Combat-Weight: Bombers & Fighters

[KJ_Lesnick]

With the B-17 (6,000 pounds of bombs) and B-24 with 8,000 pounds of bombs, at what combat weight would the plane be (assuming it's not classified) over the target era?  Like what percentage of max fuel load typically

[famvburg]

   How far is the target area from the departure base? What was their headwind/tailwind enroute? Altitude?

[KJ_Lesnick]

What was a typical mission used in the Europe and Pacific Theater?

[pyro-manic]

Well, it would ideally have half it's fuel load left. Anything less and the crew are going to be a bit hacked off!

[scooter]

What was a typical mission used in the Europe and Pacific Theater?

Bombing missions into the Reich would require a different amount of fuel vs. bombs than a raid into France or the Low Countries from England, same with raids from North Africa into Italy.  B-24s, with their larger fuel capacity, were preferred over B-17s in the Pacific, although B-17s were used at Midway, and I believe (but don't quote me on that) out of Australia.  MacArthur's B-17 force caught on the ground on Dec 8, 1941, was roughly 440 nm from Kaohsing, 590 nm from Taipei, and 765 nm Okinawa.  Saburo Sakai talks about test flights in Zeros from Taiwan to northern Luzon and back, stretching their range to maximum with one extra fuel tank and the right throttle, prop and mixture settings.