Bf 110 level speed and bomb racks

[LeLv76_Erkki]

I was quick testing level speeds of some planes and how carrying bombs effect them. I noticed that with the Bf 110 G, removing the fuselage bomb racks does not seem to effect top speed. When not carrying any bombs the two ETC racks are not there(visually anyway) so I thought the plane would be faster without them for heavy fighter use, but that does not seem to be the case.

 

Stalingrad Autumn, midday, no wind, no clouds, 300 m air start, 40 % fuel, auto level pilot, oil radiator 50 % water radiator 25 %, pitch trim -50 %, throttle 84 %(ATA 1.315 or thereabout). 497 or 498 km/h IAS is achieved. The indicated speed is exactly the same for both clean airframe and one with the twin belly bomb racks. I tried all fuselage only bomb loadouts and dropped them at mission start.

 

edit: it seems that this also applies to the Bf 110 E-2. At combat power(79%) and otherwise similar test it to me achieves 442-443 km/h IAS with and without the fuselage bomb racks.

 

Can someone reproduce this?

Edited September 22, 2018 by LeLv76_Erkki