#1 Jet of World War II

Subject: #1 Jet of World War II
From: nt (Gordon)
Date: 7/14/03 9:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

That is a very interesting number. I can't help but compare it to the B-26
which got its best range at 180 IAS

I'd have to wonder, what was that "best range"? I was under the impression
that the Mosquito could fly several times as far as the B-26 with a full
4,000
pound bombload.

Take off the armor, take off the
guns and top turret and cut the crew to two and the B-26 may well have
outperformed the Mosquito by a large margin..

snip my own questions in reply to Art's

The way the USAAC operated planes that were unarmored and unarmed were of no
value.

Recce and Met Flights would be of at least some value, I'd hope. Same with
those legends of supply a/c.

We flew into flak in broad daylight and depended on armor and guns
for
defence.

A great strategy, too; no denying that the B-26 was exactly what the air
corps
needed in a medium bomber. The Mosquito did the same for the RAF, but used
its
speed in the same way you used your armor and guns. Price per unit was
pretty
good too.

And we carried 4,000 pounds of bombs every time.

I previously asked, how far? If a B-26 was tasked to fly from central England
to Berlin, what would its bomb load have been? I checked B26.com but
haven't
found what I am looking for, because I am really interested in how these two
machines stack up.

v/r
Gordon



We had an 1100 mile range fully loaded. What it would have been stripped of
armor with the guns and turret removed and the crew of 6 stripped down to a
crew or 2, I don't know, but I can well imagine that its range and cruising
speed would have been dramaticaly increased. But I sure wouldn't wanted to have
flown one into German flak in broad daylight. I guess our air generals felt
the same way. When they compared the Mosquito to the Marauder, they went with
the Marauder, And for that I sincerely thank them all.

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer