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119-641: The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited . Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Rex Pierson , Vickers' chief designer. Only a handful of Vickers Vimy aircraft had entered service by the time the Armistice of 11 November 1918 came into effect, so

238-647: A combat radius of 4,480 miles (7,210 km). During World War II, mass production techniques made available large, long-range heavy bombers in such quantities as to allow strategic bombing campaigns to be developed and employed. This culminated in August 1945, when B-29s of the United States Army Air Forces dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The arrival of nuclear weapons and guided missiles permanently changed

357-426: A bomber force, but their comparatively low range and loiter time made it impossible to keep a constant combat air patrol over hundreds of miles of ocean. The range of anti-ship missiles also typically put bombers out of range of fighters launching once a raid was detected, nullifying a major part of the fleet's anti-air defences. The ability to bring real time intelligence from long range radars and satellite imaging to

476-744: A bombing raid by German bombers on London, the Air Board , having determined that existing projects were not ambitious enough, decided to cancel all orders for experimental heavy bombers then underway. A week later, following protests from the Controller of the Technical Department, the Air Board placed an order for 100 Handley Page O/100 bombers, which was accompanied by orders for prototype heavy bombers being placed with both Handley Page and Vickers Limited . On 16 August 1917 Vickers

595-499: A coordinated attack which leads to defensive fire being wasted on the same targets. Networking also brings information from airborne radar, giving vastly longer range than any ship board radar could achieve due to the radar horizon. Additionally modern communication and intelligence tools make carrier fleets harder to attack than in previous decades. The challenge for a carrier in the 1970s was in effectively using its air arm against incoming bombers. Fighters could cause huge casualties in

714-499: A disadvantage. Missiles and supersonic aircraft are very difficult targets to hit and even the most advanced systems cannot provide certainty of interception. During the Cold War the gulf was at its most pronounced, with saturation missile attacks a major concern but the gulf has closed a little in recent time. The advent of phased array radar on ships allow them to track and target a far larger number of targets at one time, increasing

833-443: A few hits to make an attack successful. The major change is that attackers now need to invest more resources into each attack. Larger formations of aircraft are needed to successfully saturate defences, but if this can be achieved then the aircraft will cause very significant damage. Even a single missile may be able to penetrate defences and sink a ship and even the most successful defence systems cannot guarantee an interception, simply

952-590: A few landed safely at RAF bases in Cyprus and some in Turkey, where they were interned. Only 33 were undamaged. Damage to the refineries was soon repaired and oil production actually increased. By October 1942, a new Ford Motor Company plant at Willow Run Michigan was assembling Liberators. Production reached a rate of over one an hour in 1944 helping the B-24 to become the most produced US aircraft of all time. It became

1071-709: A front line bomber in the Middle East and in the United Kingdom from 1919 until 1925, by which point it had been replaced by the newer Vickers Virginia . Despite the emergence of the Virginia, which numerous Vimy squadrons were soon re-equipped with, the Vimy continued to equip a Special Reserve bomber squadron, 502 Squadron , stationed at Aldergrove in Northern Ireland until 1929. The Vimy continued to be used in secondary roles, such as its use as

1190-487: A higher likelihood of one. Most naval vessels today are equipped with long range anti-surface missiles such as Harpoon and Exocet which are capable of crippling or destroying enemy ships with a single hit. These can be fired from vertical launch systems or from stand alone launch tubes and are designed to attack other warships. Smaller ships such as the US Navy's littoral combat ship make use of smaller missiles, such as

1309-517: A larger-diameter fuselage (largely of spruce plywood), which was developed at and first flew from the Joyce Green airfield in Kent on 13 April 1919. Initially, it bore the interim civil registration K-107 , later being re-registered as G-EAAV . The prototype entered the 1920 race to Cape Town; it left Brooklands on 24 January 1920 but crashed at Tabora , Tanganyika on 27 February. In 1919,

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1428-691: A lot to Sikorsky's ideas; of similar size, it used just two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines and could carry up to 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs. The O/100 was designed at the beginning of the war for the Royal Navy specifically to sink the German High Seas Fleet in Kiel: the Navy called for “a bloody paralyser of an aircraft” Entering service in late 1916 and based near Dunkirk in France, it

1547-400: A pair of Scarff ring -mounted Lewis guns ; the rear cockpit mounting was commonly not fitted during the interwar period. Provision for a maximum of four spare drums of ammunition were present in the nose position, while up to six drums could be carried in the rear position. The majority of the Vimy's payload of 250 lb (110 kg) bombs were stowed vertically inside the fuselage between

