/lit/ - Literature

>>14626931
>Eaker pointed at the newly arrived bomber now taxiing down the runway, “Along with the B-32 Dominator, that’s one over there-“
>”B-32? Tell me about that one.”
>”It’s basically a scaled up B-24 we developed as a backup in case the B-29 failed to pan out.”
>”It any better than the Superfortress?”
>”They’re pretty much the same, although we still haven’t fixed pressurization issues on the Dominator yet so it will have to fly at lower altitudes. Only reason we even have them is Washington wanted the lion’s share of B-29s so Richmond bought up the whole Dominator fleet instead.
>”The whole fleet huh?”
>”Yep, all 150 of them, don’t worry, we’ll only be flying them until Superfortresses start arriving in large enough numbers. Right now, the plan is to completely replace B-24 and B-17 strike missions over Eastern Europe with B-29s and B-32s, which will in turn, free them up for you.”
>”About damn time, we’re slowing down badly enough in Normandy with the fuel shortages as it is. Don’t need fresh German Panzers to make our job any harder.”
>”Yeah, it’s a good trade-off for SAC anyway. As I mentioned the new bombers can fly longer and further, no more need for coordinating shuttle missions with the Russians. Pressurized compartments and the new version of the Norden bombsight we have means that we can cruise well above the effective firing range of virtually all ground-based German, and more importantly, Soviet anti-air, and don’t even need to descend to drop our payloads. We can loiter above any country’s airspace and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it from the ground.”
>”What about enemy fighters?”
>”Pratt And Whitney engines mean they can outrun any German interceptor short of the rocket-powered ones, 262s and what not. Ain’t even gonna bother with the Soviet ones”