Russia became the birthplace of bomber aircraft thanks to the designer Igor Sikorsky, who in 1913 created the first aircraft of this type. The USSR also created the most massive bomber in the world. And on January 20, 1952, the first intercontinental jet bomber M-4, created by V.M. Myasishchev. Today is a review of bomber aircraft created by domestic designers.

Ilya Muromets - the world's first bomber

The world's first bomber was created in Russia in 1913 by Igor Sikorsky and was named after the epic hero. "Ilya Muromets" - this was the name of various modifications of this aircraft, which were produced in Russia from 1913 to 1917. The main parts of the aircraft were wooden. The lower and upper wings were assembled from separate parts and connected by connectors. The wingspan of the first bomber was 32 meters. Since aircraft engines were not produced in Russia in those years, German-made Argus engines were installed on Ilya Muromets. The domestic R-BV3 engine was installed on the bomber in 1915.

"Ilya Muromets" was 4-engine, and even stopping two engines could not make the plane land. During the flight, people could walk on the wings of the aircraft, and this did not affect the balance of the aircraft. During the testing of the aircraft, Sikorsky himself took to the wing to make sure that, if necessary, the pilot could repair the engine right in the air.

At the end of December 1914, Emperor Nicholas II approved the decision of the Military Council on the creation of the "Squadron of Airships", which became the world's first formation of bombers. On the first combat mission, the planes of the Russian squadron flew out on February 27, 1915. The first flight was unsuccessful, because the pilots got lost and did not find the target. The next day, the task was completed successfully: the pilots dropped 5 bombs on the railway station, and the bombs fell right among the rolling stock. The result of the bomber raid was captured in the photo. In addition to bombs, the Ilya Muromets bomber was armed with a machine gun.

In total, during the First World War, Russian bombers made 400 sorties, dropping 65 tons of bombs and destroying 12 enemy fighters. Combat losses amounted to only one aircraft.

TB-1 - the world's first heavy bomber

In the early 1920s, a discussion broke out among Soviet aircraft builders about what to build aircraft from. Most were of the opinion that Soviet aircraft should be wooden, and there were those who insisted that the USSR should create all-metal aircraft. Among the latter was the young engineer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev, who was able to insist on his opinion.

TB-1, which, after long tests and improvements in 1931, nevertheless left the assembly line, became the first domestic monoplane bomber, the first domestic all-metal bomber and the first Soviet-designed bomber that went into serial production. It was with the TB-1 that the formation of strategic aviation began in the USSR. These machines have plied the skies for more than two decades.

It was on TB-1 that a lot of innovations were tested, which were later used in aviation, in particular the autopilot system, radio control systems, ejection systems, and so on. The aircraft could carry 1030 kg of bomb load and small arms(three paired units). The crew of the aircraft - 5-6 people.

On the TB-1 and its modifications, several world aviation records were set. So, it was on this bomber that the first ever flight by plane from the USSR to the USA was made. In 1934, pilot A.V. Lyapidevsky saved the Chelyuskinites and took all the women and children out of the camp. TB-1 bombers were in service in the USSR until 1936, and some - before the start of the Great Patriotic War.

Pe-2 - the most massive bomber

In 1938, the famous Tupolev "sharazhka" began the development of the Pe-2 dive bomber, which later became the most massive Soviet bomber during the Great Patriotic War.

The Pe-2 was very compact and had an all-metal construction with a good aerodynamic shape. The bomber was equipped with 2 M-105R liquid-cooled engines of 1100 hp each, which allowed the aircraft to reach speeds of up to 540 km / h (only 30 km / h less than the Me-109E fighter, which was in service with the Nazi army ).

In 1940, 2 serial bombers were produced, and at the beginning of 1941, 258 Pe-2 bombers left the assembly line. On May 1, 1941, a new bomber, which received the 95th air regiment of Colonel Pestov, flew over Red Square during a parade. Pe-2 took part in the fighting literally in the first days of the war. By 1943, Pe-2 bombers were number one in bomber aviation. Due to their high bombing accuracy, they were very effective weapons. It is a known fact that on July 16, 1943, pilots of the 3rd Bomber Air Corps destroyed 229 vehicles, 55 tanks, 12 machine-gun and mortar emplacements, 11 anti-aircraft and 3 field guns, 7 fuel and ammunition depots on their 115 aircraft.

And although in 1944 the Tu-2 began to arrive at the front, which surpassed the Pe-2 in basic parameters, the “pawn” remained the main Soviet bomber until the end of the war and, together with it, became a legend of Soviet aviation.

At the beginning of 1945, 4 American B-29 aircraft accidentally ended up at the Far Eastern airfields of the USSR, which participated in the bombing of Japan and the territories it occupied. When the Communist Party and the Soviet government gave designers the task of creating a modern long-range bomber, MAI professor and aircraft designer Vladimir Myasishchev suggested copying American bombers, but installing domestic ASh-72 engines on the new aircraft, and replacing American machine guns with B-20 guns.

