Best medium bomber?

[luftlover]

just one that hasn't come up yet...

the Ar 234 blitz

fast.....really fast, good handeling, ok reliability(darn jets )

not suggesting best, (not enough carrying capacity) but concidering it had a good chance of surviving in 1945, that has to count for something

[HellToupee]

1. Mossie
2. ju88
3. tu-2

Mossie and 88 obvious but IMO i think the Tu-2 is pretty underrated, it was very fast with good bombload and range, long served with significant numbers.

[Civettone]

Sure 3 engines mean more speed. The Z.1007 ter proved to be faster than the Z.1018 which had two stronger engines.
The main advantage of having three engines is survivability. One engine out on a twin engined aircraft usually means a crash but that cannot be said for a three engined aircraft which will then only lose 33 % of its power.

It's bad for the defensive fire arrangement though.

Kris

[Marcel]

Very confusing, a "best medium bomber" thread and a "Top medium bomber" thread

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by Civettone

Sure 3 engines mean more speed. The Z.1007 ter proved to be faster than the Z.1018 which had two stronger engines.
The main advantage of having three engines is survivability. One engine out on a twin engined aircraft usually means a crash but that cannot be said for a three engined aircraft which will then only lose 33 % of its power.

It doesn't always work that way Chris. One has to look at the specific aircraft single engine performance and that will determine part of the survivability of the aircraft. Some aircraft fly real well on one engine and can attain at least a 200' per minute climb on one engine (which in many cases is all you need). Other aircraft will actually loose altitude and will not sustain any climb performance on one engine. If I remember most US twins had real good engine out performance and in some cases were actually overpowered. I do know the He 111 did not fly well on one engine. The the event of a tri motor you're still playing with engine out procedures if one of the outboard engines fail, if the center engine goes it's almost a non issue and I would guess the degradation of performance would not be as great as with a twin..

[Oreo]

I think if I had to choose one to fight the last six months of the war, it would be a toss-up among the A-26 Invader, the Ju 188, and the Tu-2. Now for the record, the Pe-2 was a good plane too, and I think the Do 217 was fairly effective, at least when it first came out, the A-20 was serious business in 1942, the Ju 88 couldn't be kept down, the Mosquito too, but then, some might argue whether it was truly a medium. I would like to know more about the operational record of the PY1 Frances and also the LeO 451, which seem to have made a good account for themselves considering the formidable circumstances they faced. One thing to keep in mind is the rapid changing pace of technology and A/C development. Consider not how a plane was in the context of the whole war, but rather in the context of the part of the war it served in. The PZL P.37 Los was an excellent bomber for 1939, and had there been enough of them available, it might have done some serious damage to Germany. Amazingly, it carried a heavier bombload (some 5,000 lbs) in 1939 than most mediums carried in 1945. Another one I'd like to know more about is the Yer-2 from Russia, a twin-engine bomber with a range of over 3,000 miles. . . .

[Ki-43-I Hayabusa]

I like the japanese Mitsubishi Ki-67 "Hiryu". It is often classified as a Heavy, but, with only 800kg bomb-load and two-engined, it´s a true medium i think.
The "Hiryu" carried only a third from the bomb-load of the JU-88-A4 and have a fewer range, but was faster, fly higher and was heavier armed.
My Allied favorite is the Mitchell B-25.

[Vincenzo]

For true the range of Type 4 army heavy bomber is larger of Ju 88

[BIG BIRD]

I say the dorner do 217 it could carry up to 8,000 pounds of bombs.

[B-17engineer]

I would go with the Ju-88 too great plane all around

[Waynos]

Aren't the Ar 234, Mosquito and Ju-88 light bombers? Surely medium bombers are the likes of the Wellington, He 111 and B-25?

[kool kitty89]

The Ar 234 was more of an attack/light bomber (in terms of mombload, range, size, and since all bombs were carried on external racks)

I think the Ju 88 and Mossie would classify as medium bombers. (fairly long range and fairly large bombload, though in the case of the Ju 88 the max internal load was 1,400 kg/3084 lbs -28x 50kg bombs-)

The Blenheim, Do 17, and A-20 would fit in as light-bombers.

[B-17engineer]

Agreed Kool kitty

[Waynos]

That doesn't work for me KK as the Mossie was a small and fast light bomber, the first 'strike aircraft' in the modern sense. It was about the same size as the Blenheim and much smaller than the Wellington or Hampden which were medium bombers.

Similarly I think the Ju88 is much closer to the light class than the Do 17 was, I would call that a medium bomber in the He 111 class.

Having said all that I have read several times that Americans class light/medium or heavy by payload rather than actual size so we may not be arguing the same point anyway. But I don't see how a Ju 88 can be medium while a Do 17 is light ?

[B-17engineer]

Ju-88 was a medium bomber all references I have say Medium Bomber....Mossie was concieved at first as a unarmed fast bomber.

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