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A day bomber is a bomber aircraft designed specifically for bombing missions in daylight. The term is now mostly of historical significance, because aircraft suited to both day and night bombing missions have become the norm.
During World War I, day bombing was the normal form of bomber operations. While the same aircraft often also carried out night raids, the rudimentary bomb sight technology of 1914–1918 often made bombing sorties impractical at night. While bombing was usually performed by the crews of single-engine aircraft, the heavy bomber concept was pioneered by the three-engine Caproni Ca.1 of the Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare and the four-engine Sikorsky Ilya Muromets, operated by the Russian Imperial Military Aviation Fleet. Adapted from a pre-war civil transport, the Muromets was noted for, among other things, formidable, air-to-air capabilities. While it normally carried two heavy machine guns, in separate positions, on some occasions these were augmented by a variety of light firearms, wielded by five or more crew members. One of the first aircraft explicitly conceived as a light day bomber was the single-engine Airco DH.4, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. It had a crew of two: an air gunner, who operated a movable Lewis gun mounted on a Scarff ring and a pilot, who had a single, fixed Vickers gun. The DH.4 entered service with the British Royal Flying Corps in early 1917, and was regarded as a successful design: it served with the militaries of at least 14 countries and 6,295 were built in total (most of them under license in the United States).
During the interwar period (1918–1939), day bombing continued to feature prominently in the doctrines of major air services, especially the Royal Air Force (RAF). Day bombers were designed to counter air-to-air attacks. As such they were heavily-armed, with multiple defensive weapons – typically heavy machine guns operated by gunners. Such aircraft were also intended to have minimal defensive blind spots: at least one gunner would be able to sight and fire on an attacking enemy fighter, [1] regardless of the angle at which an attacker approached. Even single-engine light bombers, designed for daylight operations, carried a gunner. During the 1930s, an increasing emphasis was given in bomber design to the use of higher speeds in evading fighters. While the drag caused by gun turrets and the significant weight of machine guns detracted from speed and other aspects of performance, they were considered indispensable.
Undertaking daylight raids in the early stages of World War II, even the most effective bombers were found to suffer heavy losses and aircrew casualties, as a result of fighter attacks. If and when fighter escorts were available, they deterred and reduced the effectiveness of attackers. However, virtually all of the fighters operational at the beginning of the war were ill-suited to the role of accompanying large formations of bombers, to and from targets that were more than 200 miles (320 km) away. By the end of 1940, the difficulties in providing fighter cover led to the abandonment of large-scale long-range day bomber operations, by both the German Luftwaffe and the RAF.
After the United States entered the war, its main heavy bombers at the time – such the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator – were seen to be so well-armed that they were suitable for unescorted daylight missions. However, the US Eighth Air Force, operating from bases in England, suffered far fewer losses after the introduction of fighters with ranges comparable to those of the bombers. At the same time, general purpose bombers and multirole aircraft were becoming more and more prominent: such designs were often capable of relatively high top speeds and rapid acceleration, assisting their pilots in avoiding direct attacks from fighters.
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A bomber is a military combat aircraft air-to-ground weaponry, launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircraft occurred in the Italo-Turkish War, with the first major deployments coming in the First World War and Second World War by all major airforces causing devastating damage to cities, towns, and rural areas. The first purpose built bombers were the Italian Caproni Ca 30 and British Bristol T.B.8, both of 1913. Some bombers were decorated with nose art or victory markings.
The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. Development began with the Type 142, a civil airliner, after a challenge from the newspaper proprietor Lord Rothermere to produce the fastest commercial aircraft in Europe. The Type 142 first flew in April 1935, and the Air Ministry, ordered a modified design as the Type 142M for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber.
A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance.
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same era.
A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, penetrators, fighter-bombers, and attack aircraft, which are used in air interdiction operations to attack enemy combatants and military equipment, strategic bombers are designed to fly into enemy territory to destroy strategic targets. In addition to strategic bombing, strategic bombers can be used for tactical missions. There are currently only three countries that operate strategic bombers: the United States, Russia and China.
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry and longest range of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the largest and most powerful military aircraft at any point in time. In the second half of the 20th century, heavy bombers were largely superseded by strategic bombers, which were often even larger in size, had much longer ranges and were capable of delivering nuclear bombs.
A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, whereas bombers and attack aircraft are developed specifically for bombing and attack roles.
The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes. The Battle was powered by the same high-performance Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that powered various contemporary British fighters such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. As the Battle, with its three-man crew and bomb load, was much heavier than the fighters, it was therefore much slower. Though a great improvement over the aircraft that preceded it, its relatively slow speed, limited range and inadequate defensive armament of only two .303 (7.7 mm) machine guns left it highly vulnerable to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire.
The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter" to meet the RAF requirement for day and night fighters that could concentrate their firepower on enemy bombers which were not expected to have fighter escorts due to the distance from Germany to the United Kingdom. The Defiant had all its armament in a dorsal turret offering the ability to fire in most directions. The same principle was used in the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc which was also built by Boulton Paul.
The Petlyakov Pe-2 was a Soviet twin-engine dive bomber used during World War II. One of the outstanding tactical attack aircraft of the war, it also proved successful as a heavy fighter, as a night fighter and as a reconnaissance aircraft. The Pe-2 was, numerically, the most important Soviet bomber of World War II, at their peak comprising 75% of the Soviet twin-engine bomber force. The Soviets manufactured Pe-2s in greater numbers during the war than any other twin-engine combat aircraft except for the German Junkers Ju 88 and the British Vickers Wellington. Several communist air forces flew the type after the war, when it became known by the NATO reporting name Buck.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1917.
The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden is a British twin-engine medium bomber that was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was part of the trio of large twin-engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Vickers Wellington. The Hampden was powered by Bristol Pegasus radial engines but a variant known as the Handley Page Hereford had in-line Napier Daggers.
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the first Royal Navy carrier-borne all-metal cantilever monoplane aircraft, as well as the first dive bomber in Fleet Air Arm (FAA) service. The aircraft took its name from the sea bird which 'divebombs' any potential predators that come too close to its nest.
World War I was the first major conflict involving the large-scale use of aircraft. Tethered observation balloons had already been employed in several wars and would be used extensively for artillery spotting. Germany employed Zeppelins for reconnaissance over the North Sea and Baltic and also for strategic bombing raids over Britain and the Eastern Front.
The Sikorsky Ilya Muromets was a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and military heavy bombers used during World War I by the Russian Empire. The aircraft series was named after Ilya Muromets, a hero from Slavic mythology. The series was based on the Russky Vityaz or Le Grand, the world's first four-engined aircraft, designed by Igor Sikorsky. The Ilya Muromets aircraft as it appeared in 1913 was a revolutionary design, intended for commercial service with its spacious fuselage incorporating a passenger saloon and washroom on board. The Ilya Muromets was the world's first multi-engine aircraft in production and at least sixty were built. During World War I, it became the first four-engine bomber to equip a dedicated strategic bombing unit. This heavy bomber was unrivaled in the early stages of the war, as the Central Powers had no aircraft capable enough to rival it until much later.
A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane.
No. 90 Squadron RAF is a squadron of the Royal Air Force.
The Airco DH.4 is a British two-seat biplane day bomber of the First World War. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland for Airco, and was the first British two-seat light day-bomber capable of defending itself.
The Airco DH.9 – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – is a British single-engined biplane bomber that was developed and deployed during the First World War.
The Airco DH.10 Amiens was a twin-engined heavy bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airco. It performed the first nighttime air mail service in the world on 14-15 May 1919.
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