Being that Wever was a great advocate for the long range strategic bomber, I've wondered what kind of bombers Luftwaffe might have had if he hadn't been killed in a crash in '36.
The same aircraft that Germany produced historically.
May 1934.
RLM request for Uralbomber.
Do-19 and Ju-89 were top contenders.
17 April 1936.
RLM request for Bomber A. More advanced then previous Ural bomber specification.
.....Top speed of 335 mph
.....Operational radius of 1,000 miles with 2,000kg payload.
.....Capable of shallow angle bombing.
.....This program eventually produced the He-177 and He-277.
The Bomber A program more or less killed the Ural Bomber program. And the decision was made while General Weaver was stil alive. The almost ready Ju-89 Ural Bomber prototype was completed but it was dead on arrival. The Luftwaffe had decided to skip ahead to the more advanced Bomber A speciication.
11 Apr 1937. Ju-89 prototype flying.
29 Apr 1937. Ju-89 program cancelled by RLM . Junkers attempted to proceed with this aircraft as a civilian airliner. However without RLM funding R&D proceeded at a crawl.
Feb 1938. RLM issues specification for Do-217 large medium bomber.
The resulting aircraft was probably overall superior to many early model "heavy" bombers like the American B-17. Another nail in the coffin for the Ural Bomber program.
July 1939. RLM issues the very advanced Bomber B specification.
.....Speed of 600 kph
.....Bomb load of 4,000kg.
.....Pressurized cabin.
.....Remote control defensive armament.
September 1939. Start of WWII in Europe.
This causes a huge Wehrmacht resource shift to the Heer. It costs a lot of money for ammunition and other consummables even for fighting a short war.
19 Nov 1939. He-177 heavy bomber prototype first flight. Bomber A program.
From this point onward all the pieces were in place for a German heavy bomber program (i.e. Ural Bomber, Bomber A, Bomber B programs). Plus the Do-217 large medium bomber. However fighting an increasingly larger war consumed German resources that otherwise would have produced heavy bombers. General Weaver's death made little difference.