Another bad joke about Vigilante and its maintenance: Vigilantoy, you need 12 of them just to have one operational...
One answer (probably wrong) is that it moves faster and is able to deliver more bombe in the same timeframe. For example, during the Gulf War, F-117 dropped more bombs by the end eventhough they can only carry 2 bombs at once compared to the B-2's bomb load (need to check again) of 16 bombs. Hope that helps. BTW...'shat' is that past tense of s**t....I told you it was a bad joke.
Thanks for the bad, really hard to get jokes, but there's still a question over here! Not that I'm forcing someone to answer, just a reminder, if anyone's generous enough to donate some of their time to answer the question, I'd be grateful.
I honestly don't know. Presumably the B1 has better performance enabling it to lift more weight. Does the total bombload include externally-carried bombs? Similarly, I was always a little surprised to discover that the Panavia Tornado could carry more tonnage than an Avro Lancaster...
IIRC the B-52D's could carry a bigger bombload than all other B-52's thanks to a modification (Big Belly Mod wich made the D the real Big Bad carpet Bomber wich we think of when we think of B-52's)... 84 500-lb Mk. 82 wich is excactly the same as the B-1B (so that would mean the bomb-bay of the B-52 is as big as the 3 bomb-bays of the B-1b) it also could carry 24 on wing pillons... Max take off weight of the B-1B : 477,000 pounds (empty 190,000) Max take off weight of the B-52H : 488,000 pounds (empty 172,740) That would make the B-52 more of a weight lifter than a B-1B I think the problems lies in what the original mission of the B-52H was (a big bomber to carry huge Nuclear bombs or missiles) and while the B-1B was also a nuclear bomber it's bombload would consist out of multiple smallers cruise missiles wich would make it's bomb-bay more suited for conversion to normal bombs...
Oh, so the "Bone" has 3 seperate bays, while the B52 only has one! That explains it. I wonder why the B52D was retired-it could carry the most bombs!
It could have carried the most gravity bombs (in number) but probable it needed to be converted to carry other weaponry (smart/nuclear bombs or missiles)
No mention of the Convair B-58 Hustler? The USAF's first supersonic nuclear-bomber. A delta-wing design with the nuclear payload carried in a drop-pod below the fuselage centerline. It also came with a vulcan-sting in the tail. It was a big, magnificent beast... and an example can still be seen along US-31 outside the Grissom AFB in Peru, Indiana. Tim
Just for show http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvburen/b-58/ One engineless B-58 airframe (never assigned a serial number) was allocated to long-term fatigue testing. The airframe was delivered to the Wright Development Center Structures Test Laboratory at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio by adapting B-36F 49-2677 as a transport, carrying the airframe underneath its fuselage in much the same manner as had been intended in the original parasite program. In order to do this, the B-36's inboard propellers had to be removed and a temporary shackle system was attached to the bomb hoist mechanism. The ground clearance for the suspended B-58 airframe was only 22 inches. This delivery took place on March 12, 1957. After delivery, four engines were added to the airframe to make the fatigue tests more realistic. The photographs released of the B-36/B-58 airframe combination were misunderstood by some who imagined that the B-36 actually launched the B-58 in midair from : http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b58.html Somebody have a picture of that? A B-36 carying a B-58?
Found it Fastest Bomber gets a ride from the world's biggest. The supersonic B-58 Hustler takes the air here under the belly of a B-36 in a remarkable transport operation. Minus its four jet engines and other equipment the delta-winged Hustler was partly tucked into the B-36 bomb bay and flown and flown nonstop from Fort Worth, Texas to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio for extensive tests of air frame strength under extreme temperatures. To make room for the load, inboard propellers were removed and it flew unable to retract landing gear on four piston and four jet engines. Both Convairs, the B-58 has a 55 foot wingspan, the B-36, 230 feet. From (you'll find a good comparrison of size there to) http://www.strategic-air-command.com/ai ... r-home.htm
