The Bear bomber is a utilitarian delivery machine, designed for high-speed
over tonnage. It was/is probably one of the best bombers ever designed by
any aircraft company. We should have bought them in 1991 and phased-out
the B-52! :-)

Absurd. The Bear was approx. 200 mph SLOWER than the Stratofortress.


A B-36 was capable of 40+ hour missions, but that doesnt mean it could have
made it to Iraq and back either.

A P-3 has a very long endurance too, when 2 engines are shut down, when it
needs endurance.

I do not quite think a Bear could have made it from US to Iraq and back,
unrefueled, just because it can stay in the air 24 hours. It would probably
have to slow down considerable to be able to achieve that.

You can have speed and you can have endurance, but it is hard to have both.




Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter