Best "Western World" post WWII Bomber

[the lancaster kicks ass]

which is/was best??

 

[cheddar cheese]

Post-WW2 - this should be in the other forum. this is for modern planes, classified by being after Vietnam, ill move it later

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

that's for your opinion............

 

[lesofprimus]

Bomer is spelled with a B in the middle...

BOMBER.....

 

[Medvedya]

No doubt - Avro Vulcan - okay, it had a smaller bomb load, but apart from that it could do all the things a B52 could, and was far more manouverable. I wonder how it would developed, had Skybolt not been cancelled? Maybe a vastly upgraded version would still have been in service today?

 

[cheddar cheese]

Avro Vulcan's are great planes 8)

 

[Medvedya]

I remember in the Eighties seeing several of them lined up in a row by the perimeter wire - impressive stuff!

Mind you, you need to see, hear, and feel one take off. I've never heard such a racket in my life, and the sight of this huge Vulcan lifting off the tarmac - brilliant!

 

[cheddar cheese]

Lucky...

Like a lot of planes, I didnt know they existed until about a year ago

 

[BombTaxi]

I've seen a Vulcan fly too, its an awe-inspiring sight. Im not sure if you can class it as being 'better' than the B52 tho, it doesnt have such an extensive combat record, so it remains a 'what-if'

 

[Medvedya]

To be sure, it's all hypothetical, the job it was designed to do was thankfully just a 'what if'.

Nah, what I was getting at was that the manouverablity of such a big crate was astounding, it could even outfly EE Lightnings, which in turn proved more than a match for the Phantom.

 

[BombTaxi]

Very true 8) I was just thinking in terms of actual action they'd seen, the B52 was a nuclear bomber by design, but it managed to carve itself a new niche with the Arc Light raids in Vietnam. It would have been interesting to see how the Vulcan survived such a drastic change in its mission profile.

 

[Nonskimmer]

Mind you, you need to see, hear, and feel one take off. I've never heard such a racket in my life, and the sight of this huge Vulcan lifting off the tarmac - brilliant!

I saw one fly at an air show here, about twenty years ago.
It was an impressive display!

 

[cheddar cheese]

B-36 is good also 8) Did it ever see any form of combat?

 

[Nonskimmer]

No. It was only in service for eight years, before being replaced by the B-52. It never saw combat.

 

[BombTaxi]

I believe some were later converted to RB-36 standard and used in recon overflights of Communist territory. Of course, the USAF does not count this as combat as the overflights never happened

 

[Nonskimmer]

Of course.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Shame

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

perhaps CC didn't quite get that part.........

 

[cheddar cheese]

I knew I was missing summit...what am I missing?

 

[MichaelHenley]

It's the fact the the US Government deny that it ever happened!
Soviets: Did you do any spying missions with those B-36's of yours?
US (Even though they probably did):No, of Couse not!
Soviets: Then where did this spy material of yours originate from? Eh?
US: How did you know it was spy material?
Soviets: Our Spies... D'OH!

Ayway, after the Vulcan, It'd have to be the B-2, Then the B-1.