The Best Bomber of WWII: #4

Civettone · Apr 5, 2007

My favorite bomber is the Do 217 but I consider the Mosquito and the B-29 the best. I can't chose between them as they are really different class. I think I would go for a compromise: the Mosquito as the best WW2 bomber but the B-29 the best bomber ever (because it lead to the B-50 and Tu-95 and in a way to the B-52).

Kris

syscom3 · Apr 5, 2007

Civettone said:
My favorite bomber is the Do 217 but I consider the Mosquito and the B-29 the best. I can't chose between them as they are really different class. I think I would go for a compromise: the Mosquito as the best WW2 bomber but the B-29 the best bomber ever (because it lead to the B-50 and Tu-95 and in a way to the B-52).

Kris

And why was the Mosquito superior to the B17/B24/B32 and Lanc in the bombing role?

MAV_406 · Apr 7, 2007

can some one explaine the B-29s gun aiming system. i know it was remote but did they use a camera to aim it or something.

you also can not forget the wellington for its strucsher.
sorry about spelling, im dislexsict

Civettone · Apr 7, 2007

syscom3 said:
And why was the Mosquito superior to the B17/B24/B32 and Lanc in the bombing role?

Easy Sycom, it suffered lower losses and was more accurate.
I even recall the Mosquito suffering the lowest losses of all WW2 bombers.

As you mention only heavy bombers, I assume you believe bomb load is what makes the best bomber. According to such a theory, all heavy bombers are better than all medium or light bombers.
Kris

syscom3 · Apr 7, 2007

Civettone said:
Easy Sycom, it suffered lower losses and was more accurate.
I even recall the Mosquito suffering the lowest losses of all WW2 bombers.

As you mention only heavy bombers, I assume you believe bomb load is what makes the best bomber. According to such a theory, all heavy bombers are better than all medium or light bombers.
Kris

The B29, Lanc, B17, B24 and B32 all carried a heavier payload at a farther range than the Mosquito.

The B29 also could carry an atomic bomb which no other aircraft in WW2 could.

All of the other bombers were used successfully in the long range maritime patrol role, of which the Mosquito was at a tremendous disadvantage.

The B29 and Lanc could also carry mines.

The Mosquito's accuracy was good at low altitudes, but no better than any other bomber at mid and high altitudes.

Now what were you saying about the Mosquito being the best bomber?

mkloby · Apr 7, 2007

Civettone said:
From time to time I read "farther". Is it American English or does it exist next to "further" in British English?

Off-topic, I know.
Kris

far /fɑr/ - adverb, adjective, far·ther or fur·ther, far·thest or fur·thest.
–adverb

I think it's hard to justify another A/C being a better bomber than the 29. B-17 will always have a special place in my heart, but the B-29 was hands down the best HEAVY bomber, and you'd have a tough case to argue another bomber was better. The mosquito and and superfort only really have in common that they are both generally called "bombers." On an operational note, they shared little.

Civettone · Apr 7, 2007

Completely agree. They are difficult to compare. The main reason why I chose Mosquito over B-29 is because the Mosquito was around longer than the B-29 which I consider the best bomber of all times.

Thanks for the English lesson. Appreciate it!
Kris

syscom3 · Apr 8, 2007

MAV_406 said:
can some one explaine the B-29s gun aiming system. i know it was remote but did they use a camera to aim it or something.

you also can not forget the wellington for its strucsher.
sorry about spelling, im dislexsict

The B29 aiming system was comprised of optical sights that fed range and az/el infomration to a analog ballistics computer.

The computer in turn, automatically controlled four remote gun turrets. If everything went well, this was quite an accurate setup.

What made this system unique was the use of a central fire control gunner, who determined which gunner on the airplane had the best "view" of the approaching target, and slaved the turrets to his sight.

The only gunner who was not part of the system was the tail gunner, who had his own gunsight.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Apr 8, 2007

Allright syscom and Civettone. You guys are letting your arguement in the sea lion thread carry over to this one now. Lay off of each other okay. It really is pathetic and childish.

You can not compare any heavy bomber to a Mosquito. They were two different types of aircraft with different kind of missions.

