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How far could a WWII American bomber fly without refueling? Nt (Original Post) raccoon Feb 2020 OP
Depends on the bomber and the bomb load Docreed2003 Feb 2020 #1
Look up B-17 and B-24, it will give their range. I'm pretty sure those B-24's could stay in the brewens Feb 2020 #2
B-29's flew round-trip from SaIpan to Tokyo. Mister Ed Feb 2020 #3
I'm reading a book called THE SHORT AMERICAN CENTURY:A POSTMORTEM. raccoon Feb 2020 #5
The island hopping campaign was in part Sherman A1 Feb 2020 #7
Yep DetroitLegalBeagle Feb 2020 #9
There are a lot of variables sarisataka Feb 2020 #4
Really varied by type, load and the addition Sherman A1 Feb 2020 #6
Yup, range would be reduced if they ran into a head wind... mitch96 Feb 2020 #8

Docreed2003

(16,817 posts)
1. Depends on the bomber and the bomb load
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:14 AM
Feb 2020

If I recall correctly, a B17 with a standard bomb load had a range of around 2,000 miles.

brewens

(13,392 posts)
2. Look up B-17 and B-24, it will give their range. I'm pretty sure those B-24's could stay in the
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:15 AM
Feb 2020

air for 16 hours or more unloaded. My dad was on one in the Pacific, mostly long range reconnaissance.

Mister Ed

(5,895 posts)
3. B-29's flew round-trip from SaIpan to Tokyo.
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:17 AM
Feb 2020

Almost 3,000 miles round-trip.

What prompts the question?

raccoon

(31,088 posts)
5. I'm reading a book called THE SHORT AMERICAN CENTURY:A POSTMORTEM.
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:42 AM
Feb 2020

Edited by Andrew J Bacevich.

In chapter 2, “the origins and uses of American hyper power” by David M Kennedy, he writes about the use of “ Strategic bombing“ in Europe. Against Germany.

“for those who could carry it off, strategic bombing promised rich rewards: a brief war, with relatively few casualties, and minimum disruption of one’s own social and economic structure.” (Bacevich, p 22). Then on p. 30-31, “While Japan in the first half of 1945 adopted a primitive wind–driven technology [balloons carrying firebombs] in a last desperate effort to strike at the Americans in their heartland, huge B-29 bomber streams flew nightly to Japan from the Mariana islands.”

So I started thinking, why couldn’t they do the
strategic bombing on Japan as well? And I thought that might be because of the distance to the Japanese home islands from wherever the Americans could have a base. Until much later in the war.

I am certainly no expert on military strategy or American bombers in WWII, so chime in if you think otherwise.

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
7. The island hopping campaign was in part
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:49 AM
Feb 2020

About getting bases close enough to Japan for the aircraft to be in range. There was no air to air refueling until the 1950s.

DetroitLegalBeagle

(1,904 posts)
9. Yep
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 10:28 AM
Feb 2020

And it's not just being in range. The island itself had to be large enough to accommodate the bombers. Combat loaded bombers required at least a mile lone runway to take off, if I remember right.

Once we were in range, we firebombed the hell out of the Japanese. Tokyo was basically burned to the ground. The primary reason Hiroshima was chosen as the first nuclear bomb target was because it was one of the few cities left that was mostly untouched from our bombing raids. We wanted to see the full destructive effects of the bomb on an intact city.

sarisataka

(18,197 posts)
4. There are a lot of variables
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:35 AM
Feb 2020

Which affect the answer to that question.

With maximum load at take off the ranges for the three large US bomber types are:

B-17- 1100 mi
B-24- 1450 mi
B-29- 3250 mi

These ranges could increase or decrease depending on the load the plane carried and which model of variant is being discussed.

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
6. Really varied by type, load and the addition
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 09:45 AM
Feb 2020

Or subtraction of such things as Bomb bay fuel tanks. Weather would be a factor as well.

mitch96

(13,816 posts)
8. Yup, range would be reduced if they ran into a head wind...
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 10:27 AM
Feb 2020

Seems like the formula was to destroy the enemy's air power thru bombing the manufacturing/production and infrastructure. ONce in the control of the air, a land invasion would go forth. That's why Hitler could not/would not invade England.. They lost the battle for air supremacy over England..
m

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