The "Victory Bomber" was a design by Barnes Wallis for a bomber that could carry a single large "earthquake" bomb. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Bomber His specification was for a 50 ton bomber that could fly at high level, 45,000 feet needed to give the bomb speed in the drop, at 320 mph for 4,000 miles. It would carry a single 10-ton bomb. Defensive armament was minimal; speed and height would be its chief defence with a single 4-gun turret in the tail position for any fighter aircraft that did attempt to reach it.
They were smart not to build that beast. Most airliners fly in the 30,000 feet range and it is hard to tell one town from the next on a clear day. At 45,000 it would be even harder, plus add in fog, clouds, rain,ice,crosswinds and it would be next to impossible for one bomb to hit anything within a 10 mile radius. Navigators were poorly trained in the early part of the war and the bomb aiming equipment was not that great either. Also at 45,000 the plane needed to be pressurized for the crew to survive and that was primitive early in the war too.
Yes, TA, but what I learnt reading about this was that the 6-engine version which was considered rather "incredible and useless" helped alot in accepting and creating later on the Lancaster. I guess it was easier after Victory bomber to accept just four engines....