To compare the B-29, B-32, B-17 and B-24 to the Mossie is rediculous!

Civettone · Apr 8, 2007

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
Allright syscom and Civettone. You guys are letting your arguement in the sea lion thread carry over to this one now. Lay off of each other okay. It really is pathetic and childish.

[whine voice]But he started it!![/whine voice]

But seriously, he is the one replying to every post I make just to piss me off. But fine, I'll just ignore him from now on...

To compare the B-29, B-32, B-17 and B-24 to the B-29 is rediculous!

I suppose you mean to the Mosquito ... or any light/medium bomber.

Kris

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Apr 9, 2007

Civettone said:
I suppose you mean to the Mosquito ... or any light/medium bomber.

Kris

Yes thankyou.

Camarogenius · Apr 13, 2007

I haven't been on the site for awhile, Did this question ever get answered definitively?
I still say the 17.

FLYBOYJ · Apr 14, 2007

Camarogenius said:
I haven't been on the site for awhile, Did this question ever get answered definitively?
I still say the 17.

Get real - B-29....

Civettone · Apr 14, 2007

Also depends on if you want to take WW2 as a whole or just at any given time in WW2. I prefer the first option else no aircraft or weapon of the early war years has a chance of being the best in its category.

Kris

Hop · Apr 14, 2007

The B29 and Lanc could also carry mines.

So could the Mosquito.

They were only used for minelaying sorties occasionally, though. In general, minelaying carried far less risk from enemy action than conventional bombing operations, and was carried out by secondary types. Of the minelaying sorties flown by BC, the Wellington carried out the most, then the Stirling, Halifax, Hampden, Lancaster and Mosquito.

syscom3 · Apr 14, 2007

The tittle of the thread is "Best bomber of WW2", which is inclusive of the years 1939-1945.

If you want to subdivide it then start a new thread.

renrich · May 7, 2007

I agree with the proposition that the B29 was the best heavy bomber of WW2. I expect this is common knowledge but had a conversation with a fellow who was a navigator on B29 in WW2. He said they started bombing Japan from high altitude where the plane was designed to operate from above a lot of the flak and fighter opposition. Said they couldn't hit doodley squat because the winds aloft were so fierce that their bombing was grossly inaccurate. That is when they started going in at low altitude at night and quit flying formation and started going in in a stream.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · May 8, 2007

It is called the jet stream and we did not know much about it at the time.

T4.H · May 9, 2007

The B29 was the best bomber over japan.

I think, there was a reason, why this bomber was not used over europe. The germans could construct and build fighters, who would fly even higher and faster. The japanese couldn't. This bomber was big. It could fly realy fast and high and this was the best protection for the B29. But if I remember correctly, it was not good protected against hits.
For me, the Lancaster was the best bomber, the Mosquito was the best of the smaler ones over europe.

FLYBOYJ · May 9, 2007

T4.H said:
The B29 was the best bomber over japan.

I think, there was a reason, why this bomber was not used over europe. The germans could construct and build fighters, who would fly even higher and faster. The japanese couldn't. This bomber was big, fast and could fly realy high and this was the main protection for the B29. But if I remember correctly, it was no good protected.

For me, the Lancaster was the best bomber, the Mosquito was the best of the smaler ones.

Both the Germans and Japanese had fighters that were capable of intercepting the B-29. The reason why the B-29 wasn't used in Europe was because the USAAF was going to replace all the B-17s and B-24s with the B-32 Dominator and during 1944 had plenty of aircraft to supply the 8th Air Force armada over Europe during that period and the B-32 was over a year behind schedule. The B-32 would have been used in Europe had the war lasted longer. The B-29 was first needed over the Pacific because of range. The B-29 was a technology a head of the Lancaster in all aspects of systems, operations and performance, and don't forget about that little bomb 2 B-29s carried. The B-29 had the most advanced fire control system in existence and could more than take care if itself. You're a little lacking in facts and figures; I suggest you go through this whole thread as both aircraft were discussed in great detail.

I rate the Lancaster a distant second.

The Best Bomber of WWII: #4

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