1666-402: A pair of 400 hp (300 kW) Fiat A.12 engines, and had a redesigned nose section and nacelles which were similar to production aircraft. On 15 August 1918 the third prototype was sent to RAF Martlesham Heath for performance tests; testing was delayed by the need to replace a cracked propeller . On 11 September 1918 it was lost when its payload of bombs detonated owing to a hard landing,

1785-406: A pair of tubular steel V-struts. There is a tail-skid and an additional skid mounted below the nose of the fuselage to prevent nose-overs. The aircraft was designed to accommodate a three-man crew and a payload of 12 bombs. In addition to the pilot's cockpit, which was positioned just ahead of the wings, there were two positions for gunners , one behind the wings and the other in the nose, each with

1904-399: A part of many ships' weaponry. Weapons such as the 5-inch Mark 45 gun remain in service to provide artillery support against land targets but also with a function against surface ships. Missiles are typically a better weapon in terms of their destructive potential but cannon shells are much harder (if not impossible) to intercept with anti-missile defence systems and likely will not be seen on

2023-553: A primary school, and injured 432 in East London. Initially, defence against air attack was poor, but by May 19, 1918, when 38 Gothas attacked London, six were shot down and another crashed on landing. German aircraft companies also built a number of giant bombers, collectively known as the Riesenflugzeug . Most were produced in very small numbers from 1917 onwards and several never entered service. The most numerous were

2142-603: A projected force of 726 landplanes, in which the newly available Vimy would be a key aircraft due to its long-range capabilities. During August 1918, the application of floats to the Vimy was studied, but it is not known if any aircraft were ever so fitted. Throughout the 1920s, the Vimy formed the main heavy bomber force of the RAF; for some years, it was the only twin-engine bomber to be stationed at bases in Britain. On 1 April 1924, No. 9 Squadron and No. 58 Squadron , equipped with

2261-461: A range of 2,530 miles (4,070 km), while the B-29 (1944) delivered payloads in excess of 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) and had a range of 3,250 miles (5,230 km). By the late 1950s, the jet -powered Boeing B-52 Stratofortress , travelling at speeds of up to 650 miles per hour (1,050 km/h) (more than double that of a Lancaster), could deliver a payload of 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg), over

2380-465: A ship's potential firepower many times over. While an Arleigh Burke -class destroyer typically carries eight Harpoons ready to fire, it carries forty or more Standard missiles in its vertical launch cells. This also presents a Standard armed ship with the potential to attack a long range target without necessarily trying to sink it, something very valuable against non-military targets. While naval guns have largely been supplanted by missiles, guns remain

2499-515: A squadron of 10 was bombing German positions on the Eastern Front and by summer 1916 there were twenty. It was well-armed with nine machine guns, including a tail gun and initially was immune to German and Austro-Hungarian air attack. The Sikorsky bomber had a wingspan just a few feet shorter than that of a World War II Avro Lancaster , while being able to carry a bomb load of only 3% of the later aircraft. The Handley Page Type O /100 owed

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2618-455: A successful escape back to his base, but the bombers subsequently flew at much higher altitude to avoid ground fire, which greatly reduced their bombing accuracy and effectiveness. After numerous battles between Chinese warlords , all of the aircraft fell into the hands of the Fengtian clique, forming its First Heavy Bomber Group . These were in the process of being phased out at the time of

2737-522: A training aircraft; many were re-engined with Bristol Jupiter or Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial engines . The final Vimys, used as target aircraft for searchlight crews, remained in use until 1938. The most significant of the Vimy's many pioneering flights was the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean , made by Alcock and Brown in June 1919. An example was specially constructed for

2856-413: A war. This was certainly vindicated by the firebombing of Japanese cities and the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, as Japan's fragile housing and cottage industry made themselves easily vulnerable to attack, thus completely destroying Japanese industrial production (see Air Raids on Japan ). It was less evident that it held true for the bombing of Germany. During

2975-604: Is named in honour of the place the plane landed on its return to South Australia in 1920. In 1920 Lieutenant Colonel Pierre van Ryneveld and Major Quintin Brand attempted the first England to South Africa flight. They left Brooklands on 4 February 1920 in Vimy G-UABA, named Silver Queen . They landed safely at Heliopolis , but as they continued the flight to Wadi Halfa they were forced to land due to engine overheating with 80 miles (130 km) still to go. A second Vimy

3094-516: The AGM-114 Hellfire , in the surface-to-surface role that are less suited to attack warships but are still dangerous against fast attack craft or smugglers and pirates as well as land targets. A surface ship has several key disadvantages as a ship-to-ship missile platform compared to other combatants. Being close to the surface substantially reduces radar range due to the radar horizon which makes it harder to find targets and decreases

