Australian Dominators

It sounds like a great deal for America and a poor deal for Australia. While superior to the Lincoln, operating an orphan fleet appears to be more trouble than their worth. In which case taking over mothballed B 29s seems a much better deal for the RAAF.
 
It would be, but I doubt that the USAAF would part with any in 1945-6, which is when this deal would have to have been made.
 
I'd think the B-29 would be more likely - availability is just as high as the B-32, plus availability of support (as already mentioned). Another point would be interoperability with the USAAF and even the RAF (B-29s in RAF service through to 1954) - standardised kit, as it were.

However, there is a political angle that may prevent either. Building Lincolns is as much a political action. Firstly, they're still quite aligned to Britain in the immediate post-War era, so favouring a Commonwealth product isn't too much of a surprise (the licensed production will aid the British who need the cash - pretty good diplomacy). Second, there's prestige to building your own hardware - "look at how successful Oz is - we build strategic bombers". Third, and probably most important is that building Lincolns rather then buying cast offs means skilled Australian jobs, particularly in the immediate post-War period.

So even though the surplus kit might be better in many ways (enough that even the U.K. operated B-29s in the early 50s), surplus kit doesn't provide the jobs or prestige that home built, shiny new kit does.
 

Archibald

Banned
The B-32 was a flying piece of shit, so it hardly a good present to Australia. Lincolns or B-29s would be far better.
 
The B-32 was a flying piece of shit, so it hardly a good present to Australia. Lincolns or B-29s would be far better.

I knew a USAF Colonel who flew both the B-29 and B-32, and thought the 32 a far better Pilot's aircraft in it's flight envelope and ground handling, and he said the 32 didn't have near the same engine trouble as the 29, from better design on the nacelles for cooling.

He said the biggest difference was the 32 never had it's own 'Battle of Wichita' to get fully debugged.
 
The B-32 should be accepted at scrap prices and sold to Qantas as spare R-3350s for the Connies. Some a/c would be kept to deliver spare engines to route stages. The concept of aerial fire-bombing hasn't quite bit yet, but Privateers were popular in the role elsewhere.
 
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