Someone raised the pont that attack aircraft are more immune to AA than divebombers, because they come in low.
This is a comment that just isnt supported by the facts.
In the context of the 1930's when the concept of the divebomber came to fruition, the French developed the concept of the attack bomber.....the so called "hedgehoppers". Whilst the aircraft used in this role were quite high in performance, for example the Bre 690 series, they suffered very badly from the effects of LAA. The Bre 690 for example suffered the heaviest loss rate of any modern French Bomber. A similar story exists for the poor old Fairey Battle (although to be fair the battles were not designed as hedgehoppers), which suffered horrendous loss rates when called upon to make attacks at zero altitude. The Soviet IL-2 wwere employed in a similar way, but they at least had the sense to heavily armour their bird, which to a degreee seemed to reduce the loss rate.....despite the hazardous nature of the work they were doing, it appears that they suffered the lowest loss rate of any Soviet bomber, or Fighter Bomber.
Vanir, I do ackowlwdge your comments about the relative protection of divebombers because they were outside the kill zones of the flak for al but a minimum of time. However, the facts are that German Divebombers did suffer heavy casualties to AA, as did the Japanese. I would surmise that the reason for this was that despite its short time in the kill zone, the Divebomber was nevertheless forced to fly on a predictable path in its descent, and in its recovery appears to be very vulnerable indeed, as the pilot is busy recovering from the g forces he and the aircraft have just been subjected to. The losses to Stukas in the Med in the med convoys show this....they suffered the heaviest casulaty rates to AA of any of the german types, by a very wide margin. Ju-88s were not nearly as effective as the Ju-87s, but they were also far more survivable. A good ship killer was the Me 110 incidentally. It does not seem to suffer any loss of accuracy simply because it was an FB "lash up"