Dis: Thanks mate I knew it was 6 bombs, just got the size wrong, he he.

JDK: I asked and you supplied, thanks mate, very interesting, as is that stuff about the Torpedo bomber.

JDK: Well this is a discussion board mate and you can’t have a discussion if everyone agrees with you! Not so sure about the Ju-52 in Spain, I always thought that the only bombers in SPain were either Ju-87’s, Ju-86’s or He-111’sNever heard of the Ju-52 as a proper bomber. I’ve only seen reference to them as either transports or Hack bombers as mentioned, could you supply any documentation as to them being a proper bomber in Spain?

Thanks for the deep thoughts guys, it is a good and intrequing question isn’t it???

I wish that Keithmac and Moggy or ever my old mate Arthur would get involved, they’d probably have an answer!

JDK: yeah mate the Junkers transport did have a small bomb bay only for a small number of light bombs (IIRC something in the 60kg range), just as an ad-hoc field bomber.

Torpedo bombing was under a huge trial during the early 20’s by the pom’s and as such basically taught the rest of the world how to do it, no one can deny that the masters of it were the Japanese in both numbers and employment (aside from the horrible event, Pearl Harbour was a tactical masterpiece- sorry not meaning any disrespect here-but the way that the forces were used to neutralise the opposition was incredible).

John C: Mate Bomb length would most certainly be an issue and I think that this is where we might come up with the answer! Most German WWII Bombers were based on airframes that were already in mass production for other purposes (bearing in mind that Germany under the treaty of Versiles, was not allowed to produce weapons- this was later changed to weapons for local protection only and then Hitler took the next step anyway). Material availability might also have been another contributing factor, you don’t have enough metal to make a full length airframe, so you make a shorter one and stand the bombs on end to fit in the same amount.

ok ok ok I seems to have started to open a can of worms here, sorry guys.

I do know a bit about ballistics, so I can understand the points being made. My main thought is about the shape of the plane as opposed to the shape of the bomb. Oh and as for bombs in the slip-stream, that is negated by the fact that some transports have been turned into rudimentry bombers dropping bombs out the back cargo door (c-130, an-74 and a couple of others)

This is all interesting, but nothing has really answered my question.

The fuse thing is understandable, fuses are easier to arm when they are facing up rather than laying sideways.