The Stratosphere V3 Bomber Transport

What is the caliber of the defensive armament; I can't read the caption, they look like RAF standard .303mg but are way to big?

An impressive design, I would say that 5,000hp per engine would have needed more blades on the airscrew or even contra-props.
 
1785 tonnes, that's about four 747s. 28500 miles range/386 mph/50000 ft ceiling on 31800 hp. A tad optimistic.
Throw out the troopers' seats, stick in a couple of bowling alleys and a swimming pool - you're on to a winner.
 
This young Canadian was a wee bit overenthusiastic. Still, the attention to detail is remarkable. Incidentally, the V3 was seemingly inspired by the Petlyakov TB-7 or Pe-8 heavy bomber, a type of aircraft presumably photographed for the first time in the West when used to fly Soviet Foreign Minister V.M. Molotov to the UK and back to the USSR in May-June 1942.

Apologies for the limited resolution of the image.

The main weapons appear to be 54 mm (semi?)automatic guns (nose, mid upper and belly twin mounts) and 32 mm (semi?)automatic guns (wing tips, mid upper and tail fins quadruple mounts). The pair of 12.7 mm machine guns in the nose seems out of place.
 
Arjen said:
1785 tonnes, that's about four 747s. 28500 miles range/386 mph/50000 ft ceiling on 31800 hp. A tad optimistic.
Throw out the troopers' seats, stick in a couple of bowling alleys and a swimming pool - you're on to a winner.
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What about a proper cinema?
 
Looking on design, although it's overkill
Batley made quite good work in style of giant Airliner of his time
Although this here is more a flying battleship

Lucky Herman Göring or the little annoying Austrian never saw this...

i curious what became of G.A. Batley ?
 
Michel Van said:
Lucky Herman Göring or the little annoying Austrian never saw this...
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I don't know; if they had seen it, with their penchant for jumbo sized weapons systems, they could have wasted a lot of time and resources trying to build a counterpart for it.

The combination of a bomber and transport is weird, I wouldn't fancy flying in an aircraft loaded with 766 tons of bombs.
 
Looks like a land version of largest extant flying boats, or another 1930s 'Modern Mechanix' mega-plane...

Kudos for much plausible detail.

Hopefully, bomb fuses are not fitted during ferry flights, but kept in the 'powder room'... ;-)
 
royabulgaf said:
Apparently the young designer had the flu when class covered the square cube law.
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Just the wrong planet and atmosphere.

I really do hope huge lunar lava caves do get filled with atmosphere.

There…not only would the Christmas Bullet fly, but all the wacky flying machines ever devised.
 
publiusr said:
Just the wrong planet and atmosphere.

I really do hope huge lunar lava caves do get filled with atmosphere.

There…not only would the Christmas Bullet fly, but all the wacky flying machines ever devised.
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And that is good, worthy, productive, and desirable because... Oh so sorry, I just realized, so totally my fault, of course because of wretched MTV!
 
Apologies for a VERY late answer.

The drawing was found in the December 1942 issue of the Canadian magazine Air Force Review.
 
Michel Van said:
... curious what became of G.A. Batley ?
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Since this topic has been resuscitated ... ;)

Gordon A. Batley (1923-1994) went on to become a materials engineer. As a P. Eng., he went to work with Warnock Hersey in 1957. By 1981, Batley was named President and General Manager of Warnock Hersey Professional Services Ltd.
 

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