Another B-36 Peacemaker - delivered early?

[Diamondback]

The GRB's had basically a whole new bomb-door system to wrap around the F-84 when docked but still seal with no parasite aboard. These two builds are planned as Straight From Box (apparently the same "Doc Brown Fall Off Toilet" that sparked the dome cockpit also gave a vision of the revised tail, LOL) other than paint/decals and filling in the sockets for the J47 pylons. I'm not opening up the gun bays for an odd but very BIG reason - I seem to be developing arthritis in the arm that has ALL of my fine-motor dexterity and I have a 1911 pistol I've been working on for twenty years (my first project started as a gunsmithing student in college, and now my swan-song as the last one I will ever build) and priority on what life my left shoulder has left is getting that big beast finished and at least one range session with full-power .450 Short Magnum (about midway between .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum power) put into the paper downrange through it.

The Atlantis kit does show horrible erosion on what panel lines Revell DID give it - worth noting that the closest Out Of Box match to any real B-36 is the two test ships for the jet-engine retrofit, 492046 and 492057. (Even then, 2057 only briefly because she got 4-blade props with shorter blades and square tips soon after.) Plus horrible flashing and warping - though when I ordered extra props to have some expendable for motorizing experiments their customer service department did send me more than I ordered and ask me to let them know about the final setup and how it works out, so they get props for that. Don't even get me started with the screaming nightmare that is the COMPLETELY un-molded glasswork framing...

As a thought experiment... would either the quad-mount .50 from B-29 front top or P-61 fit, two quads per bay?

[Diamondback]

Just sticking this here to use as a notepad...

Known/documented conventional loads:
*72x 1000lb
*4x TARZON
*2x Grand Slam

[Diamondback]

Hmmm... if we're looking at April 1945, looking at Lancasters against Tirpitz... "Duel of the Big Y's," sending the YB-36 with four Tallboys to whack Yamato at anchor (or at a chokepoint in harbor) before she can sortie for Operation Ten-Go?

[PR19_Kit]

That should work, even against the Yamato.

[Diamondback]

Has a nice symbolism in a "clash of titans," too, the last of yesterday's and a setting sun vs the first of (at the time) tomorrow's and a rising star... (h/t Thomas McKelvey Cleaver for the book title to riff on)

[Wardukw]

A 12000 lb bomb hitting that battleship would go straight thru it and the would kill that ship without even exploding...a definite ship killer for damn sure   

[Rick Lowe]

Ah, the 'BFO' (or 'BFB') alternative, as opposed to the 'Instant Sunshine' option.  

[Diamondback]

The rub is, would the bombs going off excavate a bigger channel when our goal is to plug one up? Or would the mission profile more likely be "drop one at a time and any unneeded go to targets of opportunity"? I mean, I assume TARZON can only be guided one at a time... though that tracking flare is gonna get hard to see from 40k.

ETO question, is the Mittelwerk underground V-2 factory a viable and important enough target around the right timeframe?

[Rick Lowe]

The rub is, would the bombs going off excavate a bigger channel when our goal is to plug one up? Or would the mission profile more likely be "drop one at a time and any unneeded go to targets of opportunity"? I mean, I assume TARZON can only be guided one at a time... though that tracking flare is gonna get hard to see from 40k.

ETO question, is the Mittelwerk underground V-2 factory a viable and important enough target around the right timeframe?

Important? I would say so.
And you don't have to penetrate the dome - a near miss would likely cause enough ground instability to, if not render the place unusable, then make for extensive enough repair work that ground troops could get there before it was completed.
If the shockwave didn't set off any volatiles kept on site, of course...
Or they'd have to expend enough time and resources constructing a new site that it would have the same effect.
Or as in the RW, dispersal to ad-hoc sites that lessen and constrict the launch rate, and can then be targeted by 2TAF or others.

And if you can get the guided bomb to hit the ship from an angle, rather than vertically, that could help.
Actually, if you can hit the sides of the channel as it's going through, you could collapse them onto the ship or into the channel to block it. Just a theory.
Or block it before the ship exited - by bottling it up you're still taking it out of play, even if you keep missing the ship - think Tirpitz - and that's the desired effect.

As for tracking; more flares, or an early tv camera in the nose? Or some sort of telescopic sight in the aircraft?

[Diamondback]

Good points. I don't know if TARZON could be set up with multiple control frequencies, but if it could a primitive TV guidance kit might work, with a second control station having Bombardier and Nav each steer one.

Admittedly, part of the thinking on "kill Yamato in sight of shore" is as much psychological as operational - send the message that "we can destroy anything you can build and you can't do a thing to stop us, Resistance Is Futile and the sooner you cease the less painful it will be."

[Rick Lowe]

Ah, yes - I had neglected to consider the Psychological thing - good point.

[Diamondback]

Some of the inspiration was from the story of a Japanese cruiser admiral who had to go ashore for a staff conference in the Philippines and then had to watch helplessly as American carrier planes turned his flagship into a flaming, sinking wreck. (Specifically, the Nachi.)