I don't know what the Germans were thinking but it seems like they got a little too clever.
The He 111 was sort of the bomb truck, unsophisticated but of usable size.
Yes the Do 17 was too small but they were working on the Do-217 from 1938. It took 8 prototypes before the settled on the BMW 801 engines, without which the project would have failed in 1940-41.
This is the problem with most of these 'cancel the He 111' ideas. The Germans did not have the needed engines in place (developed and in production). And all of the wonder engines either bombed or took way to long to get into operation (DB 603 and Jumo 213 or even the BMW 801). For the last the Americans were building bombers with 1600hp engines in 1940.
The turbo engines in the B-17 and B-24 were sort of strange, they only gave 1200hp each for take-off but at 20-25,000ft they gave as much or more power than most peoples 1500-1700hp take-off rated engines.
The He 111 used a wing about 50% bigger than the Do 217 or the Ju-88 so for the same engines that the Ju-88 used, it was slower but it could lift more fuel and bombs. Not a sexy as the Ju 88 but you needed more Ju 88s to carry the same amount of bombs as far.
Trying to build 4 engine bombers in 1940-41 using DB 601 or Jumo 211s means you are trying to build planes sort of like the British 4 engine bombers but using engines making 100-200hp less each. UNLESS, you get tricky and go for the He 177 tricks of small wing and coupled engines to reduce drag, except that didn't work so well.
But the He 111 was yesterdays news and they didn't have the manpower/budget to improve it while working on the Vundar bombers.
Even with the BMW engines the Do217 was too underpowered per Eric Brown when he test flew it. It really needed the Jumo 222 or a similarly powered engine. Maybe a boosted Jumo 213 or perhaps an earlier developed DB603, but 2000hp per engine was the minimum that aircraft needed. Making it dive bomb capable was a bad idea, but once again a product of the Udet technical department.
The Ju288 in the original configuration would have worked with the 2000-2500hp Jumo 222A2, but that's a whole saga that we don't need to fight over yet again on this forum.
Goering/Udet really bungled the 2nd generation Luftwaffe developments, which arguably cost the Luftwaffe the air war.
The Americans didn't have the restrictions, human material loss, or financial constraints that were the product of Germany losing WW1, so no wonder they were ahead in certain engine developments. They also didn't have the restrictions on certain metals that were hard to source in wartime Germany.
BTW the Jumo 207 had a similar supercharger and was doing about the same HP at the same altitude as the B17 operated at.
The HE111 was also quite a bit more stable than the Ju88 or Do217 in flight as a result of lower wing loading. The Ju88 was not really all that useful until they fixed the wing design to make it more stable and IIRC made the engine more powerful to make up for the high wing loading. Trying to turn the Ju88 into a dive bomber and a jack of all trades really compromised the design and its intended purpose. But there were political power plays being made that Junker's leaders ultimately lost.
By 1940 the German engines of the 601 and 211 variety were producing the same power as the US B17's had in 1943. 1200hp. The British engines were of the same power at the time. Hence the whole issue in the BoB when both sides were evenly matched, but the British had homefield advantage and more fighters as well as pilots.
The problem with the He177 design is why I'm suggesting 6x diesel engines. The drag is significantly higher due to the bigger wings and more propellors, but the fuel economy is so much better than it more than negates that problem while being more powerful overall by 1940/41 so performance also improves the overall range. Quicker time to altitude ends up wasting less fuel due to less drag at altitude and that's where the greater wing area really shines. With the Jumo 207 and its altitude performance it would actually let it well outperform the He177.
I certainly had diversions in mind when I wrote "So if Germany goes whole-hog into Uralbomber, they're going to divert factory-floors, aluminum, fuel, and both air- and ground-crew from fighters defending the Reich or building FW-190s and so on".
The fact I didn't mention He-111s specifically doesn't exclude them from the equation.
No relevant factors in 1940/41 since this wouldn't divert anything from that. Also there are a whole host of butterflies that result from Wever living and much better management of production and development from 1936 onwards.
The HE-111 was an important cog in the attack system for Germany when used in conjunction with ground forces.
A watering down of the Luftwaffe medium and dive bomber capacity in favour of heavy bombers for 1940 would
have meant a lowering of the chance of the success on the ground that was achieved in France. The bigger you
go with the heavy bomber force the smaller the ground attack force gets along with the chances of a win.
The chances in the Soviet Union in these conditions would have been even worse. Much of what was taken early on
would not have happened so the big airfields East of Poland would most likely not end up in German hands so soon
if at all.
This is all predicated on Germany knowing in advance that so much industry would be shifted away from Moscow etc.
This in turn becomes a case of building a strategic bomber force for an as yet unknown purpose so it's not a wonder
it didn't happen.
Since the POD is caused by Wever living you avoid a lot of the problems of the Udet period. That means the Ju88 isn't bungled since there isn't mass adoption of the dive bombing concept for all aircraft, and production is more appropriately balanced, plus the Do217 might be less ridiculous in development and more matched to the engines available (it was also a victim of the dive bombing concept). So rather than running into the issues you're talking about, the production situation for the Luftwaffe could actually be far better managed, same with development. The Ju88 as a pure speed bomber rather than a Frankenstein's monster of an aircraft that delayed its introduction for 12 months could actually be ready before September 1939 and in production, rather than being rushed at the start of the war and turning into a disaster for months. However that is a separate discussion.
Also in 1940 production would just be starting for this aircraft, so it really doesn't impact France at all. Maybe bomber production for the Battle of Britain and beyond, but not in time for France. The development cycle would just not really impact production that early. In fact, I'm proposing that the Ural Bomber is not ready until Spring 1942 for operations, so arguably due to the development cycle it may not even enter mass production until early 1941.
For any mission out of the range of escorting fighters, you need a bomber that can out-run interceptors. Exceeding 300mph is not good enough. If you can suppress flak and escort He111s, they can survive missions and bomb stuff successfully. A bomber that does 350mph at 20,000ft with its bomb load, will be a terrible shock to the Russians, and you will fly some successful missions. Then, the Russians will restart their high altitude programs, they will graciously thank the British for the Spitfire_IXs (in the real war, they did not appreciate them), and they will work out some form of ground control to track the incoming bombers. The bombers will get massacred.
Meanwhile, you have stripped the Heer of several tank divisions, or perhaps the unescorted Americans will fly over
Schweinfurt–Regensburg and provide you evidence that my theories about long range bombing are wrong. Maybe they don't need so many U-boats!
Long range strategic bombing is expensive, in resources and in the lives of aircrew.
Not at all. The Allies ran into a very different problem than the one facing Germany over Russia. As I mentioned before even in 1944 the He111 was still able to operate during daylight hours over Russia, but hadn't been able to in the west since 1940. The Soviets lacked high flying fighters and even those they had didn't have heavy enough armament to deal with a heavy bomber, as they were equipped to fight enemy fighters. Against a bomber box, even one without the same firepower of the B17, they couldn't even get close enough to do damage other than maybe via ramming, but due to the lack of altitude performance that would be difficult and depend on them not being too damaged by defensive fire from 13-20mm heavy guns on the bombers.
en.wikipedia.org
