bomccarthy -> RE: Focus Pacific Beta (11/12/2015 8:31:57 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: dwg quote:
ORIGINAL: paradigmblue Oh man, as someone that enjoys playing as the allies, that's almost too good. The reach on that thing is insane for 1942. AKA the XBLR-2 - Bomber, Long Range. And there were three more designs in that class. They were respectively the Boeing Model 294/XB-15/XBLR-1 (1 built), Martin Model 165/B-16 (rejected), Douglas XBLR-2/XB-19 (1 ordered) and Sikorsky XBLR-3 (cancelled at mock-up stage). The Boeing and Martin designs came out of the 1934 Project A requirement for a bomber with 5000 mile range, the Douglas and Sikorsky the 1936 Project D, which asked for a bomber with 'the maximum feasible range', and while the Douglas was selected in 1936 it wasn't funded until 1938. The B-15 flew in October 1937 and the Air Corps ordered 2 Y1B-20s, which would have been service test models of the B-15. but then cancelled them. The XB-15 was assigned to 2nd Bomb Group, but was considered too slow compared to the B-17 and spent the war working as a transport. Douglas tried to get the XB-19 cancelled in 1938, and finally rolled it out in 1941, with first flight in June, it was subsequently used as a testbed for the V-3420 engine and as a cargo aircraft. While the Douglas didn't fly until 1941, there was that two year delay in funding, which might have pulled first flight forward to 1939, with production following in 1940. Boeing had the B-17 programme to keep the B-15 as just a prototype, but Douglas didn't have a large bomber programme at that point and the B-19 was clearly more capable than its B-18 Bolo. I realize this is a mod, so I wasn't going to comment, but there was little chance the B-19 would have ever been produced. It was powered by an early version of the Wright R-3350 (same engine as used by the B-29 and B-32). The myriad development problems suffered during the R-3350 program delayed the B-29 to such an extent that all aircraft (prototypes) powered by the R-3350 were grounded in early 1943 and a Senate investigating committee was convened. No other engine with the power required by the B-19 was available in the 1940-43 timeframe, and it was actually underpowered with the R-3350. The R-3350 finally came into its own after the war, powering such aircraft as the AD Skyraider, DC-7, and Super Constellation. Even then, its oil consumption was such that the DC-7's range was limited by the capacity of its engine oil reservoirs, not its fuel tanks. For a good, relatively concise history of this engine, see Graham White's Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of World War II (Society of Automotive Engineers, 1995).
|
|
|
|