soc.history.war.world-war-ii

narrledudh@hotmail.com wrote:
> On Feb 21, 4:04 pm, "Hal Hanig" wrote:
>> Michael Emrys wrote:
>>> in article 47BDC253.8060...@hotmail.com, Tiger at Lana_sa...@hotmail.com
>>> wrote on 2/21/08 10:30 AM:
>>
>>>>> Sure the B-26 had a 10MPH faster top speed but does that really make
>>>>> any
>>>>> difference in a bomber?
>>
>>>> When a Zero is on your tail, every litle bit helps.
>
> My source shows a much larger speed advantage than 10mph, but as we
> know models varied and all such figures should be taken with salt.
>
>>> Your logic is impeccable. However, since the B-26 was withdrawn from the
>>> Pacific theater after 1942, they were unlikely to meet up with many
>>> Zeros.
>
> Yes, I believe that was a matter of range, where the B-25 had the most
> substantial advantage, as the Liberator did over the Fortress. ( I
> think some early B-26 types particpated in the battle of Midway as
> torpedo bombers, to not much effect.)
>
>>> That said, the B-26 seems to have had other advantages. It suffered the
>>> fewest crewmen lost on a percentage basis during the war of any American
>>> bomber and had a very good record for accurate bombing. So it must have
>>> had
>>> something going for it.
>
> One difference might be simply that the 25 was a prewar(?) design and
> the 26 a later one based on a few more years experience, with the
> corollary that there were more 25s earlier.
>
>> Foolish me....all these years, I always thought that bombing accuracy was
>> something bombardiers got credit or blame for, not the airplane they
>> happened to be riding in.
>
> Fair enough, but this is probably the cue for Art Kramer, if he's
> still around.
>
>> BTW, the airplane's nickname "One-a-Day in Tampa Bay" evolved from the
>> frequency with which new pilots transitioning into the plane made
>> unscheduled landings in the water....it was apparently quite a handful
>> for
>> inexperienced pilots. OTOH, no one ever said that about the B-25.
>
> Yep, the 26 was a hot aircraft, and the 25 was a workhorse. I've met
> former pilots of both types, but as far as I know only the 26 has an
> international organization of ex-26ers. (Motto: Optimi Optimorum.)
>
> I did learn one B-25 joke from a man who flew them in the SoPac:
>
> "What do you say to B-25 pilot?"
>
> " . . . "
>
> "I SAID, WHAT DO YOU SAY TO A B-25 PILOT?"
>
> "Did you say something?"
>
> It would explain a lot about my father, who flew a B-25 in the Med.

If he was in the BG headed up by Col. Phil Cochran that moved from Corsica
to eastern Italy near the end of the war, I was in the trash hauling outfit
that carried most of their stuff over there (4th TCSq, 62nd TCGp). I got
about 4 hours in a B-25 after the war.....it was not quite as noisy as the
SA-16 that I blame my loss of hearing on but it handled a lot better in the
air. I wouldn't have minded doing my WWII flying in one of them..
>
> Narr