AHC: Victory Through Air Power

[Krases]

Having just watched the Walt Disney film, Victory Through Air Power, I started to wonder about the ability for the United States to follow the instructions laid out by the film. I came away with two major points.

• The US should develop a new branch of the military, The Air Force.
• The US should develop a long range bomber capable of striking the home islands of Japan from Alaska.

The film is 70 minutes long and can be found on youtube.

There were also some greater specifics laid out, namely that a massive four to six engine long ranger bomber with 'many cannons' should be developed. At one point during a lecture, a model is even shown. The plane shown with "many cannons" also seemed very much like the XB-19, a plane with a pair of 37mm cannons, five .50cals and 6 .30 cals.

So your challenge: have a major impact on WW2 by developing a bomber that can fly to and from the home Islands of Japan from Alaska and peel the air force away from the army before the war ends.

The XB-19, pictured below, offers a good test bed for a major bomber. The military did eventually follow the advice laid out in the film, breaking away the Air Force from the army and constructing a series of giant strategic bombers, including the massive B-36 Peacekeeper.

 

[TFSmith121]

The North Pacific is not the theater for

a strategic bombing campaign in the 1940s.

The technology was just not up to it.

Best,

 

[Krases]

Depending on when in the 1940's, I would totally disagree. The B-36 project encountered numerous delays.

From Wikipedia:

"...Consolidated winning a tender on 16 October 1941. Consolidated asked for a $15 million contract with $800,000 for research and development, mockup, and tooling. Two experimental bombers were proposed, the first to be delivered in 30 months, and the second within another six months."

So basically mid-1944 they were supposed to have two working prototypes.

"When the United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941, Consolidated was ordered to slow the B-36 project and increase production of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator."

"A month after the mockup inspection the project was moved from San Diego, California to Fort Worth, Texas, which set back development several months."

"Consolidated changed the tail from a twin-tail to a single, thereby saving 3,850 pounds (1,750 kg), but this change delayed delivery by 120 days."

"Changes in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) requirements would add back any weight saved in redesigns, and cost more time."

"Early in the war, the military refused to supply materials, tradesmen, and engineers to the project, which slowed work."

Years were added to the procurement process because of delays. Assuming with an early POD, say research and development starting in 1935 as an outgrowth from the XB-19 project, the US would have a strategic bomber capable of doing this task by 1943. Assuming the procurement process is a lot faster and more efficient.

 

[TFSmith121]

Weather

The North Pacific is socked in much of the year. Trying to mount a strategic bombing campaign VFR with a zero-zero ceiling is pretty much a guaranteed failure.

Radar, LORAN, pressurization, and in-flight refueling would make it possible in the 1950s, but not before.

Best,

 

[sharlin]

Whilst a good movie (quite enjoyable) it's more a statement and theory being put forwards and the ideas are good but technical issues would be a major limiter, even for todays aircraft, Alaska to Japan and back is a bloody long way to go, a B-36 could do it but they also had their issues thanks to their pusher engines (I belive you also see something that looks very much like a B-36 in Victory through Airpower).

The weapons like the rocket assisted bomb mentioned or deep penetrating earthquake bombs were real things and its probable that the Grand Slam and Tallboy would have been lethal against industrial targets because they would affect the buildings foundations as well as bugger up water/gas mains etc but their HIGHLY specialised nature limited their strategic use.