Here's something I remember hearing: The Henley had a level-bombing capability as conceived (if not flown). The rear-gunner evidently was also a bomb-aimer, and could sort of crawl underneath the pilot's seat (at least that's what I've heard, and this arrangement was used on the TBD) and operate a bombsight: It seems like it'd be a major problem as, during level-bombing runs, you have no gunner that can do anything, and the plane has to fly nice and straight.
Seems like a good way to get shot.
I'm curious if this requirement had to do with any of the following
- The RAF didn't consider a dive bomber to be a bomber (even a light one) unless it could also level-bomb)
- The RAF didn't trust relying totally on dive-bombers (a lot of the proponents of them weren't in the RAF anymore, and/or lacked the voice and the will to push for them), and decided that level bombing should be included to provide more versatility
Airframes
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pbehn
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Wurger