Group: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
From: "\"nightjar\" , ".me.uk"@gweep.ca
Date: Sunday, March 02, 2008 2:55 PM
Subject: Re: Does top speed make a difference in a bomber?

"Bombardier" wrote in message
news:6b72bcde-e20b-4ec8-9538-c2028a6e2b72@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Bombers need range to get to the targert. We flew our B-26 Marauders
> at 180mph indicated to get max range. Top speed was not relevant since
> it burned too mush fuel to complete the mission. So comparing top
> speeds of bombers to determine which is best has no merit whatever.

All the petrol engined aircraft I have flown produced best range at around
65% power and best cruise speed at 75% power, which seems to match the
figures for the B-26. From that, it would follow that a better top speed
also implies a faster cruise and a higher maximum range speed.

Colin Bignell