XB-51 (XA-45) Light Bomber

[NARSES2]

I have had a look and there doesn't appear to be a thread for this beast so :

Having just dug this kit out of the stash I've been reading up what little I have on the beast and she was to be armed with 8 x 20mm cannon !  and a max bomb load of 10,500lb.

Now given she has a tandem undercarriage, where the heck was the bomb bay ? I can't see any possible panel lines on the kit for it and given the gap between the wheels is not that great a length I was wondering ? The fuselage is very deep however so I suppose it could just have been short but deep ?

Any help at all on possible armament options for this aircraft would be gratefully received.

[zenrat]

Go here http://www.flickriver.com/photos/27862259@N02/tags/martin/ scroll right down to the bottom and there is a pic of what purports to be an XB-51 bomb bay.

[zenrat]

And this might help.

http://www.zona-militar.com/foros/threads/cutaways-cortes-esquemáticos-de-aviones.24700/

[PR19_Kit]

The XB-51 was the first aircraft to use a rotating bomb bay door.

The bomb load was mounted on the inside face of the bomb door, and when it rotated they were on the outside of course and could be dropped as normal. What they couldn't do is have multi-decks of bombs, like the B-25 and B-26 did. Martin later used the system on their version of the Canberra as well as their Seamaster flying boat, and Blackburn used it on the Bucc too.

That means there isn't a seam down the centre line of the aircraft and you can only see the end panel lines and the ones at the top, which makes it difficult to see its position.

[PR19_Kit]

Go here http://www.flickriver.com/photos/27862259@N02/tags/martin/ scroll right down to the bottom and there is a pic of what purports to be an XB-51 bomb bay.

I tried that and couldn't find it.

There's 228 pics on that page  and quite a few of them are of the XB-51, but I couldn't see one that showed the bomb-bay. Could you clarify it please?

[kitnut617]

I found it Kit, it is quite a way down

[rickshaw]

The XB-51 was the first aircraft to use a rotating bomb bay door.

The bomb load was mounted on the inside face of the bomb door, and when it rotated they were on the outside of course and could be dropped as normal. What they couldn't do is have multi-decks of bombs, like the B-25 and B-26 did. Martin later used the system on their version of the Canberra as well as their Seamaster flying boat, and Blackburn used it on the Bucc too.

That means there isn't a seam down the centre line of the aircraft and you can only see the end panel lines and the ones at the top, which makes it difficult to see its position.

These picture shows the outline of the bomb bay:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/6055992831/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/6055990891/

[dogsbody]

This image:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/6055991171/in/photostream/


Chris

[PR19_Kit]

Execllent! It's even part rotated there too. 

[rickshaw]

That second link shows a white dot

Gondor

Thanks.  Now corrected.

[Logan Hartke]

The XB-51 did have at least two more armament options (and one proposed). First of all, it had a bulged "B" bomb bay door option for the M53 4,000 lb bomb. Its true purpose was almost certainly to hold a Mk.5 or Mk.7 atomic bomb. So, the XB-51 was nuclear-capable.



The XB-51 could also mount weapons on the outside of the rotating bomb bay door. These included two 2,000 lb bombs or eight 5" HVAR rockets. Based on the configuration of these weapons, it appears that the door could still rotate with these weapons mounted on the outside. Theoretically, I don't see any reason why you couldn't also mount even more weapons on the outside of the door as long as you didn't rotate it.

Finally, there were the proposed wing pylons. People who've seen my profiles have told me that the variable incidence wing made that impossible. Unfortunately, nobody told those poor misguided engineers at Martin. Anyway, the two wing pylons were depicted carrying either external fuel tanks or large missiles.

Cheers,

Logan

[zenrat]

This image:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/6055991171/in/photostream/


Chris

That's the one.  I couldn't get it to show up here or link to it like that.

[PR19_Kit]

I can't see any reason why pylons shouldn't have been fitted to a variable incidence wing, after all Chance Vought did it with the Crusader. Those critics must have been short of a brain cell or three..........

[NARSES2]

Thank you gentlemen. Answers all my questions 

[Hman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5buVZojGgI8

This video has some film of rotary bomb bay, not shot from the best of angles though