On Sat, 05 Jun 2004 14:00:31 -0600, Ed Rasimus wrote:

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 12:05:59 -0700, "W. D. Allen Sr."
wrote:

By the mid 1950s we were catapulting single engine jet aircraft from Navy
carriers with greater bomb loads than the WWII B-17 could carry.

WDA

Not too sure about that. Which single engine Navy jet carried a B-17
equivalent load in the '50s. I'll concede that the A-6 certainly
could, but it isn't single engine nor is it mid-'50s. (Of course if we
start talking yields rather than pounds, there's no contest.) Don't
know that F-9s, F-11s, etc could handle much over about 2000 pounds of
iron.

Certainly the F-4 and F-105 carried equivalent iron loads
operationally and could carry double the B-17 load if all stations
were loaded up, which wasn't operationally practical but was done a
couple of times. 16x750 on a F-105 or 24xMk-83 on an F-4 is pretty
healthy.

And, we could do it at 4.5 times the speed!


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

The "normal" bomb load of a B-17 was 6,000lb, while an A-4E could
carry 8,200lb. The "E" was not introduced until 1961 and the "1950's"
A-4C was limited to 5,000lb by the arrangement of the pylons.

Still, pretty impressive stats for old Heinie's Hot Rod :-)

Al Minyard