RESEARCH -MEMORANDUM NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS E &

Calculations have been made t o find range? attainable by bombers of gross weights from l40,oOO to 300,000 pounds powered by turbine-propeller power plants. Only conventional cdnfigurations were considered and emphasis was placed upon using data for structural and aerodynamic characteristics which are typical of modern militazy airplanes. An effort was made to limit the various parameters invoked in the airplane configuration to practical values. Therefore, extremely high wing loadings, large amounts of sweepback, and very high aspect ratios have not been considered. Power-plant performance w a s based upon the performance of a typical turbine-propeller engine equipped with propellers designed to maintain high efficiencies at -high-subsonic speeds. Results indicated, in general, that the greatest range, for a given gross weight, is obtained by airplanes of high wing loading, unless the higher cruising speeds associated with the high-wing-loading airplanes require-the upe of thm-e w i n g sections. Further results showed the effect of cruising at-high speeds, of operation at very high altitudes, and of carrying m e bomb loads