Aviation brings death from the skies. Suddenly and inevitably. "Heavenly slugs" and "Flying Fortresses" - they are the main ones in the air. All other aircraft and ground-based missile systems, fighters and anti-aircraft guns - all this is created to ensure the successful actions of bombers or counter enemy bombers.
The Military Channel has compiled a rating of the 10 best bombers of all time - and, as always, the result is a hellish mixture of cars of different classes and time periods. I think it is necessary to rethink some aspects of the American broadcast in order to avoid panic among some morally fragile members of Russian society.
It is worth noting that many of the accusations against the Military Channel look unfounded - unlike Russian television with its endless comedy clubs, Discovery makes a truly bright, interesting program for the mass audience. He does as best he can, often making ridiculous mistakes and frankly delusional statements. At the same time, journalists are by no means devoid of objectivity - every rating of "Discovery" contains truly outstanding examples of technology. The whole problem with the numbering of seats, if I were journalists, I would have canceled it altogether.
10th place - B-17 "Flying Fortress" and B-24 "Liberator"
Henry Ford was repeatedly asked why his Willow Run aircraft plant has such a strange L-shape: in the midst of production, the conveyor unexpectedly turned at right angles. The answer was simple: the gigantic assembly complex ran into the territory of another state, where the land tax was higher. The American capitalist counted everything down to a cent and decided that it was cheaper to set up factory workshops than to pay extra taxes.
Built in 1941-1942. on the site of Ford's former parent farm, the Willow Run factory assembled the four-engined B-24 Liberator bombers. Paradoxically, this plane remained virtually unknown, losing all its laurels to the Flying Fortress. Both strategic bombers carried the same bomb load, performed similar tasks and were very similar in design, while the B-17 was produced 12 thousand aircraft, and the production volume of the B-24, due to the talent of businessman Henry Ford, exceeded 18 thousand cars.
Heavy bombers actively fought on all fronts of World War II, covered Arctic convoys, were used as transport aircraft, tankers, and photo reconnaissance aircraft. There were projects for a "heavy fighter" (!) And even an unmanned aircraft-projectile.
But the "Fortresses" and "Liberators" gained special fame during their raids on Germany. Strategic bombing was not an American invention - it was the first time the Germans used this tactic when they bombed the Dutch city of Rodderdam on May 4, 1940. The British liked the idea - the very next day the planes of the Royal Air Force destroyed the Ruhr industrial area. But the real madness began in 1943 - with the advent of four-engine bomb carriers from the Allies, the life of the German population turned into a hellish disco.
There are various interpretations of the combat effectiveness of strategic bombing. The most widespread opinion is that the bombs did not cause any harm to the Reich industry - despite all the attempts of the Allies, the volume of German military production in 1944 wasincreased continuously! However, there is the following nuance: military production was continuously increasing in all the belligerent countries, but in Germany the growth rates were noticeably lower - this is clearly visible in the production figures for new models of armored vehicles ("Royal Tigers", "Jagdpanthers" - only a few hundred units) or difficulties with the launch of a series of jet aircraft. Moreover, this "growth" was bought at a high price: in 1944, the civilian sector of production was completely curtailed in Germany. The Germans had no time for furniture and gramophones - all their forces were thrown into the war.
9th place - Handley Page 0/400
Probably Discovery was referring to the best bomber of the First World War. Well, I will disappoint the highly respected experts. The Handley Page 0/400 was, of course, a magnificent aircraft, but in those years there was a much more formidable bomber - the Ilya Muromets.
The four-engine Russian monster was created as a car for a peaceful sky: with a comfortable passenger compartment with heating and electric lighting, sleeping compartments and even a bathroom! The fantastic winged ship made its first flight in 1913 - 5 years earlier than the British "Handley Page", there was nothing like it in any other country in the world then!
