What is your list of the top ten best bombers of WW2?

Question

Curious as to what answers will come back. Lets try to look at some of the lesser known, but outstanding bombers of WW2 that perhaps did not get the attention/press they shoud have. Thinking
of A/C such as the soviet PE-2, German Ar234 "Blitz bomber".
etc.

Answer 1

Well my favorites are as follows:

1. B-24 Liberator (actually the liberator flew more missions world wide than the B-17: it just didn't get the press the B-17 did.)
2. B-17 Flying Fortress
3. B-29 Super Fortress
4. B-25 Mitchell (Bomber, gunship this was a very versatile bomber)
5. B-26 Marauder
6. Avro British Lancaster Bomber - I have a fondness for this bomber because of the Dam Busting missions, and the other special ordnance missions it flew.
7.DeHavillan Mosquito (yes, it could drop bombs...very fast little bomber)
8. the Japanese "Betty" a very good bomber in its own right.
9. German Ju-88 also a good light bomber.
10. Consolidated B-32 Dominator. Yes they actually had these planes in the inventory.

In terms of effectiveness:

1. B-29: the bomber that burned an empire down.
2. Ju-88 the bomber that remodeled London
3. B-24 The bomber that struck out Italy, Romania and a few other German satellite countries.
4. B-17 and the Lancaster (the bombers that help kill the french and German military industrial complex).
5. the German stuka: the bomber that helped seize most of western Europe.
6. B-25 Mitchell the bomber that helped re-take the south pacific.
7. The Japanese Betty.
8. The US Navy Dauntless Dive Bomber: the bomber that killed a navy.
9. The B-26 Marauder: a killer angel in both fronts.
10. The B-20 Havoc: a light bomber with a taste for tanks and ships. designated to an A-20 status later.

Answer 2

I am shocked that someone compares a Lancaster with the B-17 or B-24. The Lancatewr was an easy kill for FW-190 or ME 109. Lightly armored with small .303 MGs. Easy to shoot down.The B-17 ans B-24 were heavily built and often survived extremely hard to destroy. Both bombers had only 50 cals and 360 degree coverage.
The German pilots had no fear of British bombers and shot them down easily in daylight that is why the British fought at night. The Raf did very little damage to German Industry. The RAf concentrated their strikes on cities.
The American daylight effort destroyed the German Air Force they were forced to attack the bombers and then P-47s and P-51s desroyed them. The Spitfire was not the Equal Of the heavily armored and Gunned American Fighters.

Answer 3

I'm Italian and I want to list italian models because you may not know them(I ONLY ADD BECAUSE ITALIAN ARE NOT USUALLY KNOWN, I DON'T SAY THESE ARE BETTER THAN GERMAN OR AMERICAN...), It's quite hard to give the right valuation to these models because they are not usually directly comparable because italian bombers were of a class in the middle between medium and heavy bombers, for example between B-17 and B-25...and because some were producen in too little numbers (for example the CR-25 fast recon/light bomber/long-range fighter were really good, but only 10 were built, it could be successful like Mosquito if built in a larger number..)
-Cant 1007 "Alcione"

-Cant 506 "Airone"

-SIAI-Marchetti S.79 "Sparviero": this was a quite good medium bomber, but it did it best as a torpedo bomber....this plane was the terror of the british sailors in the mediterranean, they nicknamed it "the damned hunchback" because of the gunner windshield on the top of the fuselage.
On 12 August 1942 the first attempt of unmanned attack mission took place as "canary operation". A S.79 painted in yellow with 1000kg of explosive and modified to be radio-controlled by a pilot onboard another airplane but a failure of the R/C caused the failure of the mission.

-SIAI-Marchetti Sm.82 "Marsupiale" (only few people know that the largest range(more than B17s or B29s) bombing mission in the WW2 was performed by this kind of airplane, italian Sm82's bombed a british rafinery in bahrein starting from Rhodes(today in Greece) and landing in Ethiopia)

-Piaggio P.108 (this is closely comparable with B-17, and probably most modern, but being produced only in the number of 24 it could't never show its great values and charateristics)

Answer 4

terrific how? what's the popular of length? after all, we will not provide an answer if we don't understand the question. and that's the fundamental situation with any "applicable ____" question. It would not know the certainty there is no such difficulty. the terrific something relies upon very much on situations. as an occasion: the terrific short-variety interceptor in the chilly and damp of NW Europe is possibly no longer the plane you prefer in the nice and comfortable climates and long distances of the South Pacific. little question lots of people who've already spoke back positioned the North American P-fifty one Mustang on the right of their "terrific fighter" lists in spite of the undeniable fact that it fairly is basically there for one reason - its overall performance in the long-variety bomber escort place. In the different fighter place there have been extra acceptable (and many times lots extra acceptable) plane and if the bomber escort undertaking had under no circumstances developed it fairly is possibly few human beings would endure in recommendations the P-fifty one in the present day. The P-fifty one wasn't even needed in the Pacific till bombing raids on Japan began in 1945 because of the fact of its unsuitability to tough, primitive airstrips. in the tactical fighter place the P-40 seven, hurricane and Tempest have been all lots more advantageous and incredibly any of those and relatively the Spitfire have been extra maneuverable. So how do you rank terrific in all of that, basically a smattering of examples of what makes a good fighter in the real international?

Answer 5

The best bomber may be down to interpretation. but respectfully,
the British Avro Lancaster was supreme in that role. It
carried the heaviest bomb load and also the grand slam
earthquake bomb, designed by barnes wallace of the
"Dambusters fame" The long distance Liberator was also an
extremely useful aircraft in the maritime role. It would be very
difficult to evaluate up to ten. The Germans had excellent
aircraft too (as a child in London during WW2, i was on the
receiving end) but they only had smallish two engined bombers (Thankfully) Good day to all our American friends, from Devon!

Answer 6

My goodness the B 29 was the best bomber in WW2 then
the B 17. the plane I liked the best was the p-38 not a
bomber but it was a fighter bomber B- 25,these are the
planes in world war 2 that won the war .. bomber wise..

Answer 7

Betty

Answer 8

P-61Black Widow. My favorite.

Answer 9

B17......err, well that just about sums it up, doesn't it?