Dual Purpose Bomber/transports

[GTX]

Hi folks,

During the '30s, the RAF had a number of dual purpose bomber/transport aircraft such as the:

Bristol Bombay:



Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow:


and Armstrong Whitworth AW.23:



What if they continued with this idea post war - any thoughts?

Regards,

Greg

[AeroplaneDriver]

Would the propsed bomber variants of various airliners count?  

[GTX]

I don't see why not.

I suppose one modern variation on the theme would be the Transport based FOAS proposals:




Regards,

Greg

[GTX]

Or the 747 Cruise Missile Carrier Proposal (though I don't know if this would have been able to carry troops etc):



Regards,

Greg

[AeroplaneDriver]

Wow!  I've never seen that particular 747 proposal.  Quite a load of ALCMS there.  

[dogsbody]

SM.82

[jcf]

Combined bomber/transports is never a good idea, because you end up with compromise aircraft that are really suited to neither role.  The Luftwaffe found that with the various transports pressed into service as bombers (Ju 52/3m and Fw 200 Condor) and the Kampfgruppen never recovered from the use of bombers as transports during the ill-fated Stalingrad supply attempts.

Best to have separate bombers and transports.

My bomber-transports worked just fine in Africa, grazi.  :dum:  :dum:  :dum:  

[AeroplaneDriver]

I guess a lot depends on how we define 'Bomber'.  If we mean something to deploy stand-off weapons from outside hostile airspace, then the concepts of airliners converted to cruise missile carriers or palletized missiled dropped from C-birds seems a good solution.

If, however we mean something that can penetrate defended airspace and strike a target with freefall (dumb or PGM) bombs in a single pass in all weather and live to fight another day, well then Lee's got a valid point.  There is no way to do that in anything other than something designed around that and that alone.

You could always take a bomber fitting the second definition, such as the B-52, B-1, Vulcan, etc and put seats in it to carry people, but the result is going to be a compromise where you have a very expensive and inefficient transport requiring lots of support.  

So it seems that a modern strike-bomber/transport is impractical at best, but a stand-off missile platform/transport should be feasible.

[jcf]

Yes, but who was Il Duce fighting?  A bunch of stone age dudes with spears and they were so threatening they had to be gassed.  To them, the Wright flyer is the equivalent of the Enterprise would be to us.  They were no threat to the Italians' bomber-transport types.  Once the RAF got involved - using Gladiators - they were cut to bits.

Does the word "facetious" mean anything?  

[GTX]

Well, what if we keep things to the '50s/'60s era - say for still dealing with colonial/former colonial issues in places like Africa?  Maybe bomber versions of creatures such as the Blackburn Beverley:



or Armstrong Whitworth Argosy:




Regards,

Greg

[Aircav]

Combined bomber/transports is never a good idea,

Didn't you know, after PM Brown's cuts the RAF will combine the roles of Fighter/Ground attack/Transport/Anti-submarine/SAR all into one package, a single Hercules  :jawdrop:  
Reguarding the transport/bomber role, the USAF did lob out Dasiy cutters (10'000lb bomb) out the back of C-130's during the Vietnam war

[GTX]

the USAF did lob out Dasiy cutters (10'000lb bomb) out the back of C-130's during the Vietnam war

And during '91 in Kuwait.

Such bomber/transports may also be a viable option for some African countries.

Regards,

Greg

[Rafael]

And during the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza's air force used DC-3 cargo airplanes to drop bombs on the guerrilla positions, rolling them off the side doors. Talk about precision!!

Rafa

[dy031101]

Since I read the novel Red Lightning Black Thunder, I started fancying the idea of a C-141C with SOLL II modifications loaded with multiple BLU-82, GBU-43/B, or even cruise missiles for transport-based FOAS proposals......

(Granted, the novel was depicting a Starlifter launching satellite-killers, not superheavy bombs......)

[Archibald]

And during the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza's air force used DC-3 cargo airplanes to drop bombs on the guerrilla positions, rolling them off the side doors. Talk about precision!!

Rafa

The DC-3 was used in this role many, many times in south america, including during the football war of 1969.
Precision was incredible, particularly when Hondurian Air Force tried night bombing.  
Mind you, France used Ju-52 in the bomber role over Madagascar in... 1948.

Don't forget MD-312 Flamant transports used for COIN in Algeria.