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The Lancaster regularly carried 14,000lbs. What did the B17 carry on a regular basis?
= 8,000lbs. Richard I think you are being too kind to the B17 there - for the long range missions deep into germany the bomb load would have been 4,000 lbs.
No! For really long ranges it would have been closer to 2,000 pounds!
In the funny 'logic' of the military procurement cycle...one could argue that the B17 was a complete failure at its primary role,on early raids into germany they got mauled by fighters and flak and could only achieve acceptable losses with heavy fighter escort.
This is absolutely true! The first B-17s were pathetic, armed with 5 X .30 caliber RCMGs. The second batch had 6 X .30s! It was not until the B-17E that the plane was equipped with an additional 3,600 pounds of armor, weapons and ammo, including ten to eleven .50 caliber HMGs. Note also that the B-17 at least according to the Germans, SHOT DOWN MORE Nazi planes than any other type! More than any other type! ( It bears repeating!)
So one could argue that the B17's best defensive weapon was (say) the P51 - and once the P51 became operational (late 1943) then (to use Bullshooter45's favourite expression) perhaps the B17's could have been field modified to remove some of its defensive armament to improve a/c performance!
I like that idea! Suppose that the Lancaster and B-17 had been forced to switch rolls? The Lanc bombs during the day and the Fortress at night! Strip out most of that armor, weapons and ammo. Relocate the flight deck to the bomb aimer's level, plate over the flight deck bulge and windshield, all the turrets and extraneous gun positions, leaving only the tail gunner with a crew of four! Now it is as fast or faster and higher flying than the Mossy B Mk-VI and caries much more than twice the bomb load to much farther ranges! WOW!
Please note that I am not grinding an ax(e) about the B17,it was the fault of the military 'planners' - who thought that the bombers could get through unescorted.
Again, you are absolutely right about that! It was also the Military leaders that chose the mission profiles that made the one plane look better than it was and the other to appear to be less than it was!
Another little facet of the B17 war (perhaps B24 also ?) was that only a small proportion of the a/c (formation/deputy + possibly element leader) used the bombsight...the rest of the bombardiers 'toggled' when they saw the leader drop.
Again, This is absolutely true!
As I said - I dont have any axes to grind here,I have been an aircraft engineer for 40 years so I do not look at any aircraft through rose tinted specs...they are all a compromise engineeringwise.
Again, This is absolutely true! But you tell me honestly that given one plane is faster and higher flying on less power at the same weight, span and WA, it then has to have a better L/D and supirior drag plot, does it not?
Edited to fix typos.