Tu-4, flight tests of which took place already in 1947, is an all-metal cantilever monoplane. The length of the bomber was 30.8 meters, and the wingspan was 43.05 meters. Four ASh-73TK motors with a capacity of 2400 hp. With. allowed the aircraft to accelerate to a speed of 558 km / h at an altitude of 10 km. The maximum bomb load is 8 tons. The efficiency of the aircraft was improved through the use of automation. For example, an onboard locator with an autopilot made it possible to find targets and hit them even at night.

Tu-4 became the first Soviet carrier nuclear weapons, when in 1951 a bomber regiment was formed in the USSR, armed atomic bombs. In 1956, during the Hungarian events, the regiment made a sortie to bombard Budapest, which was interrupted at the last moment by the order of the Soviet command.

A total of 847 aircraft were built, 25 of which were transferred to China.

In the late 1940s, with the advent of nuclear weapons, there was a need for means of delivery. Bombers were needed that were superior to the existing ones in terms of technical specifications about 2 times. The Americans were the first to develop the concept of such an aircraft. This is how the B-60 and B-52 appeared, which took to the air in the spring of 1953. In the USSR, work on a bomber of this class began with a significant delay. Stalin entrusted the development of the aircraft to MAI professor V. Myasishchev, who submitted a scientifically sound proposal to the government on the creation of a strategic aircraft with a flight range of 11,000 - 12,000 km, but at the same time, very tight deadlines were set for the project. By December 1952, a prototype aircraft was built, and in January 1953, the M-4 bomber - an eight-seat cantilever all-metal medium wing equipped with 4 engines and a retractable bicycle-type landing gear - made its first flight.

As a result of changes and improvements, an aircraft was created, the flight range of which, in comparison with earlier models, increased by 40% and exceeded 15 thousand km. The duration of the flight with one refueling was 20 hours, which made it possible to use the M-4 as an intercontinental strategic bomber. Another innovation - the new bomber could be used as a long-range naval torpedo bomber.

The tactics of using the M-4 provided for the flights of these aircraft in formation as part of a squadron or regiment at an altitude of 8-11 km. Approaching the target, the aircraft broke formation and each bomber carried out an attack on its own object. Thanks to the cannon armament system, the bomber could effectively resist interceptor aircraft. The aircraft were officially decommissioned in 1994.

The design of the Il-28 bomber began with the tail. The fact is that the creation of this aircraft became possible due to the launch into mass production of a reliable English turbojet engine with a Ning centrifugal compressor, in which a defensive mobile unit was used, which determined the main layout features of the IL-28.

The main advantage of the aircraft was the fact that the IL-28 was stable over the entire speed range. He easily performed any maneuvers necessary for the bombers, performed turns with a roll of up to 80 degrees. During a combat turn, the climb reached 2 km.

IL-28 was produced under license in China under the name H-5. The aircraft was widely operated in more than 20 countries. In total, about 6 thousand units were produced.

Su-34 - 4+ generation bomber

The Su-34 bomber, designed to deliver high-precision strikes against surface and land targets at any time of the day, has become the Russian 4+ generation bomber. Its design ended in the early 1990s.

Some elements of the Su-34 are made using Stealth technology. So, in the aircraft, the degree of reflection of enemy radar radiation was reduced with consistently good aerodynamics. Radar absorbing materials and coatings made the Su-34 less visible on radar screens than aircraft such as the Su-24, F-111 and F-15E. Another element of the combat survivability of the Su-34 is that the navigator-operator has a second control.

Su-34 front-line bombers, according to experts, are many times superior to their predecessors. The aircraft, whose combat radius exceeds 1000 km, can carry 12 tons of various weapons on board. Bombing accuracy is 5-7 meters. And experts say that the Su-34 has not yet used its resource.

The Tu-95 bomber was the first Soviet intercontinental bomber and the last aircraft designed by Stalin. The first flight of the Tu-95 prototype, created in OKB-156 under the leadership of A.N. Tupolev, took place on November 12, 1952, and mass production was started in 1955 and continues today.
a world record for non-stop flight for aircraft of this class - bombers flew about 30 thousand km over three oceans in 43 hours, making 4 refueling in the air. And in February 2013, two Tu-95 Medved strategic bombers with cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads flew over the western Pacific island of Guam hours before US President Barack Obama addressed the nation. The Washington Free Beacon called this fact " a sign of Moscow's growing self-confident strategic assertiveness towards the United States».

It is worth noting that the bombers created in Great Britain, the USA, Italy, Poland, Japan and other countries also left a significant mark on the history of aviation. Earlier we published a review about the times of the Second World War.

