What is your favorite WWII medium bomber?

I am glad you had the B-25 Mitchell on the list.

Brigadier General William “Billy” Mitchell too often is ignored by history, as is his namesake bomber…

Yeah, thanks for the two votes. Both of mine were on there. If anyone votes “other” they should tell us what they wanted that wasn’t listed!

I voted for the B-25 Mitchell and the SM-79 Sparveiro.  Aside from being the bomber used for the Doolittle Raid, the B-25 in its developed versions could carry up to 14 .50 caliber machine guns and a 75mm cannon, an enormous amount of firepower for an aircraft, plus still carry a 2,000 pound bomb load.  Masthead height attacks on Japanese ships were very deadly.

The SM-79 was viewed by the British as the best torpedo plane of the war, and that is high praise, considering that they experienced the attentions of just about every Axis torpedo plane in the war.  It took a considerable toll on the Malta convoys, and was effective as well as a standard bomber.

He-111 best looking bomber around. I love the profile of that ship.

@Imperious:

He-111 best looking bomber around. I love the profile of that ship.

Oh I know!! I freaking love the look of that thing. Too bad they really didn’t update it as well as they could have. That thing should have been bristling with better machine guns. I was building a model of it but gave up for now. The cockpit alone took me almost 2 months. Arrrr!

My “other bomber” would be the Memphis Belle.

@dinosaur:

My “other bomber” would be the Memphis Belle.

See that IS MY FIRST CHOICE. My ALL TIME FAVE is the B-17f. But that’s a heavy bomber.

@ABWorsham:

Which older U.S bomber was majorly exported to U.S.S.R? My limited time last night kept me from further researching this question.

The USSR received a lot of B-25 bombers via Lend-Lease, along with a lot of A-20 Havoc light bombers. Somewhere in my files I think that I have the exact number of each.

B-25 Mitchell for all the reasons above noted.

Bristol Beaufighter.

Gotta agree on the B-25.  I read a book a couple of years ago but don’t remember exactly what it was called, but it was good.  Wasn’t it the most prevalent US bomber or something?

And what distinction is made between a medium and heavy bomber?  Payload?

@Jermofoot:

Gotta agree on the B-25.  I read a book a couple of years ago but don’t remember exactly what it was called, but it was good.  Wasn’t it the most prevalent US bomber or something?

And what distinction is made between a medium and heavy bomber?  Payload?

I would say payload is one of the main things. Also, most all bombers considererd “heavies” were four engine planes at that time.

Payload and mission objectives.

Heavy Bombers were viewed as strategic bombers while Medium Bombers were viewed as tactical bombers.

While my second pic of the Beaufighter was more of a heavy fighter than a medium bomber I would have to give a big nod to the JU88 for filling the role of the B-25. A twin engine airframe that seemed inifitley adaptable to a multitude of tasks.

General Mitchell would be pleased to know that all these years later his namesake bomber is still highly regarded.

“In the development of airpower, one has to look ahead and not backward and figure out what is going to happen, not too much of what has happened.”

“It is probable that future war will be conducted by a special class, the Air Force, as it was by the armored knights of the Middle Ages”

Both quotes:  Brigadier General William “Billy” Mitchell from his book “Winged Defense” 1924

The Mitchell was absolutely a wonderful machine with a nice range, payload and fire power. I can see why it’s winning. I would go so far as to say it’s the best medium bomber of WW2. Being partial to German aircraft, I love the JU-88 becuase it was so manueverable, it was used as a fighter many times. Dubbed “The wonder bomber”, its different variants failed, in my opinion to have adequate defensive guns for most, if not all of the war. It had 2 trainable 7.92 rear firing machine guns, one in the belly gondola and depending on the variant, up to 4 fixed guns in the nose & one fixed or trainable protuding out of the front canopy for a total of up to 5 frontal weapons. It’s a gorgeous plane.

I think they could have done better. My same opinion stands with the HE-111. The Browning 50 calibur with incinderary and armor piercing rounds had an excellent range and could fire more belt fed rounds in a trainable version as opposed to the 70 round saddle drum used in the 7.92.

I love the Ju-88 and 87 for their accuracy in bombing. Germany believed in dive bombers fanatically. I would go so far as to say the JU-87 Stuka was the best ground support bomber of the entire war because of it’s ability to work in such close proximity with friendly units.

@ABWorsham:

The He-111’s designers made the mistake in thinking that bombers could fly at fighter speed. The He-111 was an awesome plane in the Spanish Civil War; however the years between that war and the War of 1939 caught up with the He-111.

I believe the Ju-88 was the first German bomber not built under the cloak of the German ‘Express Air Mail Service’.

This is very true. We have to remember the beautiful HE-111 was originally a frickin passenger plane hiding under Germany’s cloak of military build up for conversion to bomber.