But the world war quickly set its priorities - 800 kg of bomb load and 5 machine-gun points - this was the lot of "Ilya Muromets". 60 bombers of this type were continuously used on the fronts of the First World War, while the Germans managed to shoot down only 3 aircraft with colossal efforts. The "Muromtsy" were also used after the war - the planes returned to their peaceful duties, serving the first in the RSFSR passenger-mail airline Moscow - Kharkov.
It is a pity that the creator of this amazing machine left Russia in 1918. It was none other than Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, a brilliant helicopter designer and founder of the world famous Sikorsky Aircraft corporation.
As for the Handley Page 0/400 twin-engined bomber, which Discovery admired, it was just the plane of its day. Despite the more advanced engines and equipment, its characteristics corresponded to the "Ilya Muromets", created 5 years earlier. The only difference is that the British were able to launch a large-scale production of bombers, as a result, in the fall of 1918, about 600 of these "air fortresses" roamed the sky over Europe.
8th place - Junkers Ju-88
According to Discovery, aircraft with black crosses on their wings performed well in Europe, but were completely unsuitable for striking industrial facilities in the Urals and Siberia. Hmm … the statement, of course, is true, but the Ju.88 was originally created as a front-line aircraft, and not as a strategic bomber.
The Schnellbomber became the main attack aircraft of the Luftwaffe - any missions at any altitude were available for the Ju.88, and its speed often exceeded the speed of enemy fighters. The aircraft was used as a high-speed bomber, torpedo bomber, night fighter, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft, and "hunter" for ground targets. At the end of the war, the Ju.88 mastered a new exotic specialty, becoming the world's first missile carrier: in addition to the Fritz-X and Henschel-293 guided bombs, the Junkers periodically attacked London with air-launched V-1 cruise missiles.
Such outstanding abilities are explained, first of all, not by any outstanding technical characteristics, but by the competent use of Ju.88 and the zealous attitude of the Germans to technology. "Junkers" was not devoid of shortcomings - the main of which is called weak defensive weapons. Despite the presence of 7 to 9 firing points, all of them were controlled, at best, by 4 crew members, which made it impossible to conduct defensive fire simultaneously from all barrels. Also, due to the small size of the cockpit, it was not possible to replace small-caliber machine guns with more powerful weapons. The pilots noted the insufficient size of the internal bomb bay, and with bombs on the external sling, the combat radius of the Junkeras was rapidly decreasing. It is fair to say that these problems were typical for many front-line bombers of the Second World War, and the Ju.88 was no exception.
Returning to the previously stated assertion that the Ju.88 was unsuitable for bombing targets deep behind enemy lines, the Fritzes had another machine for such tasks - the Heinkel-177 Griffin. The twin-screw (but four-engine!) German long-range bomber in a number of parameters (speed, defensive armament) even surpassed the American "Air Fortresses", however, it was extremely unreliable and fire hazardous, having received the nickname "flying fireworks" - which only cost its strange power plant when two motors turned one screw!
The relatively small number of "Griffins" issued (about 1000 units) made it impossible to carry out large punitive operations. The heavy He.177 appeared on the Eastern Front only once - as a military transport aircraft to supply the German troops surrounded at Stalingrad. Basically, "Griffin" was used in the Kriegsmarine for long-range reconnaissance in the vast Atlantic Ocean.
If we are talking about the Luftwaffe, it is very strange that the Junkers Ju.87 was not included in the list of the best bombers. "Laptezhnik" has more rights to be called "the best" than many of the aircraft present here, he received all his awards not at an air show, but in fierce battles.
The disgusting flight characteristics of the Ju.87 were offset by its main advantage - the ability to steep dive. At a speed of 600 … 650 km / h, the bomb literally "fired" at the target, while usually hitting a circle with a radius of 15-20 m. The standard armament of the Ju.87 was large aerial bombs (weighing from 250 kg to 1 ton), so such targets how bridges, ships, command posts, artillery batteries were destroyed in one go. Upon careful analysis, it becomes obvious that the Ju.87 was not so bad, instead of a slow-moving clumsy "laptechman", a well-balanced plane appears in front of us, a formidable weapon in capable hands, which the Germans proved to the whole of Europe.