, the Italian General Giulio Due is rightly considered the father of bomber aviation. It was he who, during the First World War and subsequent decades, defended the concept of air war he proposed. Bombers were placed at the head of this concept. The general believed that massive bomber raids would be the main guarantee of success in any war. Although during the life of the general (Duai died in 1930) the concept of air warfare was not appreciated, in our time it is considered correct.
This is clearly shown by such military operations as Desert Storm (1991) or the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the late 1990s. True, now the armadas of "flying fortresses" have replaced multifunctional fighters and relatively cheap ones. Is there a future for complex and expensive to operate strategic bombers - the titans of the Cold War?
During the period of confrontation between the USA and the USSR, they were assigned a simple and understandable role: in the event of the entry of the Cold War into a hot phase, they had to turn the territory of the enemy into "radioactive ashes." The winged vehicles were part of the so-called nuclear triad, which included land-based, sea-based and air-based nuclear warheads.

Bomber of the future, an unmanned hypersonic aerial vehicle, made its second test flight, during which it was lost in the upper atmosphere after separation from the Minotaur missile

A strategic bomber is intercontinental by default, and its range must exceed 5,000 km. The basis of the arsenal of these machines used to be free-fall bombs and cruise missiles with nuclear warheads (warheads). The end of the Cold War was marked by a turning point in military strategy, in which a large number of nuclear weapons carriers turned out to be unnecessary. If earlier hundreds of bombers were in service with the US Air Force, now their number is in the tens of units.

Now the Americans have at their disposal

1. 65 "strategists" B-52H
2. about 60 B-1B Lancers
3. 19 stealth B-2s.

The Russian Air Force has

1. 16 Tu-160 bombers
2. 30 obsolete Tu-95MS/MSM turboprops.
3. The long-range Tu-22MZ continue to serve.

The Europeans abandoned strategic bombers altogether.
Now, when the whole civilized world is trying to reduce its nuclear arsenals, strategic bombers hastily retrained for tactical tasks. For example, the B-1 B can carry up to 24 of the latest AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles, making it the most powerful tactical combat aircraft in the world.

Strategic bomber B-1B

The B-52N and B-2A also boast a wide arsenal of guided weapons, which, combined with advanced targeting systems (such as the Sniper ATP), makes them a formidable weapon in any local conflict.

The B-52N strategic bomber has been in service with the US Air Force for almost 60 years!

New bombers of the 21st century photo , no matter what they say, but the American military knows how to count money: in one sortie, the same B-1B can destroy a tank division or wipe out a large militant camp from the face of the earth. It should be noted here that the United States has a large arsenal of relatively inexpensive guided munitions such as JDAM complexes.

Loading cruise missiles AGM-158, B-1B can carry up to 24 of these things

In view of the foregoing, it becomes clear that the bombers have a future. Although, of course, in most cases it is cheaper to use or .

Domestic strategic bomber Tu-160 photo

There is an opinion that the domestic Tu-160 variable-sweep wing strategic bomber is a copy of the American B-1. This is not entirely true, since these aircraft have significant differences. On the other hand, when creating the Tu-160, Soviet engineers used the experience of overseas colleagues and followed the path already laid by the Americans (we are talking, in particular, about using a variable sweep wing).

New bombers of the 21st century photo , information was leaked in the media more than once on the possible modernization of the Russian strategic bombers Tu-95MS and Tu-160 . It was supposed to expand the tactical capabilities of the machines by including in their arsenal non-nuclear weapons (today they have the possibility of bombing, only with free-fall bombs). It was, in particular, about the Kh-555 and Kh-101 cruise missiles. The launch range of the latter can reach 5500 km. The Kh-101 missile was supposed to be adopted by the Russian Air Force in 2013 but there is no reliable information about this even today.
A very original look at the bomber of the future was presented by military experts from the United States. They proposed upgrading B-1 B to B-1 R, where "R" stands for "regional". The project aims to maximize the potential capabilities of winged vehicles, making the B-1 R the most versatile bomber in the world.

B-1R strategic bomber, r stands for "regional"

In addition to the usual high-precision guided bombs and missiles, he will be able to take dozens on board. This may be either promising missiles. The plane is a kind of "air cruiser", capable of single-handedly destroying an enemy squadron. The heavy and clumsy B-1 R will be covered by escort fighters. A variant is possible in which the task of collecting and processing information will lie with the inconspicuous. They will transmit real-time information about the enemy to the B-1 R, and he, in turn, will distribute targets and point missiles at them.
It is too early to talk about the possibility of implementing the project, and the timing of the creation of the B-1 R has not been determined. Presumably, the aircraft will be equipped with improved avionics and Pratt & Whitney F119 engines (. The bomber will be able to reach a maximum speed of 2.2 M (Mach number), but its flight range compared to the B-1 B will be 20% less.

And although the concept is curious, the chances of its implementation are slim. The current US administration is trying to reduce military spending by any means. Earlier, the Americans had already abandoned the Lockheed Martin FB-22 tactical bomber, created on the basis of. The military priorities of the US leadership are obvious: these are the F-35 fighter and a number of . Other ambitious projects will be funded optionally.

