Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Black Lancaster Bombers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Okay...I made it 2 minutes and 24 seconds before ending this. Anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 28 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: Okay...I made it 2 minutes and 24 seconds before ending this. Anyone else? No. Over halfway through as we speak. Kind of a cool bit of unknown aviation history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 After watching many British produced WW2 programs of late with odd new twists in history I am a bit jaded and skeptical. I remain so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 28 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: After watching many British produced WW2 programs of late with odd new twists in history I am a bit jaded and skeptical. I remain so. OK. I didn't really see a new twist. Nothing that wasn't beyond the realm of possibility, by any stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Well. Perhaps a bit o’ grapes wot? The B-29 was a far superior aircraft. There was no need for the Lancaster. Development of the Superfortress didn’t delay the project at all. The British should be glad they didn’t have a hand in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Look at the outrage and finger shaking directed at us every August from around the world for the last 75 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said: Well. Perhaps a bit o’ grapes wot? The B-29 was a far superior aircraft. There was no need for the Lancaster. Development of the Superfortress didn’t delay the project at all. The British should be glad they didn’t have a hand in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Look at the outrage and finger shaking directed at us every August from around the world for the last 75 years. While I agree that the B-29 was superior, both Enola Gay and Bockscar were specially modified (two of fifteen to be modified) to carry the bomb. There seems to be something to the video, as a brief search comes up with this: Quote Even the B-29, however, would require extensive modifications to both its engines and its bomb bay in order to accommodate the enormous weapon. Prior to the decision to use the B-29, military officials had given serious consideration to using the British Avro Lancaster to deliver the weapon, which the Royal Air Force had used to deliver the 5-ton Tallboy bombs developed in 1944. The Avro Lancaster would have required much less modification, but Major General Leslie Groves, the commander of the Manhattan Project, and General Henry H. Arnold, the Chief of United States Army Air Forces, wished to use an American plane. https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/project-silverplate The fact it was too slow and would need refueling, as mentioned in the video, seem to just add another dimension to the reasons for not utilizing the Lancaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, DocWard said: While I agree that the B-29 was superior, both Enola Gay and Bockscar were specially modified (two of fifteen to be modified) to carry the bomb. There seems to be something to the video, as a brief search comes up with this: https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/project-silverplate The fact it was too slow and would need refueling, as mentioned in the video, seem to just add another dimension to the reasons for not utilizing the Lancaster. Plus the fact that it was an aircraft not familiar to American ground or flight crews. So it would have been RAF crews, adding another possibility for a screwup. Note the problems encountered in N Africa, Sicily and Italy with communication and coordination between the two forces. The refueling procedure, still in it’s infancy was another factor. Too many possibilities for Murphy to intervene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc X Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 The 29's assigned to drop the bombs had every bit of armor plate along with anything else that could be removed taken out to lighten the aircraft. A diving turn was used at release (tone break and turn) to out run the blast wave. I doubt the Lancaster could have escaped the blast wave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 When there is a mission so important, the BOMB, and the delivery method, the B29, is still pie in the shy, a backup plan is essential. The Lancasters were the backup plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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