Bomber B

Bomber B was a German project dating to just before the start of World War II to develop a second-generation high-speed bomber that would replace all medium and heavy bombers then in service with the Luftwaffe. The RLM was so hopeful about the outcome that more modest projects were generally cancelled outright, so when the project eventually failed to deliver a working design the Luftwaffe was left with hopelessly outdated aircraft, almost a decade old.

The main problem for aircraft designers in the 1930s was a lack of engine power. Construction methods had progressed to the point where airframes could be built at any required size, but the engines needed to lift them were not available. Several attempts to make very large bombers were attempted in several countries, but generally resulted in designs that were so slow that they were easily caught. It was not until the four-engine Avro Lancaster arrived in 1942 that a truely capable heavy bomber was available. Other designers opted for alternate solutions, the US on heavy defensive firepower as seen on the B-17, and Germany on their schnellbomber concept, high-speed mediums that were supposed to simply outrun the defending fighters.

In 1936 the RLM had started the competition for the first purpose-designed schnellbomber, eventually selecting the Junkers Ju 88 over a number of competitors. However the tradeoffs for speed were serious, the Ju 88 was a small aircraft, carrying a fairly small load internally, or a larger one externally that dramatically reduced performance. In addition the limited engine power meant that the plane could not lift a reasonable warload and the fuel needed to carry it any distance, so the Ju 88 had a fairly limited combat range that hampered its effectiveness. In order to make up for its shortcomings, a number of other aircraft such as the He 111 and Do 17 were also pressed into service to fill particular performance niches, a problem no-one in the Luftwaffe was at all happy with.

In the second half of the 1930's a new generation of very-large engines started development, and the equasions started to change. Dailmer-Benz was offering the DB 604 and Junkers their Jumo 222, both of which planned on delivering 2,500hp to start with. Compared to the Jumo 211's in the Ju 88, these new engines would over double the power available. With this sort of power a significantly more capable design could be built, one with considerably larger internal space for a much large bombload, considerably more fuel for longer range, and even better speed.

Junkers had been studying dramatically more capable versions of the Ju 88 powered by their Jumo 222 from late 1937. No serious work was undertaken, but after Heinrich Hertel left Heinkel and joined Junkers in 1939, their EF 74 design was re-submitted in May 1939. Accordingly the RLM sent out the specifications for Bomber B in July 1939, the Ju 88 retroactively becoming Bomber A. Bomber B called for a new medium with a maximum speed of 600km/h (373mph), able to carry a bomb load of 4000kg (8,820lbs) to any part of Britain from bases in France or Norway. To improve crew performance and defensive firepower, the designs were to have a pressurized cabin with remote control armament. With the extended range, larger payload and better performance, the Bomber B design would replace all existing bombers in service.

Arado, Dornier, Focke-Wulf and Junkers all responded with designs, and Henschel later added an entry as well. However it was clear even at this point that the call for designs was to some extent a formality, the Junkers design had already been selected for production. The Ar 340 was dropped in the design stage and Do 317 was put on low-prioriy development, while prototype orders were placed for the Fw 191 and newly-named Ju 288. With the Focke-Wulf and Dornier projects as first and second backups, the T-Amt then started using these other designs as experimental testbeds. For instance, as the aircraft would be operating at high altitudes, they suggested that all hydraulic systems on the Fw 191 be replaced with electical ones instead, to avoid the possibility of freezing up. However this dramatically increased the complexity of wiring the planes, and the chance that one of the many motors would fail was considerable. But that was not terribly important, the Junkers design would work anyway.

Prototype airframes of both designs were ready mid-1940, but in a taste of things to come, neither the Jumo or DB engines were ready to be installed. Instead of waiting, both teams decided to power their prototypes with the BMW 801 radial engine, although with 900hp less per engine, the planes would be seriously underpowered. The first 222's did not arrive until October 1941, and by this point the DB project had already been cancelled. By May 1942 things were getting desperate, and it was suggested that the Dailmer-Benz DB 606 be used instead, even though it was considerably larger and heavier. Prototypes of both designs with these engines were ordered, although the Fw was just getting into the air with the 801s at this point and the 288 was showing a continual tendancy to break its landing gear on touchdown. Desperation set in at the RLM, who had no other designs in the pipe to fill the gap left if Bomber B didn't work. A slightly improved Ju 88 was ordered as the Ju 188, and several prototypes of "stretched" versions of existing bomber designs with four engines were also ordered.

In June 1943 the T-Amt finally gave up; by this point even if the Jumo 222 started working reliably, as it had been recently, a shortage of the metals needed for the high-temperature alloys it used meant it wouldn't be able to enter production anyway. The Bomber B project was a massive and amazingly costly venture that delivered nothing, while also serving to ensure that no other designs were available in the late-1943 time-frame when their existing planes started to become hopelessly outdated.