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress - service life in the US Air Force for about 60 years, are the main long-range bomber aircraft of the US and will remain in service until 2040

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a real long-liver. These legendary machines have been in service with the US Air Force for almost 60 years! B-52 bombers were produced from 1952 to 1962, during this period 744 aircraft were produced. Over the years of service, they have been repeatedly modernized and even now they are modern combat systems. Moreover, the B-52s are the main US long-range bomber aircraft and will remain in service until 2040.

New bombers of the 21st century photo , over the past two decades, nothing has so affected military aviation like stealth technology. To talk about its "inefficiency" and "high cost" is just as unreasonable as to prove the superiority of propeller-driven aircraft over jet ones. Obviously, given the level of development, only stealth aircraft will be able to survive the war of the future.
The most advanced and technologically advanced strategic bomber is the American subsonic Northrop B-2 Spirit. It has proven its effectiveness in Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Strategic bomber B2, B-52 is the prototype of the "strategist" of the future, no matter how we laugh at his "invisibility"

A special feature of the B-2 was its price: excluding research work, the cost of the aircraft exceeded $ 1 billion per "piece". But this does not mean that the plane is bad. It was simply created on the basis of the philosophy of the Cold War, when characteristics were put in the first place, and not the price of a combat vehicle. Already in the 1990s, the high cost of the B-2 led to the fact that out of the planned 132 aircraft of this type, only 20 were purchased (!).

In general, the role of the B-2 is difficult to overestimate - the aircraft became the prototype of the bomber of the future, which will replace both the aging B-1 B and B-52, and the B-2 Spirit itself. As you know, the latter was created according to the "flying wing" aerodynamic scheme - it is according to this scheme that the new generation bomber will be built. Not only the United States, but also Russia went along the path of creating a subsonic stealth bomber. This proves that the B-2 concept is the most correct under the current conditions.
In the 1990s, the Americans planned to replace the fleet of "strategists" with a single supersonic 2037 Bomber. But the aging of the fleet has prompted the US leadership to launch a program of "intermediate bomber", which will be able to take to the skies as early as 2018. The Next-Generation Bomber (name of the program) was seen as a cheaper analogue of the B-2 Spirit. i.

NGB Boeing/Lockheed Martin project

According to the requirements, the cost of NGB should not exceed $550 million per aircraft. The payload of the NGB is about 12 tons, and its combat radius is 3800 km. For comparison, the B-2 can take on board up to 22 tons of payload, and the combat radius of the Spirit is 5300 km. But taking into account more than half the cost, NGB seems to be more appropriate. If we talk about the estimated operating costs, then the new bomber will be much more economical than its older brother. Another important point: NGB is seen by its creators in both manned and unmanned versions. This distinguishes the new aircraft from the B-2.

In 2012, the program underwent a number of minor changes and was renamed LRS-B (Long Range Strike Bomber). In 2014, it was planned to allocate $ 379 million for the project - specialists from Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were involved in the development. A feature of the aircraft will be that it will be created according to a modular concept.

Project LRS-B from Northrop Grumman

This means that, depending on the situation, the LRS-B will be able to take on board reconnaissance equipment, means electronic warfare and, of course, various air-to-surface weapons. One of the main aspects of interest to specialists is the level of stealth of the LRS-B. However, to answer this question (as well as a number of other important issues) it will be possible not earlier than the adoption of the aircraft into service. They want to “put it on the wing” in 2025, and in total the US Air Force will have at its disposal from 80 to 100 machines of this type.

Can't get past latest project the Skunk Works division of Lockheed Martin Corporation - the SR-72 hypersonic aircraft. Its name is a direct reference to the famous SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft. Main purpose new car, as you know, will be intelligence. However, as far as one can judge, the option of creating a strike modification of the SR-72 is also being considered. The main feature of the aircraft is that it will be able to reach a speed of 6 M. jet engines.

Scout Lockheed Martin SR-72

The SR-72 aircraft will become unmanned and will be able to strike at enemy territory much faster than other bombers in service with the US Air Force. True, it is not easy to talk about the prospects for the brainchild of Lockheed Martin. Satellites have long been doing well with its main task (reconnaissance). And the Americans also plan to build many cheaper reconnaissance UAVs. In other words, it is not a fact that there is a niche for the SR-72.

New bombers of the 21st century photo , Russia is seriously thinking about replacing the park. As we have already said, the strategic aviation of the Russian Air Force is represented by such machines as the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS. AT different time there were rumors about the modernization of these aircraft, but most of them remained on paper. Now bombers are carriers of Kh-55 cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. At the same time, the possibilities for the use of non-nuclear weapons remain minimal and are mainly represented by free-falling bombs. The tactical capabilities of these machines are also sharply limited by the lack of modern aiming means.

