Battles & Wars › World War I › Warplanes (military aircraft)
Strategic bomber
Ilya Muromets raids 1915; Gotha raids on London 1917· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
A long-range bomber built to strike an enemy's homeland, its factories, transport and cities, rather than troops at the front.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Russia's Sikorsky Ilya Muromets, the first four-engine bomber, flew raids from 1915. German Zeppelins and then Gotha bombers struck Britain; one Gotha raid on June 13, 1917, killed 162 people in London. In World War II British Lancasters bombed Germany at night and American B-17s and B-24s by day, while B-29s burned Japanese cities. Allied raids killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Germany and Japan; estimates vary. After 1945, the B-52 and B-2 carried nuclear deterrence.
Why it matters
It turned factories and civilians into targets, made the home front a battlefield, and became the first way to deliver nuclear weapons.
How we know
Raid records of the RAF and US Army Air Forces, German and Japanese civil records, and the US Strategic Bombing Survey of 1945–46.
Still debated
How much bombing shortened the war is debated. German war output rose until late 1944, but the 1944–45 attacks on oil and railways badly damaged the economy.
Connections (6)
▸Strategic bomber struck civilians in the Bombing of GuernicaWell documented
The connection
On April 26, 1937, German Condor Legion and Italian bombers, supporting Franco, attacked the Basque town of Guernica for about three hours. They were medium bombers, not true long-range ones, and the stated target was a bridge, but much of the town burned. Picasso's painting made it the symbol of bombing civilians, a preview of World War II.
When and how
Guernica (Gernika), Basque Country, Spain, April 26, 1937; the Condor Legion under Wolfram von Richthofen, and Italy's Aviazione Legionaria.
How we know
George Steer's eyewitness report in The Times, Richthofen's diary, Condor Legion records and survivor testimony. Franco's side at first denied the bombing.
Debates and open questions
Deaths are disputed, from about 150 to the Basque government's figure of over 1,600. Whether the aim was the bridge or terror is debated.
▸Strategic bomber delivered both bombs (B-29s) in the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiWell documented
The connection
Each atomic bomb weighed about 4.5 tonnes, and only the B-29 could carry one the roughly 2,400 km from Tinian to Japan. Specially modified B-29s of the 509th Composite Group flew the missions: Enola Gay dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima, and Bockscar dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki after clouds hid Kokura. Japan announced its surrender on August 15.
When and how
Tinian, Mariana Islands, to Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), 1945; Colonel Paul Tibbets and Major Charles Sweeney.
How we know
Mission logs, crew accounts, strike photographs, and American and Japanese damage surveys.
Debates and open questions
Whether the bombs or the Soviet declaration of war on August 8 did more to force Japan's surrender is debated by historians such as Tsuyoshi Hasegawa.
▸Cavity magnetron and the Tizard Mission guided the night raids of the Strategic bomberWell documented
The connection
The magnetron powered H2S, a downward-looking radar that showed bomber navigators a rough map of coastlines, rivers and towns through cloud and darkness. RAF Bomber Command first used it in January 1943; US bombers used a version called H2X. Germany recovered a magnetron from a bomber shot down near Rotterdam in February 1943.
When and how
Over Germany, January 1943 onward; RAF Bomber Command's Pathfinder Force, and the US Eighth Air Force with H2X from late 1943.
How we know
RAF operational records, the Telecommunications Research Establishment's papers, and German reports on the captured 'Rotterdam device'.
Debates and open questions
H2S was poor at finding small targets; how much it improved bombing results, versus simply allowing raids in bad weather, is debated.
▸Boeing built the B-17 and B-52, icons of the Strategic bomberWell documented
The connection
Boeing's B-17 Flying Fortress carried the US daylight bombing campaign over Europe from 1942, often at heavy cost: 60 bombers were lost on one 1943 Schweinfurt raid. Its B-29 bombed Japan. The B-52 Stratofortress, 744 built by 1962, became the backbone of the nuclear bomber force and is planned to fly into the 2050s.
When and how
Seattle and Wichita plants, 1935–62; the US Eighth Air Force over Germany, 1942–45; Strategic Air Command, from 1955.
How we know
Production records, US Air Force histories and loss records, and current Air Force plans for B-52 upgrades.
Debates and open questions
How well daylight 'precision' bombing worked is debated; the postwar Strategic Bombing Survey found bombs often missed and German output rose until late 1944.
▸North American Aviation and the P-51 Mustang flew long-range escort for the Strategic bomberWell documented
The connection
US daylight bombers suffered terrible losses over Germany in 1943, as at Schweinfurt in October, because escorts could not go the distance. From December 1943 Merlin-engined P-51s escorted B-17s and B-24s, and by March 1944 they flew with them to Berlin and back. In early 1944 General Jimmy Doolittle freed them to hunt German fighters, wearing down the Luftwaffe.
When and how
Over Germany, December 1943 – 1945; the US Eighth Air Force under General Jimmy Doolittle, and P-51 fighter groups based in England.
How we know
Eighth Air Force loss rates fell sharply in 1944, and German records show heavy fighter-pilot losses that spring.
Debates and open questions
Some historians argue the Luftwaffe's collapse owed as much to fuel shortages and poor pilot training as to Mustang escorts.
▸Ford's Willow Run B-24 bomber plant mass-produced the B-24, most-built US Strategic bomberWell documented
The connection
The B-24 Liberator was a long-range, four-engine heavy bomber designed by Consolidated in San Diego. Ford's Willow Run built more than any other plant. More than 18,000 B-24s were built, more than any other US military aircraft; they bombed Europe and the Pacific and hunted U-boats over the Atlantic.
When and how
Willow Run, Michigan, 1942–45; Consolidated in San Diego and Fort Worth, Douglas in Tulsa and North American in Dallas also built B-24s.
How we know
Army Air Forces and manufacturers' production records give the totals.
Debates and open questions
Many crews preferred the B-17, which was easier to fly and took damage better; which bomber was better is still argued.