wrote in message .com...

I'm aware that B-17s attacked Japanese Shipping during WW2
(battle of Midway comes to mind), but that they were way too
high and didn't hit anything.

Speaking hypothetically, would it have radically improved anthing
if the B-17 attacked from a much lower altitude?

Yes. The problem for the bombers is the similarly radical improvement
in the accuracy of the anti aircraft fire.

At the battle of the Bismarck Sea the Japanese force was 8 destroyers
and 8 transports.

On day 1 the B-17s apparently attacked from 6,500 feet, 2 attacks,
one of 8 the other of 20 B-17s, resulted in the sinking of one transport.
It would appear the smaller strike scored the hit(s). The Japanese
account says the height of the strike that sank the transport was 9,000 feet.

The next day the B-17s were "bombing from medium altitude (about
7,000 feet)" according to the RAAF account. The results of these
strikes are not easily distinguishable from the near simultaneous low
level attacks by Beaufighters, A-20s and B-25s.

Overall result 4 destroyers and 8 transports sunk, including a transport
finished off by PT boats and a destroyer finished off the third day.

I'm thinking that the B-17 was a pretty tough plane, as proven
over bombing raids in Europe.

Around twenty 20mm hits to bring down versus 2 to 3 German 30mm hits.

The light AA gun on the IJN ships was a 25mm piece in a triple mount.

And wonder if it could
survive the AA and CAP that the Japanese put up that so easily
downed the Vindicators? Speed and multiple engines come to
mind.

The B-17s would have survived air attacks better, the simple reality
a bigger aircraft is normally harder to shoot down. The Vindicators
needed to keep their speed down during their glide bombing attack.

Still, would bombing accuracy have improved to a point that
hitting a Japanses CV would have been possible.

The trade off is the improved accuracy of the anti aircraft fire
and greater ease of interception by defending fighters.

I have this (crazy?) picture of a B-17 lining up with a Japanese
carrier (lengthwise) and dropping a stick of bombs on it.

This requires some co-operation by the carrier, given the sensible
thing is for it to be continually changing course making it hard to
line up.

Wonder
what the spread would be at different speeds and the intervals
between bombs. Thanks, to the SBDs, this was not needed, but
just curious.

Simply put the higher the speed the greater the spread between
the bombs and the higher the errors.

Come to think of it, the Carriers would and did perform evasive
movements, so skip that requirement that the B-17 would
line up with the keel of the carriers.

The tactical diameter of the USS Enterprise, CV-6, is given as
790 yards at 30 knots, or a circle around 2.25 nautical miles,
traversed in 4.5 minutes or a course change of around 80
degrees per minute, while moving 500 yards per minute. A
4 mile bomb run at 240 mph will take 1 minute.


Geoffrey Sinclair
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