Strategic bomber Tu-95MS

All this, together with the aging of the fleet, forced the country's leadership to start working on the project PAK YES (Perspective aviation complex long-range aviation). The creation of the aircraft is now occupied by the design bureau of OAO Tupolev. Earlier, the Chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Rogozin, spoke about plans to design "an unparalleled hypersonic bomber." This statement finally lost its relevance when the Air Force command chose the "flying wing" scheme ( the fact is that an aircraft built according to this aerodynamic scheme is subsonic by definition). So Russia took the path of creating a cheaper analogue of the B-2. The aircraft will be comparable in performance with the LRS-B, but the domestic aircraft will appear a little later.
In 2012 the commander long-range aviation Lieutenant General Anatoly Zhikharev said that the PAK DA will enter the Air Force in 2020. This forecast looks unlikely - a more realistic date for the arrival of the machine in the part is seen in the middle or even the end of the 2020s.
Experts believe that the takeoff weight of the machine may exceed 120 tons, and the flight range will reach 10 thousand km, the maximum speed will be about 950 km/h. It is known that the engine for the combat aircraft will be created on the basis of the Tu-160 power plant. The United Engine Corporation explained that "this will be a new engine based on the unified gas generator NK-32 of the second stage." It will be created by the efforts of OAO Kuznetsov. It is clear that there is no photo yet, well, or not yet available to us.

New bombers of the 21st century photo , you can easily imagine what a strategic bomber will look like in ten or fifteen years. Much harder to imagine combat vehicle distant future. And here we can distinguish two aspects: improving flight performance and focusing on drones. If the first aircraft built using stealth technology did not shine with their characteristics, then the bomber of the future will not only be inconspicuous, but also hypersonic. If the pictures seem futuristic to some, take a look at the top of the B-2 Spirit, launched in the series more than a quarter of a century ago, and has already been discontinued.

The concept of an aircraft built according to the "flying wing" scheme

Hypersonic is considered a speed exceeding 5 M. To achieve such speeds, a special hypersonic ramjet engine (scramjet) is needed. It is a variant of the ramjet engine, featuring supersonic flow in the combustion chamber. The fact is that when it comes to high flight speed, it is necessary to avoid braking the incoming air and burn fuel in a supersonic air stream.

Falcon HTV-2 hypersonic aircraft

Another part of the Rapid Global Strike initiative is the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon. Development is carried out under the auspices ground forces USA.

X-51A hypersonic flight. Powered by Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne SJY61 scramjet engine, accelerates to Mach 6

The AHW high-precision warhead has a biconical shape and four aerodynamic surfaces. To hit a target at a distance of 6 thousand km, he will need no more than 35 minutes. There is an opinion, look here =>>, flying at hypersonic speed.

The five best bombers built in the 20th century were selected by the experts of the American military analytical magazine (NI) according to the criterion "efficiency - cost" and design innovation for their time. According to the publication, the leaders of the bomber aircraft industry of all times and peoples can be considered the English Handley Page type O / 400 of the First World War, the German Junkers Yu-88, the British de Havilland DH-98 Mosquito and Avro 683 Lancaster of the Second World War, and also the American B-52 Stratofortress (“Stratofortress”) of the Cold War era.

First of World War I

Handley Page type O/400

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In the first place, according to NI, was the English front-line bomber Handley Page type O / 400 - the most massive twin-engine bomber of the First World War.

The car was equipped with two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines (322 hp), the takeoff weight of the aircraft was 6370 kg, maximum speed - 147 km / h, flight duration - 8 hours, armament - 5 machine guns and 820 kg of bombs.

A total of 554 machines of this type were built. They were actively used on the Western Front. Separate copies served in Macedonia and Palestine. From August 1918, Handley Page O/400s regularly bombed German industrial centers in the Saar and the Rhineland. The British began to use super-heavy 750-kilogram bombs on them. By the beginning of November 1918, there were 258 Handley Page O/400s at the front. In 1920, the aircraft was removed from service.

Universal German

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In second place among the outstanding bombers was the German Junkers. Junkers Ju-88 - Luftwaffe multi-purpose aircraft during the Second World War. One of the most versatile aircraft of that war. The Ju-88 was used as a bomber, dive bomber, reconnaissance, torpedo bomber and night fighter.

"Junkers" rightfully became one of the most famous aircraft of the Second World War. From 1937 to 1944, about 3 thousand changes were made to the original design of the high-speed bomber, which led to the creation of six basic designs and more than 60 modifications. The most massive was the modification of the Ju-88A-4 bomber. The total number of all produced aircraft exceeded 15 thousand pieces.

With good reason, the Junkers Ju-88 can be considered the best among the massive twin-engine bombers of the Luftwaffe - and one of the best aircraft of the Second World War in its class. Wide application also found fighter variants of the Ju-88. For example, the Ju-88G became the best German night fighter.

Ju-88 was exported. Its first buyer was the Soviet Union, where in 1940 three Ju-88A were delivered for testing.

