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Re: Small B17 bomb bay and bomb load
The normal Mosquito bombload was up to 4x500lb, or half that of a normal B-17. Some modified aircraft could (and regularly did!) carry a single 4000lb bomb, but the aircraft was overloaded and unstable.
The difference between the Halifax and the Lancaster was that the Halifax had a shallow bomb-bay, designed to carry the prewar weapons no larger than 2000lb, but not significantly greater in diameter than the standard 500lb. It was not possible to fully close the bombbay doors when carrying the wider 4000lb bomb. (The 8000lb and 12000lb bomb were simply 4000lb cases connected together.) Apparently the 4000lb bomb was carried in this configuration with no noticable drop in performance - a statement I find very hard to believe. HP plans to introduce a bulged bombbay (as the Mosquito did) for these weapons was not approved by the Ministry, even for the superior Hercules-engined variants. The shape can be seen as the pannier on transport variants.
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