WW1 Bombers.

[cheddar cheese]

What were WW1 bomberes like? any pics would be good too

 

[kiwimac]

Depends on when in the war you start looking. Let me post a few for you!!!

The Bombers of World War I

Bombing did not play much of a role in World War I, though the attempt to build planes capable of carrying large loads did advance aviation technology, particularly toward the end of the war. The earliest bombs used in the war weren?t bombs at all, but thin steel darts called fléchettes, dropped over soldiers in trenches or on enemy aircraft. The Germans used the Zeppelin effectively in bombing Paris in 1914 (though more as a psychological weapon), and attempted to use Zeppelins to bomb London in May 1915, but the ships were so easy to spot and bring down, and so costly when lost, that the bombing soon stopped. (In fact, the British had successfully bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen, but soon determined that it was better to allow the airships to cross the Channel and be shot down over British soil.)

In 1914 the two nations who had the most experience in building the large planes that would be necessary for aerial bombing were Italy and Russia. The Italians had used bombing against the Turks in Libya in 1912 and 1913, and developed the multi-engine twin-fuselage Caproni Ca series, the Ca 45 being the most effective (in part because it was fitted with America?s Liberty 400- horsepower engines).

The Russians had built huge enclosed-cockpit planes before the war, and some eighty planes of the IIya Mouremetz type flew missions on the Eastern Front. The British took a dual approach to bombing: they concentrated on increasing their fighter capabilities, hoping to develop a small bomber that had the ability to fend off fighter attack, and they patiently developed larger planes capable of carrying large loads and flying at high altitudes and for long distances.

It took a few years, but the British succeeded in both goals. The de Havilland D.H. 4 was a light bomber that also served as a fighter plane at various stages of the war. It may not have been as agile as the smaller fighters, but with a top speed of 143 miles per hour (23Okph) it could hold its own against anything the Germans had and carry a significant bomb load as well. The D.H. 4 was eventually outfitted with the American-made Liberty engine? the plane was even known as the ?Liberty Plane??which enhanced its effectiveness. (The British attempted to create versions of the aircraft that would not take a Liberty engine, but the result, the D.H. 9, was not nearly as powerful or versatile an aircraft as the D.H. 4.)

Toward the end of the war, in retaliation for the desperate German bombing of Paris and London, the British deployed their largest airplane of the war, the Handley Page 0/100, known as the ?Bloody Paralyzer.? It had a one-hundred-foot (30.5m) wingspan but was easy to transport to forward combat positions because the wings folded easily. It could carry over a ton of bombs, including a single bomb of over sixteen hundred pounds (726.5kg) that could devastate an entire factory. The bombing of Kaiserslautern in October of 1918 and the raids against industrial targets in the Ruhr Valley and the Saarland with very large bombs (convincing the Germans that the planes could carry many such bombs), had a devastating effect on the already crumbling German morale.

The French were also eager to retaliate against the Germans for the bombing of Paris in April 1918. However, the best French bomber, the Breguet 14.B2, could carry only a limited load and was designed to drop its bombs at low speeds, which improved accuracy but made the plane vulnerable to fighter attack. The requirements of a bomber?being able to fly long distances, high and fast enough to evade fighter aircraft yet able to carry a significant bomb load, and reliable enough to go on many bombing missions without significant maintenance?was a tall order for the airplane technology of the day, then only fifteen years old. But for the Germans, developing a bombing capability was a life- and-death issue. It was the only answer the Germans had to the British command of the high seas and the Allied stranglehold on Europe.

If the sky could be used to deprive the British and the French of resources and materials through bombing, the way battleships deprived the continent, the contest would be more even, perhaps even winnable. The pre-war development of the Zeppelins had been carried out with this in mind, and. By the end of World War I, airplanes had developed from spindly, haphazardly designed novelties to solid, reliable craft designed for specific mission profiles.

