Would Hitler have won World War II if he had left Russia alone?

[Motown_Johnny]

91. You could modify a B-24

I am just pulling specs off of Wikipedia, so if any are wrong I apologize ahead of time. The thing is that this alternate history debate isn't really serious anyways so I am not going to kill to much time looking into the details.


Little Boy was 9700 lb

The B-24 was capable of short range missions with 8000 lb worth of bombs


It had 10 .50 cal. Brownings that (with tripod) weigh about 127 lb each. Then you need to add in the weight of the ammunition. Besides that, you would not need the turrets for the gunners which would also make the plane lighter and more aerodynamic.

If you strip that ~1270 lb plus ammo weight and turret weight off the B-24 you are pretty close to, if not over, the 1700 pounds you need to lose in order to take it from 8000 lbs of bombs to 9700.


There may have also been ways to increase the horsepower of the engines to carry a little more weight.

I think it is pretty unlikely that someone would not have found a way to build five or ten aircraft capable of flying off a carrier and dropping an A-bomb.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy

^snip^

Weight 9,700 pounds (4,400 kg)
Length 10 feet (3.0 m)
Diameter 28 inches (71 cm)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-24_Liberator

^snip^

PB4Y-1

B-24s were also used by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps for ASW, antiship patrol, and photographic reconnaissance in the Pacific theater, and by the U.S. Coast Guard for patrol and SAR. Naval B-24s were redesignated PB4Y-1, meaning the fourth patrol bomber built by Consolidated aircraft. Navy PB4Y-1s assigned to Atlantic ASW and all Coast Guard PB4Y-1s had the ventral turret replaced by a retractable radome. Also, most naval aircraft had an Erco ball turret installed in the nose position, replacing the glass nose and other styles of turret.


Armament

Guns: 10 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in 4 turrets and two waist positions
Bombs:
Short range (˜400 mi): 8,000 lb (3,600 kg)
Long range (˜800 mi): 5,000 lb (2,300 kg)
Very long range (˜1,200 mi): 2,700 lb (1,200 kg)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning_machine_gun

^snip^

Weight 38 kg (83.78 lb) 58 kg (127.87 lb) with tripod and T&E
Length 1,654 mm (65.1 in)
Barrel length 1,143 mm (45.0 in)