7th place - Tu-95 (according to NATO classification - "Bear")
February 2008. Pacific Ocean south of the coast of Japan. Two Russian strategic bombers Tu-95MS approached the US Navy carrier strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Nimitz, while one of them flew over the deck of the giant ship at an altitude of 600 meters. In response, four F / A-18 fighters were lifted from the aircraft carrier …
The nuclear "Bear", as in the bad old days, continues to rattle the nerves of our Western allies. Although now it is called differently: barely seeing the familiar silhouette of the Tu-95, American pilots happily shout "Bam-bush-ka", as if hinting at the age of the machine. The world's first and only turboprop bomber was put into service back in 1956. However, like its counterpart B-52 - along with the American "strategist", the Tu-95 became the longest-lived aircraft in the history of aviation.
In October 1961, it was from the Tu-95 that that monstrous "Tsar Bomb" with a capacity of 58 megatons was dropped. The carrier managed to fly 40 km from the epicenter of the explosion, but the blast wave quickly overtook the fugitive and for several minutes randomly twisted the intercontinental bomber in air vortices of incredible strength. It was noted that a fire broke out on board the Tupolev, after landing the plane never took off again.
Tu-95 became especially famous in the West for its interesting modifications:
Tu-114 is a long-haul passenger airliner. The beautiful swift plane made a splash during its maiden flight to New York: for a long time the Americans could not believe that they were facing a civilian plane, and not a formidable combat "Bear" with a nuclear club. And realizing that this is really a passenger liner, they were surprised by its capabilities: range, speed, payload. Military hardening was felt in everything.
Tu-142 is a long-range anti-submarine aircraft, the basis of the naval aviation of our Fatherland.
And, perhaps, the most famous modification of the Tu-95RTs - the "eyes and ears" of our fleet, a long-range sea reconnaissance aircraft. It was these machines that followed the American aircraft carrier groups and participated in "joint maneuvers" with the deck "Phantoms" raised by alarm.
Discovery experts took a hard walk through the Russian aircraft and closely "appreciated" the comfort of the cockpit. The Americans have always laughed a lot at the bucket behind the Tu-95 pilots' seats. Indeed, despite the resilience of the Russian soldier, building an intercontinental bomber without a normal latrine looks at least silly. A strange problem was nevertheless solved, and the Tu-95MS is still in service, being an integral part of the Russian Nuclear Triad.
6th place - B-47 "Stratojet"
… The first object was a large air base near Murmansk. As soon as the RB-47 turned on the cameras and began photographing, the pilots saw a spiral of predatory silver planes spinning over the airfield - the MiGs went to intercept the intruder.
So began an air battle over the Kola Peninsula on May 8, 1954, all day the Soviet fighter aviation regiment unsuccessfully chased an American spy. RB-47E filmed all the "objects" and, scaring off the MiGs from the stern gun mount, disappeared into the skies over Finland. In fact, the American pilots at that moment had no time for fun - the MiG's cannons ripped open their wings, the scout barely reached Great Britain with the last drops of fuel.
The golden era of bomber aviation! Reconnaissance flights RB-47 clearly showed that the fighter, lacking missile weapons and speed advantages, is not able to successfully intercept the jet bomber. There were no other methods of counteraction at that time - as a result, 1,800 American B-47 Stratojet could be guaranteed to break through air defenses and deliver a nuclear strike at any point on the Earth's surface.
Fortunately, the dominance of the bombers was short-lived. On July 1, 1960, the US Air Force failed to repeat its favorite trick with flying over Soviet territory - an ERB-47H electronic reconnaissance aircraft was mercilessly sunk in the Barents Sea. For the MiG-19 supersonic interceptors, the pride of American strategic aviation has become a slow-moving, clumsy target.