Source: http://www.pilotfriend.freeola.com/...tory/airplane at war/airplane at war menu.htm

Patterned along the lines of the Caproni Ca.3 series of biplane bombers, the larger triplanes of the Ca.4 series were designed to be more effective in combat. Sometimes armed with up to eight machine guns, these cumbersome bombers were capable of accurately delivering large payloads of bombs to distant enemy targets. Although mainly used at night, they took part in daylight raids towards the end of the war. Of thirty-two Ca.42s manufactured in 1918, six of them were used by the Royal Naval Air Service.

Country: Italy
Manufacturer: Società di Aviazione Ing. Caproni
Type: Heavy Bomber
First Introduced: 1918
Number Built: 32
Engine(s): 3 Isotta-Fraschini, V-6, liquid cooled inlines, 270 hp [190kW]
Wing Span: 98 ft 1 in [29.9 m]
Length: 42 ft 11¾ in [13.1 m]
Height: 20 ft 8 in [6.3 m]
Empty Weight:
Gross Weight: 14,793 lb [6,710 kg]
Max Speed: 78 mph [126 kmh]
Ceiling: 9,842 ft [3000 m]
Endurance: 7 hours
Crew: 4
Armament: 4 to 8 machine guns
3,197 lb [1,450 kg] of bombs

Same source as photo

In late 1916, the demand for a durable observation aircraft capable of performing ground attack missions led to the introduction of the Junkers J.I. Developed in early 1917, it was the world's first all-metal aircraft produced in quantity. Eliminating the need for external bracing wires, the fuselage, wings and tail were constructed of Duralumin while the engine and two-man crew were protected by a nose-capsule of 5-mm chrome-nickel sheet-steel. Although this unique design resulted in a strong and durable aircraft capable of surviving the effects of enemy ground fire, the Junkers J.I was heavy, cumbersome and took forever to get off the ground. The only surviving example of the J.I biplane was sent to Canada in 1919 and is now part of the National Aviation Museum's collection.

Country: Germany
Manufacturer: Junkers Flugzeug-Werke AG
Type: Observation
Entered Service: August 1917
Number Built: 227
Engine(s): Benz BZ.IV, inline engine, 200 hp [147 kW]
Daimler-Mercedes D.IVa [191 kW] (1918)
Wing Span: 52 ft 6 in [16 m]
Length: 29 ft 10¼ in [9.1 m]
Height: 11 ft 1 7/8 in [3.4 m]
Empty Weight: 3,893 lb [1,766 kg]
Gross Weight: 4,718 lb [2,140 kg]
Max Speed: 96 mph [155 km/h]
Ceiling:
Endurance:
Crew: 2
Armament: 2 machine guns

Same source as photo

Country: Great Britain
Manufacturer: Handley Page Ltd.
Type: Heavy Bomber
Entered Service: 1918
Number Built:
Engine(s): 4 Rolls Royce Eagle VIII, 12 cylinder, liquid cooled, inline V, 375 hp
Wing Span: 126 ft [38.41 m]
Length: 62 ft [18.9 m]
Height: 23 ft [7.01 m]
Empty Weight:
Gross Weight: 24,700 lb [11,204 kg]
Max Speed: 97 mph [156 km/h]
Ceiling: 10,000 ft [3,048 m]
Endurance: 6 hours
Crew: 4
Armament: 4-5 machine guns
7,500 lb [3,402 kg] of bombs

ibid

The Handley Page O/100 biplane was the first true heavy bomber manufactured by the British. Specifically designed for the purpose of bombing Germany, an order for forty aircraft was placed while the design was still on the drawing board. On 1 January 1917, four new O/100 bombers took off for delivery to France. Unfortunately, one of the new bombers was captured by the Germans when its pilot inadvertently landed at an enemy aerodrome.

