made by the emperor. The leading reasons (in no particular order) for Japan's surrender...

Unfortunately much of what Sweeny wrote about the mission has been disputed by other members of the crew. This is from the official history: "Over Nagasaki they found 8/10 cloud and the run-in was ''90 per cent by radar," but at the last second Beahan found a hole in the cloud and let go. It...

The B-32 had a number of issues and the 2nd B-32 didn't fly until 2 July 1943 vs 3 Dec 1942 for the B-29. It wasn't till Dec 1944 that the first 5 B-32s were delivered for USAAF testing.

Groves: The above was very conservative and certainly an overestimate of blast pressure. Since over pressure drops off rapidly by distance and given the low pressure at altitude, there was almost no risk to the aircraft. A 20 kiloton airburst at ~2000 ft creates an over pressure of about 1psi...

Bockscar dropped at 28900ft* and used the 50% greater yield Fatman bomb so the idea that the shockwave was an issue is wrong. *"Sweeney banked his plane sharply and pushed down from his 28,900-foot altitude..."

We've gone over this in the past. The man tasked with finding an A-bomb capable aircraft, Ramsey, consulted with the Lancaster's designer, Roy Chadwick and gave him the specs for the two A-bomb casing dimensions and was assured by Chadwick that both would fit into a Lancaster bomb-bay. see past...

Typically, they attacked shipping with torpedoes. However they were accurate when used as DBs against shipping. Shore based Swordfish squadrons from Eagle were used to sink 2 and cripple several more RMI destroyers that were operating in the Red Sea on April 3/4 1941. The Swordfish as DBs were...

The Swordfish also could, and did, carry 1 x 500lb and 1 x 250lb bombs under each wing. The Albacore could carry 2 x 500lb bombs under each wing but in combat typically carried 1 x 500lb and 1 x 250lb, or 3 x 250lb bombs under each wing.

RAAF tests of various intake designs on Spit V/Merlin 46 using 16lb boost: from Australian Archives: Title DTS [Directorate Technical Services] - Spitfire Aircraft - Performance comparison - tropical and non-tropical types Contents date range 1942 - 1944 Series number A705 BWOC here's the RAE...

IIRC, USN BBs engaged surface forces at Casablanca, 2nd Guadalcanal (both Nov 1942) and in 1944 near Truk and at Surigao Straits.

Shores states: "The Avengers and Fireflies were escorted by 16 Hellcats and 16 Corsairs, which engaged Ki 43s of the 71st Chutai, claiming seven of these shot down. The Firefly pilots added two more. Two of the Chutai's pilots were killed, 1/Lt Terabumi Murakani (reportedly whilst undertaking a...

The Hurricane was used as a night fighter and as an intruder night fighter, flying offensive operations over France: https://www.memorialflightclub.com/blog/night-fighter-hurricane-mk-iic-be634

One reason that the Spitfire arrived late in Australia and Burma was the fact that the USAAF in the ETO/MTO had priority for delivery of the Mk V and MkVIII: also see: https://www.key.aero/article/why-does-suffolk-spitfire-boast-usaaf-scheme

You must be thinking of some other Operation Pedestal. The largest single strikes against the Operation Pedestal whilst under FAA protection and under discussion was on 12 Aug 1942: Axis strike sorties on 11 and 12 Aug 1942. Roskill (Shores) 11 Aug 36 (30 JU88 DBs + 6 HE111 TBs) 12 Aug 9:15 =...

It was a Mk V, and IIRC, the same aircraft was used in NACA testing.