WalterM140 wrote:


formation turns. So we figured they were likely restricted to tight
formation
flying at altitudes of around 18,000 or at most 20,000 feet for Lancs or
Halifax
IIIs, although we knew we'd have to lighten the bombloads to get them that
high
(owing to the need to increase the defensive armament, armor, crew, and fuel
loads).

Guy



That's interesting. Didn't the RAF typically operate at @ 15,000 feet over
German targets?

Depends on the period, the target and the individual crews, but in general not
the heavies, although Stirlings and squadron dogs might be that low or lower.
For the Nuremberg raid (except for Mossies, all Halifax and Lancaster) a/c were
assigned one of four cruise heights, 20, 21, 22, or 23 thousand feet, although 1
Group were given dispensation to cruise lower, 13-16,000 feet IIRR until they
reached the Rhine or some other river, in the hope of hiding in forecast cloud,
climbing to the same height as everyone else after that. The cloud wasn't there,
and they were hit hard.

Once the attacks started, anyone who could went higher -- one Halifax crew in a
new a/c were delighted to find that they could get up to 26,000 feet, and cruised
safely above the carnage below. Others jettisoned some of their bomb load to
improve their ceiling. Crews flying average a/c, or those with less experience
or more determination to follow orders stayed at the assigned altitude bands, and
were the main targets of the fighters. Dog a/c were stuck even lower, and on
that particular mission it actually saved many of them -- one crew couldn't get
their Lanc above 12,000 feet and in this case were fortunate, as the fighters
were going after the main stream above them.

On at least one occasion, B-17' were briefed to attack Berlin at 27,000 feet;
once to beat the clouds a group bombed from 30,000.

That's the effect of the turbos. Two-stage two-speed supercharged Merlins (or
other) would have given similar altitude performance for the British heavies. I
have a vague memory that at least one small group of B-17s dropped from close to
35,000 on one occasion, but that must have been very late war with the B-33
turbos. I've got the navigator log data for one B-24 crew's entire 35 mission
tour in 1944-45, and the highest bombing altitude recorded (for the plane) is
29,000 feet. One run was at 28,000, another at 26,700, but the majority of runs
were in the low 20s. For lightly defended targets they might drop down a few or
even several thousand feet - the lowest recorded is 9,000 feet, with another at
12,000.

Guy