Best Bomber of ww2

[cheddar cheese]

Agreed.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

The TB-3 is an open topped plane. My guess is theyre actually on the wing

they are on the wing, that's what i'm trying to say!!

 

[cheddar cheese]

But they aint come from a door, I reckon they simply climbed out on to it.

 

[remoraptor]

For me I'd rate these bombers in three categories:
Best Heavy Bomber - B-29 Superfortress
Best Light/Med Bomber - Mosquito, B-25 Mitchell
Best Ground Attack - Il-2 Shturmovik, B-25 Mitchell

The Arado jet bomber and A-26 Invader were probably the best in their class but they came a little late in the war.

 

[Lightning Guy]

For a medium bomber the B-26 trumps the B-25. The B-25 was excellent at low-level missions, especially in the Pacific, but that's attack aviation, not medium bombing. The B-26 had the lowest loss rate of any American bomber. And it flew true medium bombing missions (medium altitude, level attacks.)

 

[lesofprimus]

I agree.. While I like the B-25 more, The B-26 was better at....

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i think the mossie falls into the "fast bomber" catagory, if that exists.............

 

[lesofprimus]

If it did, the Mossie would be in 1st place....

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

damn right, there isn't really any pther catagory it fits into...............

 

[cheddar cheese]

I think he was making the point that nothing else is in its class, making it the winner by default...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i don't think he was.............

 

[lesofprimus]

I wasnt..

 

[cheddar cheese]

My mistake...

 

[wmaxt]

For a medium bomber the B-26 trumps the B-25. The B-25 was excellent at low-level missions, especially in the Pacific, but that's attack aviation, not medium bombing. The B-26 had the lowest loss rate of any American bomber. And it flew true medium bombing missions (medium altitude, level attacks.)

The B-25 flew in many rolls it also flew throughout the war It also flew many bombing missions in all theaters including Russian and Burmese. One of the reasons the B-26 had such a low loss rate were a. the allies har more air superiority and b. the heavy bombers made great diversions when the B-26s were flying over their main thearer the ETO.

 

[Gemhorse]

Seems Remoraptor is onto it...'' The DH Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder''... No one can ever question the fact that the Mosquito was one of the few really GREAT war-winning aircraft, or that the story of it's conception, design and procurement was one the most remarkable of the Era...and that it's speed, manoevrabilty and bomb capacity nullified the efforts of many other bombers. I also feel that the Mossie worked hand-in-glove with that other GREAT bomber, the Lancaster, to contribute greatly to Germany's demise...
As for US Bombers, the B-25 Mitchell made [I feel], a huge contribution in the main theatres during the War, notably it's attack on Japan under Doolittle, a great morale-booster at great cost....
The B-24 did sterling service where it was most needed in the Atlantic, and the B-29, for all it's teething-troubles, ended-up being the 'Big Daddy' of them all....
However, I totally dispute the B-26 Marauder warranting any real acolades, they were slaughtered early-on in Europe, and really needed escorts....

SO, naturally, my main vote is the Mosquito, particuarly because of it's multi-role versatility, and the rest as outlined.....[did I hear a big groan out there???...]

 

[Lightning Guy]

What wasn't slaughtered early on in Europe? Unescorted daylight raids were a mess. The B-17s and B-24s were slaughtered, and they certainly deserved all the praise they received. The B-26 was loved by its crews and offered considerably better performance than the B-25. The B-25 was certainly more versatile but most of its missions were ATTACK missions. The B-26 was the premier medium bomber of WWII.

 

[Gemhorse]

Well, personally, I feel the Wellington deserves that honour...they made 47,409 sorties in Bomber Command, including 6,000 odd by OTU's, and dropped nearly 42,000 tons of bombs. In all, the Command lost 1,332 on Ops plus a further 337 in accidents. On Ops from the UK, they flew 63,976 sorties, totalling 346,440 hrs of flying. In the MTO and Far East, flying hours totalled 524,769, and they dropped nearly 100,000 tons of bombs. After the War, they continued to fly as trainers for 350,000 odd hrs...They built a total of about 11,500 of them, first designed in 1936, blooded in combat 4th Sept. 1939, the 2nd day of the War and was still in production on VE Day...It was designed by Barnes Wallis, famous for it's remarkably durable geodetic construction, took a 4,000 lb 'cookie' and was pleasant to fly, altho' slow at 180- 250 mph odd, but with 2,500 miles range and was loved by it's crews...

Apart from that , RAF 75[NZ] Sqn. was the first to have them, and a chap called F/S J.A. Ward from my l'il old hometown won the Victoria Cross after climbing-out on a wing and putting a fire out, in July 1941, heading back from a raid on Munster...I went to the same college, and they had his medal there....

 

[cheddar cheese]

I agree with Gemhorse here actually, I think the "Wimpy" was the best medium bomber.

 

[The Jug Rules!]

Personally, I think the Ju-88 deserves some credit. How many bombers medium bombers do you know operated in just about every role imaginable for aircraft?

 

[cheddar cheese]

Good Point.