The Romanian Air Force began to receive Ju-88A and D in the spring of 1943. From the end of 1942, the Hungarian Air Force received a total of up to 100 Ju-88A and D. In the spring of 1943, Finland delivered 24 Ju-88A-4. 31 Ju-88A were transferred to Italy in the summer of 1943, but after the surrender of this country, the Germans took their planes back. In France, the Ju-88А-4 (22 aircraft) abandoned on the territory of the country entered service with the bomber group formed in September 1944.

Spain, which remained neutral, regularly interned German planes that made emergency landings on its territory. Thanks to this, Madrid received about ten Ju-88s - mostly reconnaissance modifications. In addition, in December 1943, 10 Ju-88A-4s were purchased from Germany, and subsequently 18 more of these aircraft. Ju-88s served in Spain until 1957.

Unreachable Englishman

de Havilland DH-98 Mosquito

Paul Le Roy

In third place, NI experts put the English de Havilland DH-98 Mosquito, a high-speed bomber and night fighter from World War II. Perhaps this is one of the most successful types of aircraft produced by the Allies at that time.

The De Havilland DH-98 Mosquito was a twin-engine high-wing aircraft powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin XXI (1350 hp) engines. Its maximum speed reached 680 km / h, flight range - 3010 km. The bomb load was 900 kg. The crew is two people.

The design of the aircraft used a thick three-layer skin with outer layers of plywood and an inner layer of balsa with spruce inserts for strength, pasted over with fabric. This allowed Mosquito to achieve the required strength with a low weight of the structure.

The German radars did not detect these aircraft, since the Mosquito had only engines and some controls made of metal.

The lightness of the design, the careful finishing of the surface of the wings, the aerodynamic perfection of the outlines of the machine made this aircraft practically inaccessible to the enemy.

Mosquito carried out point bombing, and were also used as target designators during night bombing of German cities. The bomber variant lacked the defensive small arms typical of the bombers of that time. Nevertheless, losses among Mosquitos were among the lowest of all aircraft of World War II - 11 per 1,000 sorties. The speed and altitude of the flight made them less vulnerable to both German fighters and fire. anti-aircraft artillery. The most common RAF combat report was: "Mission completed, all Mosquitos returned to base."

More than 7,000 Mosquitos have been built by de Havilland for Great Britain and other Allied nations. After the war, Mosquitos were in service with Israel, the People's Republic of China, Yugoslavia, and the Dominican Republic.

The workhorse of the Royal Air Force

Avro 683 Lancaster

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In fourth place is the English Avro 683 Lancaster. The Avro 683 Lancaster B.Mk1 aircraft was equipped with four Rolls-Royce Merlin XXIV engines (1640 hp). Max Speed the car was 462 km / h at an altitude of 3500 m. Flight range - 4072 km with 3175 kg of bombs.

Defensive armament - 8 Browning machine guns of 7.7 mm caliber. A total of 7374 Lancaster bombers were produced. This aircraft is called the "workhorse" of the Royal Air Force in World War II. From mid-1942 until victory day, it was the main weapon of the Bomber Command in night raids on targets in Germany.

The heaviest bomb dropped from a Lancaster during World War II was the 9,988-pound Grand Slam, which fell to the ground faster than sound.

The Lancaster could carry a much more powerful bomb load than the American B-17 Flying Fortress or B-24 Liberator, and had a significantly greater range. From 1942 to 1945, Lancaster bombing raids resulted in the destruction of many German cities and the deaths of thousands of German civilians.

At the same time, complex and expensive heavy four-engined Lancasters were easily destroyed by relatively cheap German fighters. Air battles were fought under conditions very favorable to the Luftwaffe, as damaged German aircraft could land at their departure airfields, and German pilots ejected with a parachute, as a rule, returned to service.

Lancaster finally retired in the early 1960s. In the Canadian Air Force he long time after World War II, it was used as a reconnaissance aircraft and a base patrol aircraft.

Fortress in the stratosphere

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

In fifth place is the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (“Stratofortress”). Born after World War II, these aircraft still form the basis of US strategic bomber aviation and represent the military power of the superpower. The B-52 prototype made its first flight in the spring of 1952. This is a subsonic aircraft with a high aspect ratio swept wing. Bicycle chassis. Under each console of an extremely flexible wing, eight turbojet engines are placed in pairs on pylons.

The B-52 was designed as a high-altitude attack bomber using free-falling nuclear bombs.

Disastrous experience combat use B-29 in North Korea in 1950 clearly demonstrated that the United States urgently needed a new strategic bomber. The first two generations of aircraft chosen by the USAF proved almost equally unsuitable for this role—the hopeless B-36, the short-range B-47, the questionable B-58, and the obsolete before the XB-70 entered service.

