potent owl
Description:
The McDonnell Douglas XB-31 (Douglas Model 332) was a designed long range heavy bomber submitted to the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in 1938. At the time the USAAF was concerned about the growing military actions within Europe and the Pacific which only increased more after a 1939 visit to a Luftwaffe base which showed that Germany was far ahead of other European Nations. This lead to a committee making recommendations for a long range bomber capable of of traveling 5,000 miles (8,000 km) with approval being granted by December 2nd, 1939. This all eventually lead to the XB-31 being submitted along with the Lockheed Martin XB-30, Consolidation B-32 Dominator, and Boeing B-39 Super-fortress. Overall the design was rejected in favor of Boeings B-29 having a superior design. However I believe that the XB-31 Raidmaster would be a wonderful addition to Aeronautica and finally adding one of McDonnell Douglas’s giants to the game. The design is one of those “What If” scenario’s that could have happened much like the Douglas XB-19 that only reached the prototype stage.
Design:
- Crew: 8
- Length: 88 ft 8.5 in (27.038 m)
- Wingspan: 140 ft 6 in (42.82 m)
- Height: 28 ft 3 in (8.61 m)
- Wing Area: 1,780 sq ft (165 m^2)
- Gross Weight: 106,994 lb (48,532 kg)
- Maximum Takeoff Weight: 120,000 lb (54,431 kg)
- Powerplant: 4 × Wright R-3350-13 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 2,200 hp (1,600 kW) each
Performance:
- Maximum speed: 377 mph (607 km/h, 328 kn)
- Range: 5,370 mi (8,640 km, 4,670 nmi)
- Service Ceiling: 31,600 ft (9,600 m)
- Wing Load: 41 lb/sq ft (200 kg/m^2)
- Power/Mass: 0.066 hp/lb (0.109 kW/kg), later 0.089 hp/lb (0.146 kW/kg)
Defensive Armament:
- 6x .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in remote ventral and dorsal turrets.
- 1x machine gun in tail.
- 1x .79 (20 mm) cannon in tail.
Defensive Armament:
- 4x 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs.
- 8x 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs.
- 16x 500 lb (227 kg) bombs.
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