Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: fullmetalbullet on February 18, 2013, 08:01:42 AM
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Since we are getting the lancs updating would it or could it be possible that we are getting the halifax.
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:aok
I think the Wellington makes more sense for the next RAF bomber. The RAF has its flagship heavy bomber in the Lancaster, it would seem most logical to add its flagship medium bomber next. :)
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The Halifax is too similar to the Lancaster for it to really be worth the large amount of work it takes HTC to add a heavy bomber. Performance is nearly identical, bomb load is only 500lbs less, guns are very similar. It had a higher loss rate than the Lancaster, so probably not as tough.
The only new RAF bomber we really need is the Wellington. I prefer the idea of the Wellington B.Mk III, but many suggest the Mk X.
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Warp me to Halifax...
(nsfw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=414TmP12WAU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=414TmP12WAU)
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the reason i was asking was due to the similarities between the Lancaster and Halifax that it would be a little easier to add the Halifax instead of a whole new bomber itself with the Wellington
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the reason i was asking was due to the similarities between the Lancaster and Halifax that it would be a little easier to add the Halifax instead of a whole new bomber itself with the Wellington
No, it wouldn't as it would not reuse any of the Lancaster's assets or performance model. Similarities don't mean bits can be reused.
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I knew a pilot called John Crampton who did two tours on Halifaxes and one on Lancasters and he preferred the Halifax. He thought the Halifax a much tougher built plane than the Lanc. The biggest problem he had with the Lanc was the hydraulic system for the turrets which had a pump on one of the engines and pipes running up the wings and fuselage to each of the turrets. A hit to one of these long unarmoured pipes would not only disable the turret but would spray an aerosol of highly flammable hydraulic fluid around inside the aircraft. The Halifax ran electrical cables to seperate hydraulic pumps in each turret, so there was far less chance of fire when hit.
One problem with the Halifax was that at a certain low speed range heavy application of the rudder could cause it to overbalance and lock hard over, causing the aircraft to crash. There were a number of fatal accidents early on before this was discovered and later rectified, but it gave the plane a bad rep.
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I knew a pilot called John Crampton who did two tours on Halifaxes and one on Lancasters and he preferred the Halifax. He thought the Halifax a much tougher built plane than the Lanc. The biggest problem he had with the Lanc was the hydraulic system for the turrets which had a pump on one of the engines and pipes running up the wings and fuselage to each of the turrets. A hit to one of these long unarmoured pipes would not only disable the turret but would spray an aerosol of highly flammable hydraulic fluid around inside the aircraft. The Halifax ran electrical cables to seperate hydraulic pumps in each turret, so there was far less chance of fire when hit.
One problem with the Halifax was that at a certain low speed range heavy application of the rudder could cause it to overbalance and lock hard over, causing the aircraft to crash. There were a number of fatal accidents early on before this was discovered and later rectified, but it gave the plane a bad rep.
I wonder why the Lancaster had a lower loss per sortie rate? I suspect it was simply the structurally more resilient of the two, ignoring specific sub system issues.
From wikipedia's article on Leonard Cheshire:
Cheshire was amongst the first to note there was very low return rate of Halifax bombers on three engines; furthermore, there were reports the Halifax was unstable in a “corkscrew” which was the manoeuvre used by bomber pilots to escape night fighters.
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Another problem may have been that a much higher percentage of the Halifaxes built used the Hercules radial which had a lower operational ceiling than the Merlin. IIRC the few hundred Hercules engined Lancs built had a worse loss rate than their Merlin powered cousins as well.