Oldest Bomber in WWII?

[vikingBerserker]

Maybe we should define the criteria a little more. Do we base it on when it first flew or when it went into service as the basis of age?

 

[Vincenzo]

The aircraft were on strength at the time of invasion but offered no resistance to the invading allied forces .

Here are a couple of links to sites that I know of that may be of some assistance

The Armed Forces of WWII ( Near East ).

List of Iranian Air Force aircraft: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

I also used Ellis's Statistical Reference to get some idea of what was available

i know they have it but the trouble was i understand "used" as used in operation.

 

[GrauGeist]

Maybe we should define the criteria a little more. Do we base it on when it first flew or when it went into service as the basis of age?

I think that the clock starts ticking from it's first flight. When it goes into service is a matter of delivery, any changes made by the buyer, country getting over-run by an enemy and so on...those situations can disproportionately skew an aircraft's sevice timeline.

And I totally forgot about the Vildebeast...good stuff guys, we're finding some really old stuff here!

 

[Negative Creep]

Vickers Wellesy was pretty pensionable by 1939 as well

 

[Shortround6]

Vickers Wellesy was pretty pensionable by 1939 as well

Only 6 months older than the Hurricane, it just didn't age as well

 

[parsifal]

i know they have it but the trouble was i understand "used" as used in operation.

They were not used in combat, but that was a function of the decisions made by their owners, not a function of the aircraft themselves.

After the surrender of Iran, the aircraft w3ere shipped to India, and used as trainers I believe

 

[Altea]

The TB-1 was older, and used for transportation duties until 1947. Some of them flying in the front vicinity, were rearmed.
Until 1945 there were some Polikarpov R-5 ( 1928 ) in the VVS inventory and thousands of Po-2 (1927) night bombers!!!