Bomber aircraft: Difference between revisions

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(New page: {{subpages}} '''Bomber aircraft''' are military airplanes optimized to deliver large volumes of bombs, missiles, mines, etc., to targets. While they may have a capability to fight other ai...)
 
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'''Bomber aircraft''' are military airplanes optimized to deliver large volumes of bombs, missiles, mines, etc., to targets. While they may have a capability to fight other airplanes, that detracts from their mission of attacking a surface target.
In military aviation, the '''bomber''' is defined by ''[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]'' as an aircraft "designed to drop bombs on surface targets". The earliest known instance of aerial bombardment has been traced to the [[Italo-Turkish War]] in December 1911, when an Italian observation pilot dropped grenades on Turkish positions.<ref name="EBBA">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/bomber-aircraft |title=Bomber |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |date=3 March 2024}}</ref>


Throughout the history of aviation, bombers have changed constantly to meet current military requirements. While a [[Second World War]] bomber attacking the heartland of Germany needed considerable defensive armor and armament to survive attack by fighters, modern bombers carry no defensive guns, but extensive [[electronic warfare]] systems to defeat or hide from enemy [[radar]].
==Second World War==
This section focuses on some of the main types of bomber aircraft used operationally in World War II.


==Bomber sizes==
===Great Britain===
At one time, it was quite routine to speak of bombers as light, medium, or heavy, reflecting both their weight and payload. Their weight would, in turn, define the size of runways they would need, and usually their range.
* [[Avro Lancaster]]
* [[Handley-Page Halifax]]
* [[Vickers Wellington]]


Current bombers all would qualify as "heavy" by past standards. With [[air refueling]], all have intercontinental range, and can carry large bombloads.
===Germany===
===Light bomber===
* [[Heinkel he 111]]
===Medium bomber===
* [[Junkers ju 87]] ''aka'' [[Stuka]]
===Heavy bomber===
* [[Junkers ju 88]]


===Japan===
* [[Mitsubishi G4M]]


==Bombing techniques==
===Soviet Union===
Before [[precision-guided munition]]s, bombers had several ways to attack, and often were designed around the attack mode.
* [[Tupolev Tu-2]]
===Dive bomber===
 
===Horizontal bomber===
===United States===
===Torpedo bomber===
* [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]]
===Attack bomber===
 
==Cold War==
This section focuses on some of the main types of bomber aircraft on standby during the so-called [[Cold War]] from about 1945 to 1990.
 
===Great Britain===
* [[Avro Vulcan]]
 
===Soviet Union===
* [[Tu-22M BACKFIRE]]
* [[Tu-95 BEAR]]
 
====Tu-160====
A [[supersonic]] strategic bomber with a crew of four. A variable-sweep wing missile carrier manufactured by [[Tupolev]], its maiden flight was in December 1981, and it is believed that only 35 were built. The Tu-160 entered service in April 1987, only two years before the end of the [[Cold War]]; its [[NATO]] codename is ''Blackjack''.<ref>[https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/tu-160-blackjack/?cf-view Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bomber]. Airforce Technology, 3 March 2024.</ref>
 
===United States===
* [[B-36]]
* [[B-1 Lancer]]
* [[B-2 Spirit]]
* [[B-52]]
 
==Other topics==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
* Zeppelin
* Guernica
* Dive bombing
* RAF, Luftwaffe, USAAF, etc.
* Carpet bombing
{{col-break}}
* Bombsights
* Precision bombing
* The Blitz
* Bomber Command
* Bomber Harris
{{col-break}}
* Dambusters Raid
* Pearl Harbor
* Dolittle Raid
* Dresden, Hamburg, the Ruhr, Berlin
* Fighter-bombers
{{col-break}}
* Torpedo bombers
* Battle of Midway
* Kamikaze
* Hiroshima, Nagasaki
* North Vietnam bombing campaign
{{col-end}}
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
[[Category:Reviewed Passed if Improved]]

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In military aviation, the bomber is defined by Encyclopaedia Britannica as an aircraft "designed to drop bombs on surface targets". The earliest known instance of aerial bombardment has been traced to the Italo-Turkish War in December 1911, when an Italian observation pilot dropped grenades on Turkish positions.[1]

Second World War

This section focuses on some of the main types of bomber aircraft used operationally in World War II.

Great Britain

Germany

Japan

Soviet Union

United States

Cold War

This section focuses on some of the main types of bomber aircraft on standby during the so-called Cold War from about 1945 to 1990.

Great Britain

Soviet Union

Tu-160

A supersonic strategic bomber with a crew of four. A variable-sweep wing missile carrier manufactured by Tupolev, its maiden flight was in December 1981, and it is believed that only 35 were built. The Tu-160 entered service in April 1987, only two years before the end of the Cold War; its NATO codename is Blackjack.[2]

United States

Other topics

  • Zeppelin
  • Guernica
  • Dive bombing
  • RAF, Luftwaffe, USAAF, etc.
  • Carpet bombing
  • Bombsights
  • Precision bombing
  • The Blitz
  • Bomber Command
  • Bomber Harris
  • Dambusters Raid
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Dolittle Raid
  • Dresden, Hamburg, the Ruhr, Berlin
  • Fighter-bombers
  • Torpedo bombers
  • Battle of Midway
  • Kamikaze
  • Hiroshima, Nagasaki
  • North Vietnam bombing campaign

References

  1. ↑ Bomber. Encyclopaedia Britannica (3 March 2024).
  2. ↑ Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bomber. Airforce Technology, 3 March 2024.
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