HI ALT flight charecteristics

[rickod]

In another post I saw today somone said he was having a problem with the fact that the b17 has less trouble manuvering at hi alts than his sleek fighter ,


lets use a lil common sense here nkay.

the b17 has a HUGE frigging wing span and vertical stabiliser and rudder

compare this to a fighters thing wings and small vertical stabiliser and rudder

now  get yourself a small grocery store bag and a big 50 gallon trash bag go out inyer back yard on a windy day and hold one up then hold the other one up which one do you think is going to catch more air ?

bigger control surfaces will handle better in thinner air than smaller ones   DOH!


now that Ive hurt myself using my few remaining brain cells pointing out the obvious   go away  

[funkedup]

Yep.  B-17G has nice big turbos too.  So it maintains full power at altitudes where most fighters are gasping.

[FDisk]

That's why it's a "high level bomber"


 

[ 08-24-2001: Message edited by: FDisk ]

[Urchin]

I can buy that.  I'm curious as to the historical use of B17s though.  The operational altitude of B17s was between 24 and 28k I believe, correct?

At this altitude, entire FORMATIONS needed fighter escort or they would have been ripped to shreds by attacking fighters.  Does the Schweinfurt <SP> raid ring a bell anyone?  High altitude raid, no escort- the bombers got ripped to shreds.  

If the historical commanders had merely flown like the bomber pilots of Aces High, I suppose their losses would have been much lighter?  I guess hind-sight is 20/20.

[SKurj]

Urchin, if in AH we always had 17 wingies in box formation in B17's, and a squad for escort, we would fly at hell 10k even!!

A lone buff in ww2 was dead meat, a lone fighter was too if it couldn't run.

A lone buff in AH is dead meat at anything less than 20k if attacked by someone who knows what they are doing.

I plucked 2 17's outta the sky who were at 10-12k, flying close to each other, with some scort, in 2 passes.


SKurj

[1776]

Don't believe anything you have read in this thread.  The truth follows: The fighter is awsome at high altitude and can easily down a B-17.  It's so easy.... all you have to do is approach the B-17 from directly behind and level at speeds under 200mph.  BINGO!!!


<walks to flightline and climbs into a B-17.  Spits on tail 50 cal gun site, polishes to a nice gleam >

[Tozza]

Have to disagree 1776-approaching a b17 from a dead 6 is quite possibly the stupidest thing since Mr stupid did somthing REALLY stupid in a stupid car (stupid Tw@t)

[oboe]

Tozza, he was kidding.