Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 24, 2016, 04:30:00 PM
Quote from: broughtpain on Mar 24, 2016, 04:24:40 PM"Bombers" are nothing more than cargo planes.
That is massively over-simplifying it.
Building a plane capable of flying fast enough and high enough to beat any possible defences yet big enough to carry a nucelar bomb and enough fuel to actually have any sort of useful range is f*cking hard.
It doesn't have to "beat any possible defense". In real life there is probability or chance of success. It's not so binary as to simply shoot something down or one way works unless it can't work at all.
It's not overly simplifying to say bombers are cargo planes. Bombers are planes with bombs for cargo.
In the end it's a matter of weight. There's no magical rule that says a planes cargo can't be a bomb and more fuel.
"The 747's maximum takeoff weight ranges from 735,000 pounds (333,400 kg) for the -100 to 970,000 lb (439,985 kg) for the -8. Its range has increased from 5,300 nautical miles (6,100 mi, 9,800 km) on the -100 to 8,000 nmi (9,200 mi, 14,815 km) "
" The operating empty weight is 472,900 lb (214,503 kg)."
Back in 1945, "fat man", one of the bombs dropped on Japan weighed just over 10klbs. Innovations in materials and manufacturing have vastly improved since then leading to stronger and lighter materials.
