The ANT-35 seems to be based on the Pe-8 only with empty weight reduced by 1500kg, much more powerful engines, greater takeoff weight, heavier armament, greater bombload and much greater range.
One problem is that Planebuilder deals with fuel weight and not capacity. To get that much increase in range you'd have to start adding extra fuel tanks (e.g. saddle tanks on Lancasters). I really doubt whether you can fit 10,000kg of weapons into a Pe-8 either without moving to very large and heavy bombs. 250kg and 500kg weapons take up a lot of space. It's the volume that's limiting rather than the weight. With larger bombs you've got the issue of fitting them into the bombbay around the internal structure.
For comparison, the combat radius of the B-17G is 873nm when carrying 10,000lb of bombs. The B-29 manages 1843nm with 10,000lb. The range-payload characteristics of the ANT-35 seem very optimistic.
ANT-38 seems to be based off the Il-4, but is a lot faster and again has better range-payload characteristics.
Wednesday, April 17th 2024, 1:35am
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