Alternate Aircraft--Doolittle Raid

Hi Everyone!

Before the North American B-25 Mitchell was finally chosen as the aircraft type used in Jimmy Doolittle's bombing mission over Japan, other aircraft types were also being considered.

One of them is the Fairey Hendon (modified from the original for the mission), a British bomber design.

The profile shows the Fairey Hendon in the same colours and markings as those actually used on the B-25's that actually took part in the mission.


Chuck

Fairey Hendon (Doolittle Raid).JPG
 
Half the speed, 25% of the bomb load, 4,000 less feet for service ceiling, 8 feet longer with 40 more feet wingspan for 10 more miles of range? Why would they consider it?

Torqumada
 
Only four aircraft were really in the running for the raid: the B-18 Bolo, the B-23 Dragon, the B-26 Marauder, and the B-25. Only the Mitchell met the range requirement, and more importantly, the wingspan requirement for flying off a carrier.
 
I think you're using JPEG for your art. The color definition degrades badly. Try PNG or one of the IFF's.

The Mitchell was powered by R-2600 Wrights. The aborted B-28 used P&W R-2800's to achieve much higher performance, with turbocharging. Combine the two and add folding wings for the PB2J ship-board bomber, presaging the Savage, A3D, and Vigilante.

PB2Jnosessmall.png
 
Were Mosquitos avaiable then and would Britain have offered them?>

They were just entering service as a new type. Had they been available earlier in quantity, they would still not have been considered an American response to Japanese aggression for propaganda and morale purposes.
 
The Mitchell was powered by R-2600 Wrights. The aborted B-28 used P&W R-2800's to achieve much higher performance, with turbocharging. Combine the two and add folding wings for the PB2J ship-board bomber, presaging the Savage, A3D, and Vigilante.
If you're going to go that far, why not make them R4360s?:eek::p
 
They were just entering service as a new type. Had they been available earlier in quantity, they would still not have been considered an American response to Japanese aggression for propaganda and morale purposes.

Id hate to put aplywood plane on the deck of an aircraft carrier exposed to nort pacific weather....
 
Too big for the carrier deck: the B-25s barely made it as it was. When there were takeoff tests from Hornet off of Norfolk, VA, one of the pilots almost hit the carrier's island on launch. That explains the guide lines painted on the carrier deck that you see in film footage of the B-25s on the deck of Hornet. Only four aircraft, again, were considered: the B-18 (lack of range and payload), B-23 Dragon (range, but lack of decent bombload), B-25 (range, payload, and size requirements all met), and B-26 (too big to fit on carrier).
 
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