From 4 engines down to two

[Captain Canada]

That twin engine Herc is not near as silly looking as I thought it would be.....and to my surprise, almost natural and rather well proportioned !

As for the B-14.5, I think a wee bit shorter fuselage, and shorter spanned wing. with the weight savings less that and the two engines.....why not ?

[Gondor]

I've just found out that there was a proposed twin engined Halifax, but never built. I can see this as a tailless version.

The two engined aircraft that was developed into the Halifax was designed to the same requirement as the Manchester was. Handley Page were allowed to develop the design into the four engined aircraft that became the Halifax and it was a always a twin tailed aircraft.

Gondor

[jcf]

Re: B-29
Two R-4360 from a B-50 attached to a basic B-29 airframe in place of four R-3350 drops available power from @ 8,800 hp to @ 7,000 hp.
So I think you'd need a serious airframe lightening program.

- You drop about a tonne just from the engines. Probably a little from the nacelles too.
- What does the swap do to fuel consumption? You probably use and carry a little less?
- Lower drag from only 2 nacelles?

The weight thing can be confusing, take the R-4360-59B used in C-97s; dry weight 3,691 lbs, installed, ready to go 7,988 lbs w/propeller, 6,500 lbs w/out.


So just comparing dry weights can be very misleading.

Plus you'd have to add in the engine mounting mods (= weight) that were done to turn the B-29 into the B-50.

[Captain Canada]

I've got one in the stash and I just can't stop thinking of how cool a pudgy little twin engine B-29 ( 14.5 ) would look. I think I'll have to draw one first, see if it looks as good as I think it would.

[Hobbes]

do you get drag from nacelles with props blowing air over them?

Yes. You get drag from any surface exposed to the airstream.

[zenrat]

A cut down twin engine Lanc is on my mental "to do" list.

[PR19_Kit]

A cut down twin engine Lanc is on my mental "to do" list.

Isn't that a Manchester?

[zenrat]

Not if it's a tank buster with the wings and fuselage very shortened, all turrets removed, bicycle type undercarriage retracting into what was the bomb bay and a pair of 75mm cannons.

[PR19_Kit]

Not if it's a tank buster with the wings and fuselage very shortened, all turrets removed, bicycle type undercarriage retracting into what was the bomb bay and a pair of 75mm cannons.

Hehehe, I LOVE it! 

I hope it has some MEGA engines as it'll fall out of the sky if they fire both of those 75 mm at once! 

[zenrat]

It's still in my head but would probably use the outer Merlin nacelles.
Cannons would be timed to fire alternately.

[Captain Canada]

So a Super Manchester then ? lol I like the idea. A Lanc in any guise gets my vote !