3213-665: The Allies on August 15, and the Japanese government subsequently signed the official instrument of surrender on September 2, 1945. After World War II, the name strategic bomber came into use, for aircraft that could carry aircraft ordnances over long distances behind enemy lines. They were supplemented by smaller fighter-bombers with less range and lighter bomb load, for tactical strikes. Later these were called strike fighters , attack aircraft and multirole combat aircraft . When North Korea attacked South Korea in 1950

3332-597: The Armistice with Germany). The Vimy's intended use was to bomb industrial and railway targets in western Germany, which it could reach with its range of 900 miles (1,400 km) and a bomb load of just over a ton. The Vickers Vimy is best known as the aircraft that made the first Atlantic crossing from St John's Newfoundland to Clifden in Ireland piloted by the Englishman John Alcock and navigated by Scot Arthur Whitten Brown on June 14, 1919. Between

3451-708: The B-1 , B-52 and B-2 have been retained for the role of carpet bombing in several conflicts. The most prolific example (in terms of total bomb tonnage) is the U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress during the 1960s–early 1970s Vietnam War era, in Operation Menu , Operation Freedom Deal , and Operation Linebacker II . In 1987 the Soviet Tu-160 —the heaviest supersonic bomber/aircraft currently in active service—entered service; it can carry twelve long-range cruise missiles. The 2010 New START agreement between

3570-473: The Battle of Vimy Ridge . By the end of 1918 a total of 13 aircraft had been completed by Vickers; 7 at Crayford and 6 at Weybridge. Production continued after the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 , which led to Vickers ultimately completing 112 aircraft under wartime contracts. The majority, if not all, of Vimys ordered from Morgan & Co were completed, while Westland Aircraft manufactured 25 of

3689-970: The Heinkel He 177 which saw only limited use against the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom ) was published. After Wever's death, Ernst Udet , development director at the Air Ministry steered the Luftwaffe towards dive bombers instead. When Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939, the RAF had no heavy bomber yet in service; heavy bomber designs had started in 1936 and ordered in 1938. The Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster both originated as twin-engine "medium" bombers, but were rapidly redesigned for four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and rushed into service once

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3808-538: The Junkers Ju 88 . Heavy bombers still needed defensive armament for protection, even at night. The Stirling's low operational ceiling of just 12,000 ft (3,700 m)—also caused by the thick wing—meant that it was usually picked on by night fighters; within five months, 67 of the 84 aircraft in service had been lost. The bomb bay layout limited the size and types of bombs carried and it was relegated to secondary duties such as tug and paratrooper transport. Due to

3927-595: The Mukden Incident and therefore were subsequently captured by the Japanese, who soon disposed of them. A replica transatlantic Vimy cockpit section was built by Vickers for the London Science Museum in the early 1920s, and three full-size replicas have also been built. The first was a taxiable replica commissioned by British Lion Films from Shawcraft Models Ltd of Iver Heath, Bucks; the planned film about Alcock & Brown's transatlantic flight

4046-594: The Supermarine Spitfire had very limited endurance. An early raid on Rouen-Sotteville rail yards in Brittany on August 17, 1942, required four Spitfire squadrons outbound and five more for the return trip. The USAAF chose to attack aircraft factories and component plants. On August 17, 1943, 230 Fortresses attacked a ball-bearing plant in Schweinfurt and again two months later, with 291 bombers, in

4165-703: The Yom Kippur War saw Israeli missile boats sink an equal number of Syrian boats by using electronic counter measures and chaff to successfully avoid missile fire, but modern missiles typically have additional guidance systems that make such defences much less effective. In a modern conflict anti-surface missiles would more likely be used against merchant shipping or auxiliary ships and only against similarly armed vessels when no other weapons are available. The arrival of networked weapon systems do potentially offer surface-to-surface missiles way to launch, using radar data from an aircraft or UAV to target missiles over

4284-468: The Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI of which 13 saw service, bombing Russia and London: four were shot down and six lost on landing. The R.VIs were larger than the standard Luftwaffe bombers of World War II. The Vickers Vimy , a long-range heavy bomber powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, was delivered to the newly formed Royal Air Force too late to see action (only one was in France at time of

4403-660: The second raid on Schweinfurt . The works was severely damaged but at a huge cost: 36 aircraft lost in the first raid, 77 in the second. Altogether 850 airmen were killed or captured; only 33 Fortresses returned from the October raid undamaged With the arrival of North American P-51 Mustangs and the fitting of drop tanks to increase the range of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt for the Big Week offensive, between February 20–25, 1944, bombers were escorted all

