USS California, 1945

[CINDERS]

You only have to read about Dresden and Hamburg firestorms which melted steel up rooted trees and stripped the clothes off people hanging on to stuff before they too were consumed, the grand plan in the point blank was all along to grind the populace down as well as strategic targets in Germany. A good read is operation Aphrodite or its nickname operation Perilous involving the B-17 and a fact I just found out is B-17's accompanied Lancasters on a few night operations into Germany now there would have been some real problems dampening the radials exhaust down, the brits did have the Hercules powered Lanc's called paddle steamers they loved them as not so vulnerable to flak or night fighters being air cooled
WIKAPEDIA Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster B I PA474 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. .... Only 300 of the Lancaster B II fitted with Bristol Hercules engines were.......

Post script - of the 7,000+ Lancs made 50% were shot down the Bomber crews had the highest casualty rate of the allies alongside the German U-boat crews who suffered 30,000 dead out of 40,000 enlisted.