Hey all you Plane Freaks and Geeks what was the best Bomber in the Second world War and tell me why you Think?

Question

Speed , Load out Distance Manufacture that kind of stuff

Yea I love the planes and Know the Liberator was the B-24 and sorry the Lancaster out carried the B-17 by quite a bit

White it was the B-25 Mitchell not the B-17 that was carrier launched

Answer 1

The Lancaster was a good one. Those crazy dam busting raids were amazing. I like the B-25 Mitchell (the one that actually went on Doolittle's Tokyo raid). Mitchell died before the war after being court-martialed for saying that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor using aircraft carriers, so I guess the consolation was that the bomber named after him got to bomb Tokyo first. Nobody mentioned the Sturmovik tank killer.

FYI the "Liberator" is the B-24. Also an excellent bomber.
From wikipedia:
Often compared to its more famous partner, the Boeing B-17, the B-24 was a more modern design with a higher top speed, greater range and service ceiling yet it had a similar bombload and massive defensive armament.

Answer 2

The boeing B-29 had the heaviest load out and the longest range of any bomber in WW2. It also could also fly the highest as it was the only pressurized bomber. It was also the only bomber of WW2 that could handle the Atom bomb as these bombs were enormous and required a 300 mph speed to clear the blast radius of the bomb. The Lancaster was the only other bomber that could have carried one but it was too slow to get away from the blast. The plane had a max speed of 357 mph a service cieling of 33,000' and a bomb load of 20,000 Lbs. They also flew 3,250 miles fully loaded. The plane also had power operated and computer aided fire controls for its 20-.50 cal machine guns plus a 20mm cannon in the tail.

Answer 3

Brian is quite correct. The B-29 was by far the best bomber (operational) of the war. Payload, service ceiling, armament, all contribute to making the B-29, The Superfortress.

As phenomenal as it was, it only saw primary action in the Pacific Theater. The Japanese at the time of its introduction had no fighter (or anti-aircraft artillery) that could climb to reach the B-29's ceiling; and so the B-29 could fly over their fighter protection with near impunity. It was however short lived, as the bombers were ineffectual bombing from high altitude. The Jet Stream averaged about 150mph at that altitude; forcing the B-29 crews to descend in order to deliver their payloads on target. The Japanese pursued suicide ramming of the B-29's to knock them from the sky.

Electronic gun-sights assured the aircrew, they wouldn't have to hang out the waist doors to operate the .50's to defend their bird.

The addition of a .20mm canon in the tail, assured the crew that no fighter could approach from the vulnerable tail, and thus shoot them down by eliminating the tail guns.

The B-29 was perhaps best known by its crews, not so much for the "Atomic" Delivery, but for the fire bombing missions it flew. What a war bird!

From a grandson who's grandmother developed the electronic gunsight for BOEING.

If its not BOEING, I'm not going!

Answer 4

Easy the Avro Lancaster it carried double the Payload of the B17 flew just as far and carried a wider array of Bomb ie Grandslam, Tallboy and the Bouncing bomb which was dropped an altitude of 30ft

Answer 5

The best light bomber would be the deHavilland Mosquito.
The best heavy RAF bomber would be the Lancaster and the best USAAF would be the B-29

Answer 6

You look up the speed, load and distance.

Manufacturer - Boeing

The B17 was the workhorse of WWII and it operated in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, even going off of aircraft carriers during the famous Tokyo raids by Billy Mitchell. This was a tough plane that returned to base day after day and kept our fly boys alive.

Answer 7

Bomber Harris, hero to the English, War Criminal to the Germans

Answer 8

flying fortress had more guns had computer guided sighting and it was able to carry massive payloads over many miles.
for a fighter P51 caddiliac of the sky nothing faster still holds prop speed record

Answer 9

Not *just* the B-17. There were many models made. The best was the B-17E

Answer 10

hhhmm im not a plane freak or geek, just a brother of one. the b-17 was the best for payload and distance (at the time) but they were slow, and vunerable............