B-24 bomb racks

[Pyro]

Anybody have a diagram of the bomb racks of the B-24 showing the various possible loadouts?

[Guppy35]

Not a thing listed in the Flight Manual for the B24.  You'd have thought they'd have it if only for the weight and balance stuff.

Gonna keep looking

Dan/Slack

[United]

I have some information and testimonials of B-24 crewmembers of the B-24J loadout, and here is what I have collected over the years:

Normal Combat Loadouts:
20 100lb bombs
12 500lb bombs
8 1000lb bombs
4 2000lb bombs
2 4000 lb bombs on external racks

Here is some one that I got off of an internet article, but have been unable to back up:
8 1600lb bombs (at a max short range combat loadout)

Most of my info is notes written down or random tid-bits of information that I picked up during conversations or books, etc.


Here are some photos I gathered off of Google of the interior/Bomb bay area of various 24s.  I'll search through my collection at home and see if I can find any photos of a J.


A cleaner version









 
Hope these help.  Like I said, Ill dig through my info and see what I can come up with.

[Krusty]

I wonder the following:

B-17 could carry WAY more than it does now. It could carry 17,000+ lbs, however, it was limited to operational limits of about 5,000 to 6,000.

So say the B-24J *CAN* carry 2k eggs, or 4k eggs. Were they really carried that often? If not I say leave them out. We don't need anything more powerful than 1k eggs, and if you DO want more, the Ju87 and the Lancaster both have large bombs for use.

My reasoning being that there needs to be incentive to use the lancaster still, and if you leave the Lanc as the only level bomber with an egg larger than 1k, it gives a reason.

Just a thought.


**Lancaster forever!!!**

[United]

Krusty, from what I know, 2k and 4k eggs were rarely used.  But, I don't know much about B-24 loadouts of the ETO.  Most information I read comes from pilots/crewmembers, stories, etc. from the PTO, where large bombs weren't really needed.

Thing is, the B-24J can carry the large bombs, but keep within its standard combat weight loadout.  The B-24 "can" carry 18,800lbs or so, but rarely did it ever go about 12,800lbs.

Most of the time it just depends on what the mission called for.

The Lanc will still be used, because neither the 17 or the 24 could carry 14000lbs of bombs further than short range.  Even though Im a huge fan of the 24, Id much rather take a Lanc if I needed the added bombload.

[Mitsu]

Nice pics, United!
That would help him.

[Bodhi]

Pyro,

I will send what ever you need out of the B-24 Manual.  You are doing the J or D?

Will call tomorrow.

[frank3]

Originally posted by United
Krusty, from what I know, 2k and 4k eggs were rarely used.  But, I don't know much about B-24 loadouts of the ETO.  Most information I read comes from pilots/crewmembers, stories, etc. from the PTO, where large bombs weren't really needed.

Thing is, the B-24J can carry the large bombs, but keep within its standard combat weight loadout.  The B-24 "can" carry 18,800lbs or so, but rarely did it ever go about 12,800lbs.

Most of the time it just depends on what the mission called for.

The Lanc will still be used, because neither the 17 or the 24 could carry 14000lbs of bombs further than short range.  Even though Im a huge fan of the 24, Id much rather take a Lanc if I needed the added bombload.

I agree United, but I do want to see some different bombs, I mean...the bombs get so....regular...

Give us some deptcharges, mines, cluster bombs!

[Pyro]

United, your loadouts are in line with with what I've been deducing.

Bodhi, I'm doing the J.  Unfortunately, I only have the D manual and that doesn't include a schematic of the bomb racks.  That would be nice, but what I could really use from the J manual is the engine chart and cruise chart if you have them.  There seems to be some confusion regarding rated altitude of the J's engine.  Some sources cite it as higher than on the D, but I can find no corroborating evidence of that.

[United]

I ran across some great pictures browsing the other day:

This is probably what you really want, but I hate to post it because it will frustrate more than help, Im afraid.  Sun glare has made most of it unreadable.
This chart in the bomb-bay detail how to hang the various combinations of different size bombs.


Detailed charts on how to hoist bombs into the bomb bay


Pyro, in the figure on the right in the bottom picture, it shows 5 100lb bombs on each side.  So, it supports the fact that there were 20 100lb bombs.  10 in the front, and 10 in the back.

Here are a few pictures that aren't as related, but could be useful in other things.  These are from a P&W 1830-43, not the 1830-65 that was used in most J models, but I figured I would post them anyways as they might provide some insight.

[HoHun]

Hi United,

>This is probably what you really want, but I hate to post it because it will frustrate more than help, Im afraid.  Sun glare has made most of it unreadable.

I suspect it's electroflash glare, actually :-)

But the glare is not that bad since the B-24 obviously has two identical bomb bays, and the right half of the matrix is legible so it's easy to guess what the left half looked like :-)

This only fails for the 2000 lbs and upwards bombs.

I suspect the B-24 was similar to the B-17 there in having one external position for a 1000 - 4000 lbs bomb under each wing.

Apparently, two types of 2000 lbs bombs and one type of 1000 lbs bomb could be mounted internally as well with some restrictions which are not legible at all. (In the B-17, carrying a 2000 lbs bomb internally would require removal of the special bomb shackles before the rest of the bombs could be dropped from that bay. Maybe the B-24 played it safe and didn't allow mixing internally carried 2000 lbs bombs with smaller ones.)

By the way, it seems that your initial assumptions about the B-24's bomb loads were pretty accurate :-) I'd say the normal combat load was limited to 8000 lbs, probably in order to allow full internal fuel to be carried, but reducing the fuel load would make heavier loadouts possible.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[United]

Henning, from what I know, the underwing racks were never used in combat on a B-24.

Most of the time, combat loadouts were not much more, if any, over 8000lbs.  You are correct in the fact that the amount of fuel taken limits the amount of bombs that can be carried. For short range missions requiring a lot of bombs, the B-24 could carry 12,800lbs, but again only for a short range.

[Bodhi]

Pyro, sorry for the stand up... will call for sure tomorrow...

[HoHun]

Hi United,

>Henning, from what I know, the underwing racks were never used in combat on a B-24.

Thanks! You listed them above under operational loads, though :-)

>You are correct in the fact that the amount of fuel taken limits the amount of bombs that can be carried. For short range missions requiring a lot of bombs, the B-24 could carry 12,800lbs, but again only for a short range.

Do you happen to have a weight breakdown for the B-24?

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

[United]

I cant cite a source off the top of my head, but heres what I know.

The B-24 had a maximum take-off weight of around 65000 pounds (29,510 kg).  An empty 24 weighed about 37000 pounds (16,798 kg).

A B-24 could carry a maximum fuel load of 3614 gallons, which equals around 10842 pounds.  So, without bombs, a B-24 weighs about 47842 pounds.  That allows you to carry about 17000lbs of bombs.  But, even though the B-24 can carry this much weight, you also have to factor in flight characteristics; will it fly? how heavy will the controls feel? will the maneuverability be drastically lowered? as well as the length of the runway.

This is why 8,000lbs was about the maximum carried with a full fuel load.

Hope this helps you out some Henning.

Pyro, here are a few more pictures of the bomb bay.