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Ol_Dog -> RE: RHSCVO and RHSRAO Medium Version 2.54 Released to testers (6/3/2006 7:23:46 PM)
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My comment was aimed at the 2 items, (1) the use of 17,600 for the B-17F as compared to 8,800 for the B-24 and 20,000 for the B-29 for max load. You are using the internal and external racks for the 17, while using the internal for the 24 and 29. That is inconsistent. For most/all bomb loads, range, speed and other capabilites, the internal loads should be used. The 17 and 24 had empty weights of 36,000 and 37,000 resp., but if you want to compare max takeoff weights, use 65,000, 71,500 and 100,000+ for airfield usage. This max load may? be significant if it is used now or in the future to determine extended, short range or normal bomb loads for weight or type.
The (2) item is the actual bomb load. For game play, I doubt that it is material if you use 5,000 for the 17 and 24 or if you use 6,000 for the 17 and 8,000 for the 24. I think using 5,000 for the 29 could be material vs 20,000 as normal payload and normal range. On the 29, I have no information or opinion as to the combat load or range with combat or max load.
In my notes on the 17, it started with an internal 2,000 lb bomb load, then went to 4,000 for the C and D. For the E and beyond, they increased the size and weight of the plane and the bomb load to 6,000, but the extra weight of the plane alone made a significant decrease in speed and range. Thus, they normally reduced the bomb load. I show the normal (internal) loadout to be 26x100 lb bombs, or 12x500 lb bombs or 8x1000 lb bombs for the 17. I think you are probably right that they did use 5,000 as combat bomb load for the 17.
For the 24, I personally think they used 8,000 for the normal bomb load. The plane was originally designed to carry that load internally. I think the normal loadout above for 100, 500 and 1,000 lb bombs was actually used for the 24. The 24 could also carry 2,000 lb bombs internally, but I do not know if they carried 3 or 4 of those bombs. The only real things I have to support that though is (a) my Dad, who rode in a 24, but did not load bombs or drop them, said "Depending upon range, we carried all the bombs we could carry. We did't want to go back any more than neccessary.", and (b) on the back cover of the Group history, there is a beautiful almost full frame picture of a single B-24 H or J with a bomb string falling away - you can count 14 bombs in the string until they get out of the frame.
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