In the 1950s, the only supersonic bomber in the West, the Convair B-58 Hustler with a delta wing, took off for the first time. He had a flight range insufficient to carry out strategic tasks. The daily operation of the B-58 was considered much more dangerous business than a hypothetical encounter with an enemy fighter.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States made a costly attempt to build the North American XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic strategic bomber capable of replacing the B-52. The plane was born in painful disputes between the customer, the manufacturer and the US Congress. Some believed that the intercontinental ballistic missile perform the task more successfully than a bulky and vulnerable aircraft. According to others, the B-70's speed and altitude are too high for it to accurately drop bombs. Still others believed that the machine would become obsolete even before the designers coped with the mass of purely technical problems. The first flight of the B-70 took place almost ten years after the start of development. A year later, the second prototype crashed as a result of a collision with an accompanying fighter. Work on the B-70 was discontinued.

Now the cost of the B-70 is assessed as a waste of taxpayers' money.

Aircraft B-52 in the late 1960s - early 1970s were actively used in combat operations in South-East Asia to perform operations under the generic code name Arclight. The planes participating in the operations were stationed at Andersen (Guam Island), Utapao (Thailand) and Kadena (Okinawa Island) air bases. In December 1972, one of the largest air operations was carried out under the code name Linebacker II against Hanoi, Haiphong and other North Vietnamese cities. More than 200 B-52 aircraft that took part in the operation carried out over 729 sorties and dropped 13,620 tons of bombs.

During the 1991 Gulf War, 70 B-52s were used to bomb Iraq. According to the Americans, the B-52 was one of the aircraft most frequently requested by the ground forces to suppress Iraqi ground forces.

During the Iraq War in 2004, a B-52 squadron made the longest flight in the history of air operations from the US mainland over a route of about 22,500 km. The planes were in the air for 34 hours and 20 minutes.

Four in-flight refuelings were carried out.

Several record flights demonstrated the outstanding tactical performance of the B-52 bomber back in the 1950s. On January 18, 1957, three B-52 bombers flew around the world, flying 39,750 km in 45 hours and 19 minutes at average speed 850 km/h. On January 11, 1962, the B-52 aircraft set a distance record without in-flight refueling, covering 20,168 km in 22 hours and 9 minutes.

From 1954 to 1963, 742 B-52s were delivered to the US Air Force. Seventy-eight remain in service with Bomber Air Command today, having undergone multiple upgrades over the past decades that will extend the aircraft's service into the 2030s and 2040s.

Consolation Prizes for Russian Bears

In addition to five prizes, experts from The National Interest decided to establish incentive awards. Among the additional nominees were two Russian bombers - Tu-22M and Tu-95, one British, carrier-based attack aircraft of the US Navy, a US unmanned aerial vehicle and an Italian bomber from the First World War.

Tu-95 (codified by Bear - “Bear”) is a Soviet and Russian turboprop strategic bomber-missile carrier, the world's fastest propeller-driven aircraft. Until now, the world's only serial bomber and missile carrier with turboprop engines. The total number of developed variants of the Tu-95 aircraft, including serial modifications, prototypes, flying laboratories and unrealized projects, has approached fifty, and the total number of aircraft produced has approached 500 units.

Tu-22M (according to NATO codification Backfire) is a Soviet long-range supersonic bomber with variable wing geometry. A total of 497 units were produced, of which 268 were in the Tu-22M3 variant.

January 9, 1941 first flight of British aircraft Avro Lancaster- one of the most productive bombers of the Second World War. Read more about iconic bomber models in our review.

Arado Ar 234 Blitz (Germany)

The world's first jet bomber, the Arado Ar 234 Blitz, has been in service with the Luftwaffe since 1944. It was equipped with two 20 mm MG 151 cannons and a bomb load of up to 1500 kg. The maximum speed of the aircraft was 742 km / h at an altitude of up to 6000 m. Initially, the car was used for reconnaissance purposes, and later began to deliver air strikes against the forces of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Avro 683 Lancaster (UK)

The heavy four-engine bomber Avro Lancaster, the main bomber of the RAF, first flew on January 9, 1941. More than 156,000 sorties were flown on Lancasters and more than 600,000 tons of bombs were dropped. It was equipped with four 1280 hp engines. The maximum combat load of the vehicle was 10 tons.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (USA)

The legendary B-17 "Flying Fortress" entered service with the US Air Force in 1938. During the war years, the aircraft proved to be incredibly reliable (there were cases when it returned to base with one working engine and almost completely destroyed skin) and an accurate bomber. It was equipped with nine 12.7 mm machine guns and could carry up to eight tons of bombs. The aircraft was equipped with four engines of 1200 horsepower each.

Pe-2 (USSR)

The most massive bomber of the Soviet Union Pe-2 made its first flight on December 22, 1939. The aircraft was equipped with two 1100-horsepower engines and was capable of accelerating to 542 km/h. 4 machine guns and up to 1 ton of bomb load were installed on it. From 1940 to 1945, about 12 thousand cars were produced.

Piaggio P.108 (Italy)

The Piaggio P.108 heavy bomber was developed in late 1939. Four modifications of the model were assembled at Piaggio: the P.108A anti-ship aircraft, the P.108B bomber (the most common), the P.108C passenger liner and the P.108T. Piaggio was one of the most powerful aircraft of World War II - it was equipped with four 1500-horsepower engines. Five 12.7 mm and two 7.7 mm machine guns were mounted on it. The vehicle could carry up to 3.5 tons of bombs.