4522-512: The 10-ton Grand Slam could be carried. Barnes Wallis , deputy chief aircraft designer at Vickers , spent much time thinking about weapons that might shorten the war. He conceived his “Spherical Bomb, Surface Torpedo” after watching his daughter flip pebbles over water. Two versions of the ' bouncing bomb ' were developed: the smaller Highball was to be used against ships and attracted essential British Admiralty funding for his project. A 1,280 lb (580 kg) flying torpedo, of which half

4641-588: The 1930s in both military and civil capacities. Throughout the First World War both the Allied Powers and the Central Powers made increasingly sophisticated use of new technologies in their attempts to break through the effective stalemate of trench warfare . One key advance made during the conflict was in the use of fixed-wing aircraft , which were at that time rapidly advancing in capability, for combat purposes . On 23 July 1917, in response to

4760-577: The 300 hp (270 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, with a total of 776 ordered before the end of the First World War. Of these, only aircraft powered by the Eagle engine, known as the Vimy IV, were delivered to the RAF. Due to the number of engine types used there are multiple conflicting official reports on the production numbers of each sub-variant of the Vimy. Design and production of

4879-523: The 75 units that they were contracted for. The numbers produced by the RAE are obscured by changes in serial number allocation and the apparent adoption of a piecemeal approach to manufacturing, which came into effect shortly after the end of the war; in February 1920, the RAE completed their final Vimy. Production aircraft used several different types of engines, leading to various mark numbers being applied to

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4998-489: The Atlantic," but by the late 1980s, many advanced designs were approaching sound-output equivalent to a body of water the size of the sub. P-3 Orions or other ASW maritime patrol planes could deploy magnetic anomaly detectors or disposable sonobuoys , against which the concept of a submarine firing a SAM was generally considered a poor trade-off (the revelation of the submarine's location was not generally considered worth

5117-542: The B-17G model. In order to assemble combat boxes of several aircraft, and later combat wings formed of a number of boxes, assembly ships were used to speed up formation. Even this extra firepower, which increased empty weight by 20% and required more powerful versions of the Wright Cyclone engine, was insufficient to prevent serious losses in daylight. Escort fighters were needed but the RAF interceptors such as

5236-500: The Chinese Government placed a large order for aircraft with Vickers, including 100 Vimy Commercials, which was cut to 40 Vimy Commercials when the final contract was signed in 1920. A Chinese order for 100 is particularly noteworthy; forty of the forty-three built were delivered to China, but most remained in their crates unused, and only seven were put into civilian use. Five Napier Lion -powered air ambulance versions of

5355-413: The RAF. During the interwar period the Vimy set several records for long-distance flights, the most celebrated and significant of these being the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean , performed by John Alcock and Arthur Brown in June 1919. Other record-breaking flights were made from the United Kingdom to destinations such as South Africa and Australia. The Vimy continued to be operated until

5474-723: The Tirpitz on November 12, 1944. Upkeep, the larger version of the bouncing bomb , was used to destroy the Mohne and Eder dams by Lancasters from the specially recruited and trained No. 617 Squadron RAF , often known as "the Dam Busters", under Wing Commander Guy Gibson . In March and April 1945, as the war in Europe was ending, Lancasters dropped Grand Slams and Tallboys on U-boat pens and railway viaducts across north Germany. At Bielefeld more than 100 yards (91 m) of railway viaduct

5593-482: The Transatlantic and Australian flights, then retired in late 2009. Its final flight was made by John Dodd, Clive Edwards and Peter McMillan from Dunsfold to Brooklands on 15 November 2009 and four days later, in 18 hours, the aircraft was dismantled, transported the short distance to the museum and reassembled inside the main hangar by a dedicated volunteer team. Two days later a special Brooklands Vimy Exhibition

5712-551: The US after World War II envisioned that a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe would require a massive convoy effort to Europe to supply allied forces in theatre. Against this necessity of logistical and combat support, the Soviet Union expanded its submarine fleet, which in the event of hostilities may have been sufficient to deny the supply of material to the theatre. As military strategists often design counter-strategies to meet

5831-617: The USAF responded with daylight bomber raids on supply lines through North Korea. B-29 Superfortresses flew from Japan on behalf of the United Nations , but the supply line for North Korea's army from the Soviet Union was physically and politically out of reach: North Korea for the most part lacked worthwhile strategic targets of its own. The Soviet-backed Northern forces easily routed the South Korean army. The distance to North Korea

5950-589: The United States of America and the Russian Federation defined a "heavy bomber" by two characteristics: Some notable heavy bombers are listed below Anti-surface warfare Anti-surface warfare can be divided into four categories based on the platform from which weapons are launched : Anti-ship missiles include the Harpoon , RBS-15 , P-500 Bazalt , Penguin and Exocet . Following

