ORIGINAL: Chris21wen
Got another question that should be easy to answer but I can't find it.
The guide is saying use a load out with no incendaries. I know how to do this but I can't decide on which one as some use extra fuel tanks. So how can I tell what the range is from staging base to target so I can decide which loadout to use?
this is where the guides are sometimes less than valuable, they do tend to be written with a close eye on what that individual saw as a winning strategy at the time. They could have been wrong then, they could well be wrong now [;)]
I presume you are talking re Bomber Command. The classic Halifax/Lancaster payload with incendiaries is the business for night bombing when you are going for a mix of HI/fuel & population. Unless you really are aiming at a different target I wouldn't mess with this, its a fit to what you can achieve and sustained (ie hit the Ruhr again and again) can generate the sort of VP socre by late 1943 that forms the basis of a solid draw/marginal victory.
So what else with BC? Well using them vs the U-Boats is good, gives 8 AAF a week off and you may avoid night fighters. Here you want big bombs, fewer but bigger, those 'tallboys' are great, 1000lb at the least.
I did a test of the effectiveness of more bombs vs bombs and fuel tanks. its buried somewhere deep in the forum but what I found was:
a) bomb and fuel actually sees more bombs over the week (the extra air miles allowed more missions); if,
b) you bombed for more than 3 days a week; but
c) if you do this, you will pick up additional operational losses as air groups gain fatigue (if you stoppped at 4 it wasn't too bad)
so in general, keep the fuel tanks. The exception is the B-26s, they have a really different bomb load with/without tanks, soI tend to keep them within their basic operational range
