Warzone: Bomber in History Of World War 2

In the past, bombers were a separate type of aircraft, and often looked dramatically different from other aircraft. This was due largely to the lack of power in aircraft engines, meaning that to carry any reasonable payload, the aircraft had to have multiple engines. The result was a much larger aircraft, one with a reasonable useful load fraction for the role. With engine power as a major limitation combined with the desire for accuracy and other operational factors, bomber designs tended to be tailored to one particular role.

Dive Bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy and limit the exposure to and effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire. This type of aircraft was most heavily used before and during World War II; its use fell into decline shortly afterwards.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

SBD Dauntless

Light Bomber
Light bomber is a relatively small and fast class of military bomber aircraft which was employed mainly before the 1950s. Such aircraft would probably not carry more than one ton of ordnance.

Light bombers of World War II were single-engine or, less commonly, twin-engine aircraft with a bomb load of about 500-1,000 kg. Designs that could be described as light bombers included the Fairey Battle. Some of them were dive bombers. Light bombers were also the only type of bombers operating from aircraft carriers. Some twin-engine light bomber designs were also successful when converted into heavy fighters or nightfighters. eg Bristol Blenheim. The light bomber was tasked with missions similar to that of modern attack aircraft and fighter-bombers.

PZL.23A Karaś

Mitsubishi Ki-30 "Ann"

Medium Bomber
A medium bomber is a bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium bombloads over medium distances; primarily to distinguish them from the much larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers. The term was used primarily prior to and during World War II, when engine power was so scarce that designs had to be carefully tailored to their missions. The medium bomber was generally considered to be any design that delivered about 4,000 lb (1.8 t) over ranges of about 1,500 to 2,000 miles (2,400 to 3,200 km).

Heinkel He 111

Junkers Ju 88

B-25C Mitchell

B-26 Marauder

Handley Page HP.52 Hampden

PZL.37 Łoś

Vickers Wellington Mk.II

Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero

Mitsubishi G4M "Betty"

Heavy Bomber

A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size, and typically longest ranges. The term was used primarily prior to and during World War II, when engine power was so scarce that designs had to be carefully tailored to their missions. The heavy bomber was generally considered to be any design that delivered 8,000 lb (4 t) of bombs or more on distant targets, with medium bombers having loads of 4,000 to 8,000 lb (2 to 4 t), and light bombers 2,000 to 4,000 lb (1 to 2 t). These distinctions were already disappearing by the middle of WWII, when the average fighter aircraft could now carry a 2,000 lb (1 t) load and the "light" designs had now largely taken over the missions formerly filled by "mediums". Heavy bombers furthermore usually had a very heavy defensive armament, with upwards of 10 machine guns and / or cannons in various positions to deliver the best curtain of fire. Positions for these guns included tail turrets, side gun ports (often a simple window with a .50 caliber machine gun sticking out of it), dorsal (top-of-aircraft) turrets, and ventral (under-aircraft) gun positions which on American bombers were often ball turrets. All of these machine guns enabled heavy bombers to defend themselves reasonably well after they had passed the maximum range of their fighter escorts. The manned lower-ball gun turret on the B-17 and B-24 bombers were a marked improvement over the previous remote belly turret; the ball gun turret rotated a full 360 degrees with an effective 90-degree elevation and a range of one thousand yards.

B-17 Flying Fortress

B-29 Superfortress

Torpedo Bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with torpedoes, but they could also carry out conventional bombings WWII, when they were an important player in many famous battles, notably the British attack at Taranto and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The introduction of improved weapons that could be carried by conventional bombers, notably anti-shipping missiles, led to the type's disappearance almost immediately after the war.