World War II Aircraft Bombers

World War II Aircraft Bombers Handbook

The Handbook of aircraft of WWII includes all the aircraft used by those countries which were at war during WWII from the period between their joining the conflict and the conflict ending for them.

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, firing torpedoes at them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.

With engine power as a major limitation, combined with the desire for accuracy and other operational factors, bomber designs tended to be tailored to specific roles. By the start of the war this included:

dive - specially strengthened for vertical diving attacks for greater accuracy.

light, medium and heavy - subjective definitions based on size.

torpedo - specialized aircraft armed with torpedoes.

ground attack aircraft - used against targets on a battlefield such as troop or tank concentrations. A further specialized form was the anti-tank aircraft.

night - specially equipped to operate at night when opposing defences are limited.

maritime patrol - long range bombers that were used against enemy shipping, particularly submarines.

Bombers are not intended to attack other aircraft although most were fitted with defensive weapons. WWII saw the beginning of the widespread use of high speed bombers which dispensed with defensive weapons to be able to attain higher speed, such as with the de Havilland Mosquito..

Some smaller designs have been used as the basis for night fighters, and a number of fighters, such as the Hawker Hurricane were used as ground attack aircraft, replacing earlier conventional light bombers that proved unable to defend themselves while carrying a useful bombload.

Handbook including:

Avro Lancaster

Avro Manchester

Blohm & Voss BV 142

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

B-24 Liberator

B-32 Dominator

PB4Y-2 Privateer

Focke-Wulf Fw 200

Halifax

Heinkel He 177

Piaggio P.108

Stirling

A.W.38 Whitley

Avro Anson

B.26 Botha

Breda Ba.88 Lince

Bristol Beaufort

CANT Z.1007

Caproni Ca.135

A-18 Shrike II

DH.98 Mosquito

Do 17

Do 215

Do 217

A-20 Havoc

B-26 Invader

Douglas B-18 Bolo

B-23 Dragon

Fokker T.V

HP.52 Hampden

Heinkel He 111

Junkers Ju 86

Junkers Ju 88

Junkers Ju 188

Kawasaki Ki-48

Lockheed Hudson

Lockheed Ventura

Martin B-10

B-26 Marauder

Martin Baltimore

Martin Maryland

Mitsubishi G3M

Mitsubishi G4M

Mitsubishi Ki-21

Mitsubishi Ki-67

Nakajima Ki-49

North American B-25 Mitchell

Petlyakov Pe-2

Potez 540

Savoia-Marchetti SM.79

Savoia-Marchetti SM.81

Tupolev TB-1

Vickers Wellington

Yokosuka P1Y