Was the Lincoln nuclear capable?

[Geoff]

Title has it in a nutshell?

[PR19_Kit]

I can't see there'd be too much of a problem in lifting capability, it could carry a Grand Slam after all.

But maybe the early nukes needed some special electronic gizmos to make them work? IIRC the US bombs needed bits to be installed after take-off, and that pre-supposes they'd need bomb-bay access in flight. Dunno if that was possible with a Lincoln, but it couldn't be THAT difficult to arrange I'd have thought.

[kitnut617]

Well the USAAF was going to use a Lancaster until they got the bomb to fit inside the B-29 ---

[deathjester]

Now theres a whiff !!  Tiger Force ?  Lancaster, painted up as 'Enola Gay', and fitted with semi recessed  'Special' weapon...

[The Rat]

In our universe we would figure out a way of making a nuclear capable Tiger Moth! 

[deathjester]

Griffon engine, wings, u/c and tail of a Tiger Moth, attached to a special weapon, with the 'Queen Bee' Remote control system - easy!

[eatthis]

In our universe we would figure out a way of making a nuclear capable Tiger Moth! 

thats just boring!
nuclear POWERED tiger moth is where its at! 

[rickshaw]

The Lincoln definitely could lift the early nuclear devices.  As to whether or not it could fly high enough and fast enough to make a safe escape is another matter.

[pyro-manic]

The Lincoln's performance figures are quite close to those of the B-29, so it's plausible.

[Captain Canada]

In our universe we would figure out a way of making a nuclear capable Tiger Moth! 

Nice one, Rat !

I thought the whole idea of the Lincoln was to be an early Nuke bomber ? Maybe I'm way off the mark tho....don't really know much about it, but that's what I always thought.

Having said that, seeing an RAF type carrying out the initial A bomb drop on Japan sure has some whif potential !

[The Rat]

You could possibly make some aerodynamic refinements to increase speed, enabling a quicker getaway. Round out the nose contours, perhaps a single vertical stabiliser.

[NARSES2]

But maybe the early nukes needed some special electronic gizmos to make them work? IIRC the US bombs needed bits to be installed after take-off, and that pre-supposes they'd need bomb-bay access in flight.

If my memory serves I think that was the detonation gear. The bomb wasn't armed until it had left the home base far behind, just in case the aircraft crashed on landing. There was a docu drama a couple of years ago where the engineering officer described having to sit astride the beast whilst it was in the bomb bay and arm it 

[sandiego89]

I'll chime in on this one.  Most early US nuclear weapons (late 40's early 1950's) designed for internal carry could be separated with the fissionable "pit" being removed from the main weapon casing (the bomb).  The pit would be stored in a separate shipping container, or even on another aircraft if in ferry mode. The pit could be installed into the weapon putting the whole package into strike configuartion.  This was an important safety feature, and there were several crashes/accidents where the high exlosives actually detonated, but luckily the pit was not installed.  By the mid 1950's the safety features were much improved and weapons were designed all up.  Some still required manual arming or interlocks- thus the bomb bay access. 

As for the Lincoln, I would say it could be nuclear capable, but you will need to ask with what, as the type of weapon and delivery profile will largely dictate if it possible- or if you need to WHIF something. Time frame will also need to be looked at. 

With a US weapon I would suggest that the "Little Boy" would work with a Lincoln (but very few weapons were produced). The aircraft would have the lifting capacity, bomb bay size, speed etc. that would be sufficient.  I think the Mk3/4 "fat man" would be too large for internal carry, with a 60 inch diameter.  Not sure of the Lincoln bomb bay width.  So would have to be semi-recessed which may rule out a pit insertion in flight and thus some types of weapons, or a risky all up mounting (pit installed already) . Some other US weapon candidates might be the Mark 5 which had a smaller diameter and some of the early depth bombs like the Betty or Lulu, but by the time these came around the Lincoln was eclipsed by jets.   

As for UK weapon the Blue Danube looks like it would fit on a Lincoln, but the aircraft would not have been able to reach the designed high altiude launch point of around 50K feet.  Perhaps a retarded version with a large parachute would be required. 
   

   

[Geoff]

Thanks everyone  - The question is for a real world build Greg of the Cold War SIG and I were discussing for a theme build.

[The Wooksta!]

Blue Danube *will* fit Lancaster/Lincoln and a researcher I trust has seen photographic evidence. A test fit of the bomb from the Airfix Valiant should confirm it.

It's marginally bigger than a Grand Slam, plus a Lancaster B.VI was intended as a drop ship for the Miles M.52 which is bigger again.