PZL.37 Łoś (Poland)

The development of the PZL.37 Los bomber started in the early 1930s. A total of 7 prototypes were built, the most successful of which was the P.37/III. It was this model that was supplied to Spain, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Greece. It was equipped with two 1050-horsepower engines and was able to carry up to 1760 kg of bomb load.

Farman F.220 (France)

The Farman F.220 heavy bomber entered service with the French Air Force in 1936. The aircraft was equipped with four 950 hp engines. With. each. He was armed with three 7.5 mm machine guns and 4 tons of bomb cargo. Despite the fact that only 70 cars were created, they played a big role during the French campaign of 1940.

Mitsubishi Ki-21 (Japan)

The Ki-21 medium bomber was adopted by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937. Two 1500-horsepower Mitsubishi engines were installed on the aircraft. He was able to reach speeds of up to 490 km / h. The vehicle was armed with five machine guns and 1,000 kg of bombs.

Interesting models of "peaceful" aircraft can be found in our review.

The cold and hangover after Christmas are not terrible for Soviet scientists. Therefore, on January 17, 1970, they sent on their first flight a modernized thunderstorm of Russian bombers - the Su-24.

It was on this day that they decided to test a new aircraft technology - a variable sweep wing. The experiment ended successfully. Result - improved takeoff and landing characteristics (modification T6-2I). But not without flaws - such complex structure made the aircraft much heavier. Although, this did not prevent the Su-24 from becoming one of the best front-line bombers not only in Russia.

In honor of the first flight of the Soviet monster, the men's magazine MPORT decided to recall ten more cool bombers in the world. These killers are the real masters of the sky.

Boeing B-17

The Boeing B-17 is the first serial American all-metal heavy four-engine bomber. This 30-ton monster with full ammunition (up to 8 tons of bombs with 13 defensive machine guns of 12.7 mm caliber) is capable of accelerating to 515 kilometers per hour. It is distinguished by its special accuracy of hitting, as it is equipped with the Norden system, which allows you to aim directly at the target from a height of seven kilometers.

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Handley Page 0/400

Why not remember Hardley Page 0/400 - one of the dads of modern bombers. It was hard for the pilots on board this old man: he climbed 1500 meters for 23 minutes, accelerated to only 160 km / h. And its armament is not the best - only 907 kilograms of bomb load and 5 defensive machine guns of 7.7 mm caliber. Although, if not for Ilya Muromets (Russian aircraft), Hardley Page would have become the best bomber of the First World War.

Source: nationalmuseum.af.mil

Junkers Yu-88

The Germans have always been inventive. This was especially felt by their opponents during World War II: the poor fellows had to face fascist firepower not only on the ground (the legendary Tiger and Panther tanks), but also in the air. Junkers Ju-88 is not just a flying horror of the Luftwaffe, but one of the most versatile aircraft of this war. It was used as a high-speed bomber, reconnaissance, torpedo bomber, night fighter and as part of a flying bomb. This monster significantly surpassed its time, for which it became one of the famous aircraft in the world and entered our chart.

Source: historyofwar.org

The Tu-95 has many advantages. Chief among them - he became the first mass-produced turboprop bomber, put into service; can at any time of the day and at any weather conditions hit the target with cruise missiles. Combat payload - 12 tons.

On July 30, 2010, a world record was set: this bomber flew 30,000 kilometers over three oceans in 43 hours without a single landing. Refueled four times.

Source: airliners.net

Boeing B-47

In the 1940s, the American aviation corporation Boeing developed a special aerodynamic scheme, which later began to be used on all passenger aircraft - placing engines in pylons under the wing. The first airliner in which the scheme was applied was the Boeing B-47 jet bomber. The vehicle accelerates to 975 km/h, the combat load is 11 tons, there is a defensive tail mount with two 20 mm cannons.

Source: crash-aerien.aero

Avro Lancaster

Recently, the men's magazine MPORT already wrote about Avro Lancaster, the first test flight of which took place on January 9th in 1941. In addition to four heavy-duty engines, it has another advantage - the aircraft can be armed with a special bomb weighing 10 tons, or 6350 kilograms of conventional bombs and 8 rifle-caliber defensive machine guns can be placed on board.

Source: diracdelta.co.uk

Boeing B-52

Well, how can one not recall the B-52, which has been in service with the US Air Force since 1955 to this day. At a speed of over a thousand kilometers and an altitude of up to 15 kilometers, the aircraft can carry up to 31 tons of weapons (including nuclear weapons), equipped with one automatic six-barreled 20 mm cannon.

The B-52, like the Tu-95, holds the record for the longest flight range among combat aircraft. Not surprising, because both bombers were developed in order to convey nuclear bombs to other continents (arms race during the Cold War).