Lancaster guns.

[ian lanc]

I've always wondered why they never fitted 50 cal's as standard in the front/upper turrets ? I know some had 50 cal's in the rear ! maybe space was an issue.

ian.

[verduijn]

Hi Ian!

"(...) maybe space was an issue (...)"

That's exactly what I always understood. The crews would have loved to get better defense, but weight and space were at a premium. It's interesting to see the different philosophies of the U.S. and the U.K.: the Americans preferred to deliver less bombs with more crew in more safety like the B-17, while the British concentrated much more on delivering the heaviest possible bomb load with, indeed, the Lancaster.

The B-17 with 10 crew only delivered half the bomb load that the Lancaster could drop with 7 crew!

Be well,

Jaap.

[verduijn]

Well, after a lot of work I got this thread cleansed from spam.