losing an engine b4 n after bomb run

Is it possible for a fully laden B-17 or B-24 to stay up with their group through the bomb run, short an engine? I guess we're assuming 25,000 feet with the engine lost 10 minutes before the bomb run. Would the AC lose speed altitude or both? How much? Was it possible to find enough energy by temporarily pushing the remaining 3 engines to make it through the bomb run and stay up with the group?
 
The follow-on question is, short an engine and if unable to keep up, was it acceptable to salvo the load if over enemy territory? Would the AC then have been able to keep up with the formation through the bomb run? What about over an occupied country; what options are available to the pilot to not risk getting picked off by enemy AC and keep up with the formation?
 
Sorry for all the follow-up theoreticals piled onto the original inquiry.
 

Thanks once again Bill for your valuable insights. Seems you've covered all the questions I had. I didn't realize that salvoed bombs were in a safe mode. I guess the question I have then, based on my limited understanding, is that didn't the bombs have to be safetied by inserting the wires that kept the arming propellers from spinning?
 
Thanks again!

Bill:
Are the safety wires attached to the rack mounting bar and that gets jettisoned when the bombs are salvoed?
 

billrunnels

When the bombs were salvoed the arming wires left the aircraft in the bomb fuses thus preventing the impellers from spinning off arming the bomb. Thats why they would not explode on impact.

billrunnels

In my opinion, the loss of an engine(B-17) ten minutes before the bomb run could finish the  run in formation. However, due to lost speed and power, it most likely could not remain in the formation on the way back. 
 

 
Bill...I do not mean to argue with your statement that losing an engine before the bomb run, but, in my opinion, from my experience, the loss of an engine, could, and I say COULD result in losing the aircraft place in formation....there would be a lot of action on the part of the pilots and engineer in shutting the engine down,and featering the propellor, and could easily result in losing the proper formation alignment.
 
As far as keeping up with the formation after the bomb drop, .....we shut down an engine due to extreme loss of oil due to a flak hit and had no trouble with keeping  our place in the formation....it was all down hill and we were much lighter due to releasing the bomb load, and the lessened fuel load...we consumed about 3/4 of our fuel getting to the target and only about 1/4 of the total fuel on the way home...the engines were not laboring and there was no problem with the cylinder head temps.
 
I observed CHT's (Engine Cylinder Head Temperatures) on the RED line all the way to the target, as we were lifting the load of bombs, after the bomb release, the CHTs were in  a normal range.
I might point out again, that one of the differences between the 8th and 15th was that we had to climb to clear the Alps on the way  to the targets, in most cases and again, on the way back.....there were several crash sites on the Alpine glaciers.
 
Respectfully,
 
Jim :-)

Thanks Bill, Jim, Mike as always for the enlightening perspectives!
 
I remember, can't be sure where I remember it from though, that possibly earlier on '42-'43, that safety wires were manually pulled at some time to arm the bombs on the way to the target. Does that sound right? If so, when would that have changed to the fuses being pulled free from the shackles instead?

I have a mission debrief form for a B-24 group where one of the aircraft lost an engine prior to the IP and jettisoned one of the 1000lb bombs they were carrying in order to stay with the formation through the bomb run and then dropped the remaining bombs at the target.

Jules,
Thanks for your reply.

Stu,
When I was there the bombardier kept the keys in his possession after pulling them in case they had to be reinserted for landing when the bombs were brought back to base. We also had to turn the keys in for counting when returning from a mission. The cotter keys in bombs mounted below the "cat walk" in the B-17 were difficult to get to and some of the bombardiers were not pulling them. Ground forces found the bombs unexploded with the keys still in the fuses as they advanced.