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Old March 9th 20, 02:43 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.aviation
Miloch
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Default RAF Bomber Command was right to ignore Freeman Dyson’s foolish idea - Lancaster bomber of the Royal Air Force, 1942.jpg

In article , Mitchell Holman
says...

Miloch wrote in
:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...command-was-ri
ght-to-ignore-freeman-dysons-foolish-idea


On the other hand, monthly production of the main German night
fighter, the Messerschmitt 110, was below the loss rate as often as
not, and the non-accidental losses were usually due to RAF air
gunners. Dyson’s modest proposal is much cited, but it was foolish,
and Bomber Command was right to dismiss it.



Didn't LeMay increase the B-29 speed by
taking out the guns?



from https://www.skytamer.com/Boeing_B-29.html

"With the revolutionary Central Fire Control System (CFCS), the B-29 had four
remote controlled turrets, each armed with two .50 cal M2/AN machine guns. Four
gunners were able to control these turrets with the use of four General
Electric-made analog computers, one above the Norden bombsight in the nose and
three in a pressurized compartment in the rear fuselage which incorporated clear
blown sighting blisters. The gunner manning the sight in the upper rear station
was the "Central Fire Control gunner" whose job was to allocate turrets to each
of the other three gunners, avoiding confusion in the heat of battle. The CFCS
had (at that time) a highly advanced analog computer which corrected for the
B-29s Airspeed, the target's speed, target lead, gravity, temperature, barrel
wear, and humidity. Because of this, the .50 caliber machine guns of the B-29
had a maximum effective range of 1,000 yards (910 m), double the range of the
manually-aimed machine guns of the B-17 Flying Fortress. The tail gunner could
only control his own weapons (two M2/AN Brownings plus, in early production
B-29s, a 20 mm M2 cannon) and the lower rear turret. In post World War II, the
tail guns eventually got their own APG-15 gun control radar sets.

"In early 1945, with a change of role from high altitude day bomber to low
altitude night bomber, LeMay reportedly ordered the removal of most of the
defensive armament and remote controlled sighting equipment from his B-29s so
that they could carry greater fuel and bomb loads. As a consequence of this
requirement Bell, Marietta (BM) produced a series of 311 B-29Bs which had the
turrets and sighting equipment removed, except for the tail position which
initially had the two .50 cal Browning machine guns and single M2 cannon with
the APG-15 radar fitted as standard. This armament was quickly changed to three
..50 caliber Brownings. This version also had an improved APQ-7 Eagle
bombing-through-overcast radar fitted in an airfoil shaped radome under the
fuselage. Most of these aircraft were assigned to the 315th Bomb Wing, Northwest
Field, Guam.



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