soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Mar 5, 1:35 pm, Rich Rostrom wrote:

> Consider the difference between
> catching a 250 MPH plane
> and a 180 MPH plane with a
> 300 MPH interceptor (I).

better than a slow bomber>

That's all well and good, but Mr Kramer made it clear that bombers'
flight speeds were limited by fuel consumption. And I would bet this
was not a limitation only at the ragged edge of their range; that
speed on shorter missions would also be limited because they made the
choice of carrying more bombs instead of the fuel that would allow
them to fly faster. LeMay removed the machine guns from the B-29s so
they could carry more bombs to burn more buildings, not so they could
fly faster.

Given combat conditions, maybe cruising speed would be a better
comparison.