As early as 1934 the U.S. Army had envisioned an aircraft that was capable of carrying a 2.000 pound payload, with a range in excess of 5300 miles, which was far beyond current technology! However, by 1940 the Army issued design requirements that had evolved into specifications that called for a 'super bomber' — capable of a 400+ mph top speed, a 2,000 pound payload. and a range in excess of 5300 miles! All this in 1940, when the small, nimble fighters could not top 400 mph; and long range bombers barely had ranges of 2500 miles. What manufacturer could possibly hope to meet these requirements? Four tried, two succeeded.
Boeing. Consolidated. Douglas, and Lockheed all put forth design proposals based on these requirements. Lockheed's XB-30 (Model 51-81-01) was based on an armed version of what would eventually become the very successful Constellation airliner. However, as a 'super bomber' the Lockheed design never went beyond the proposal stage, although a scale model was built. Neither did the Douglas XB-31 (Model 332F). The Boeing offering, the XB-29 (Model 341) was accepted and went into production. The Consolidated XB-32 (Model 33) ultimately went into limited production (116 built) as the B-32 Dominator. But Army Air Force wanted the Consolidated R-T2 onlv as a hackun in case the Boeine B-29 nroeram failed.
B-29 Superfortress in Action (Aircraft Number 165)
Автор: Larry Davis, J. Sewell
Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications Inc.
Год издания: 1997
ISBN: 0897473701
Страниц: 60 Pages
Язык: English
Формат: PDF
Размер: 17 MB
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