Paul Brickhill’s ‘ The Dambusters’ describes the thinking behind and the development and use of the Upkeep, Tallboy and Grand Slam weapons. It also mentions that he drew up in 1940 rough specifications for a bomber he christened the ‘Victory Bomber’ – it would weigh 50 tons and fly at 320mph at 45,000 feet carrying a 10-ton bomb for 4,000 miles. Does anyone know if these specs exist anywhere?
There's a new book out on British secret aircraft projects 1935-55 which is a good read. I can't recall the exact title or author at the moment, but it has a chapter on super-heavy bombers, with some weird and wonderful projects. Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
Got this from another site - you were right about the book Tony - this could have been a good spec for your time traveller to have pushed. http://www.tgplanes.com/Public/snitz/to ... PIC_ID=639 Yep. I've got lots of info about it in Tony Buttler's British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935-1945. As originally conceived, it was a six-engined design with an eliptical wing and a pressure cabin that resembled the high-altitude Wellington test-bed aircraft. Various design iterations had either Hercules or Merlins. The only defensive armament was in the tail: the idea was that the aircraft would climb to very high altitude within friendly airspace, the only risk thereafter being from high-performance fighters making desparate zoom climbs. The principle objection to the idea seems to have been the focus on carrying just one large bomb. Barnes Wallis was convinced that this was not only militarily more effective, but would also make the aircraft more simple and easier to develop. The Air Staff and MAP disageed, and it was their reluctance to order a "one-trick pony" that killed the project off. It was offically cancelled in early 1942. This was by no means the last, nor the biggest British Bomber project. Requirements for 75 ton and 100 ton bombers (with much lower operational ceilings than the Victory Bomber) were issued and much design work was done. All of these designs were spectacular and some were very radical, including pusher engines, buried engines and tailless and tail-first layouts. None were ever built, but Bristol's work on these requirements informed their post-war Brabazon airliner. Specs of the Victory Bomber: 1941 Span(ft.in/m): 172/52.4 Length(ft.in/m): 96/29.3 Wing area(ft2/m2): 2675/248.8 Max Weight(lb/kg): 104,000/47,174 Engines: 6x Merlin RM.6.SM or Hercules Max speed(mph/kmh) at height(ft/m): 352/566 at 32,000/9,754 Armament: 1x 10ton bomb, 4x defensive guns 1942 Span(ft.in/m): 172.1/52.5 Length(ft.in/m): 100.8/30.7 Wing area(ft2/m2): 2676/248.9 Max Weight(lb/kg): 113,500/51,484 Engines: 6x Merlin 60 Max speed(mph/kmh) at height(ft/m): 360/579 at 40,000/12,192 Armament: 32,000lb of bombs, 2x 0.5" MGs