Country: Great Britain
Manufacturer: Handley Page Ltd.
Type: Heavy Bomber
Entered Service: November 1916
Number Built: 40
Engine(s): 2 Rolls Royce Eagle II, 12 cylinder, liquid cooled, inline V, 250 hp
Wing Span: 100 ft [30.48 m]
Length: 62 ft 10¼ in [19.15 m]
Height: 22 ft [6.71 m]
Empty Weight:
Gross Weight: 14,020 lb [6,359.4 kg]
Max Speed: 85 mph [137 km/h] at sea level
Ceiling: 7,000 [2,134 m]
Endurance: 8 hours
Crew: 4
Armament: 4-5 machine guns
1,792 lb [812.8 kg] of bombs

ibid

The Airco D.H.9a biplane bomber was an enlarged version of the D.H.9 with much needed improvements. It was equipped with the more efficient American Liberty engine, had a nose mounted radiator and even featured a spare tire mounted under the fuselage. Although a bit shorter than the D.H.9, its larger wings provided more lift for carrying heavier payloads. The D.H.9a entered service too late to have much of an impact on the outcome of the war.

Country: Great Britain
Manufacturer: Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Type: Bomber
First Introduced: August 1918
Number Built: 2,500
Engine(s): Liberty, 12 cylinder, liquid cooled, inline V, 400 hp
Wing Span: 45 ft 11½ in [14 m]
Length: 30 ft 3 in [9.22 m]
Height: 11 ft 4 in [3.45 m]
Empty Weight:
Gross Weight: 4,645 lb [2,107 kg]
Max Speed: 123 mph [198 km/h]
Ceiling: 18,000 ft [5,486 m]
Endurance: 5¼ hours
Crew: 2
Armament: 2-3 machine guns
460-660 lb [208.7-299.4 kg] of bombs

ibid

And there are many, many more!

Kiwimac

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the 0/400's pretty good.............

 

[cheddar cheese]

cheers, i rather like that triplane one

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

cheers, i rather like that triplane one

You would, it's Italian.

 

[plan_D]

I'll have to disagree with the first part 'Bombers did not play a big part in World War I' maybe as a large cumbersome plane they did not but bombs dropped from aircraft did.
A great disruption to the ground forces especially in the reserves being brought up to plug the holes. They provided great support to any operation, and after 1917 any sane Commander used aircraft to attack the ground and this would require bombs.

 

[cheddar cheese]

cheers, i rather like that triplane one

You would, it's Italian.

honestly, i didnt know that

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

Neither did I, I had to read the text myself.

 

[cheddar cheese]

just shows how much i love the italians

 

[kiwimac]

Fact is that Bombers qua heavy bombers did not really begin to develop until they had engines powerful enough to support them, so 1917 onwards.

Light bombers were a very different thing. More of 'em than you could shake a stick at.

Kiwimac

 

[cls12vg30]

Handley Page O/400 bomber, one of the larger ones of WWI:

And of course the German Gotha bomber:

 

[plan_D]

You keep it at heavy bombers, and they could be no dispute. Bombers alone is a different matter.

 

[Crazy]

They had a Caproni Ca.3 at Dayton AFB. Wow. They are massive, impressive pieces of work 8)

 

[cheddar cheese]

cool 8) did you get any pictures of it?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the thing about WWI bombers was that they were just as fast as the fighters of the time .......................

 

[Anonymous]

cheers, i rather like that triplane one

SO do I, that i s why I built this. It spans 6 feet with a 5.5"wing chord and 3 Saito 4 stroke engines. Sounds great. Flies great. Lands not so great.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Wow Thats one hell of a machine I must congratulate you 8)

 

[Crazy]

Impressive piece of work there, mate!

 

[cheddar cheese]

Im really jealous now.

 

[HealzDevo]

The Bombers were very primitive, it was hard to hit your target. There was no radar, no laser, no blind-bombing sights, just a pair of binoculars and your own two eyes to conduct the bombing. Bombs were dropped on dead-reckoning and map reading.