The Ju 88 itself was to be a template for the Ju 188, 288 and the 388, and that really interesting variant, the Ju 488, possibly a fast German ' B-29 ' equivilant...- They were cooking-up some quick aircraft, the Ju 188 R,S T variants were being juggled for serious production as Nightfighter, Recon/Intruder models, speeds of 420-435 mph being reached at around 37,000ft. - But as you say, they used the Ju 88 as medium-bomber, but these successive variants all held keys to the development of better and bigger bombers, but they vacillated too much and it was too late....