6069-836: The Vimy Commercial were built for the RAF as the Vimy Ambulance. Fifty-five more bomber-transport versions of the Vimy Commercial were built for the RAF as the Vickers Vernon . After the First Zhili–Fengtian War , 20 Vimy Comercial were secretly converted into bombers under the order of the Zhili clique warlord Cao Kun , and later participated in the Second Zhili–Fengtian War . During the war these bombers were initially highly successful due to

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6188-480: The Vimy to distinguish between the emerging subtypes. The use of different engines was often because of availability; relatively few engines from Rolls-Royce Limited were used in the Vimy during 1918 owing to low output levels from that manufacturer, while other manufacturers also struggled to keep up with engine demand that year. At one point, there was considerable enthusiasm for powering the Vimy with American Liberty L-12 engines, because of their plentiful supply at

6307-555: The Vimy, stood up, tripling the home-based heavy bomber force. On 1 July 1923, a newly formed Night Flying Flight, based at RAF Biggin Hill , equipped with the Vimy, was formed; during the general strike of 1926 , this unit performed aerial deliveries of the British Gazette newspaper throughout the country. Between 1921 and 1926, the type formed the backbone of the airmail service between Cairo and Baghdad . The Vimy served as

6426-401: The absence of British heavy bombers, 20 United States Army Air Corps Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses were lent to the RAF, which during July 1941 commenced daylight attacks on warships and docks at Wilhelmshaven and Brest. These raids were complete failures. After eight aircraft were lost due to combat or breakdown and with many engine failures, the RAF stopped daylight bombing by September. It

6545-443: The aircraft to be unreliable, under-powered and hastened its withdrawal from service. Reaching squadrons early in 1942, the redesigned bomber with four Merlin engines and longer wings was renamed Avro Lancaster ; it could deliver a 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) load of bombs or up to 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) with special modifications. The Lancaster's bomb bay was undivided, so that bombs of extraordinary size and weight such as

6664-554: The attempt, with additional fuel tanks to extend its range and a revised undercarriage. Only one such aircraft was built; it is preserved and displayed in the London Science Museum . In 1919, the Australian government offered £10,000 for the first All-Australian crew to fly an aeroplane from England to Australia . Keith Macpherson Smith , Ross Macpherson Smith and mechanics Jim Bennett and Wally Shiers completed

6783-419: The bombardier's clear nose glazing as "cheek" positions, or midway along the rear fuselage sides as "waist" positions. U.S. bombers carried .50 caliber machine gun , and dorsal (spine/top of aircraft) and ventral (belly/bottom of aircraft) guns with powered turrets . All of these machine guns could defend against attack when beyond the range of fighter escort; eventually, a total of 13 machine guns were fitted in

6902-659: The bombers were restricted to night interdiction and concentrated on destroying supply routes, including the bridges over the Yalu river into China. By the 1960s, manned heavy bombers could not match the intercontinental ballistic missile in the strategic nuclear role. More accurate precision-guided munitions ("smart bombs"), nuclear -armed missiles or bombs were able to be carried by smaller aircraft such as fighter-bombers and multirole fighters . Despite these technological innovations and new capabilities of other contemporary military aircraft , large strategic bombers such as

7021-597: The bombers were then switched to low-level, nighttime incendiary attacks for which they had not originally been designed (one variant, the B-29B was specially modified for low altitude night missions by removal of armament and other equipment). Japan burned furiously from the B-29 incendiary raids. On August 6, 1945, B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, B-29 Bockscar dropped another on Nagasaki. The war ended when Japan announced its surrender to

7140-426: The capabilities of the rival force, the West then responded with the construction of SOSUS lines to track Soviet submarines. From the air, Soviet naval aviation had ASuW capabilities. The Tupolev Tu-16 Badger G was armed with anti-ship missiles, followed by the Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire supersonic maritime strike bomber. Even the prop-driven Tu-142 , primarily designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), could and

7259-564: The civil market. It saw service with the RAF; known as the Vickers Vernon , it became the first dedicated troop transport to be operated by the service. The Vimy was also used as an air ambulance for transporting wounded troops to medical facilities, while some examples were configured to perform record-breaking long-distance flights. From 1923 to 1925 limited production batches of the Vimy were manufactured by Vickers. Between 1923 and 1931, at least another 43 early production aircraft were reconditioned to extend their service lives; at least one Vimy

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7378-410: The conflict before the Vimy could be used on any offensive operations. After the war, the RAF rapidly contracted in size, which slowed the introduction of the Vimy. The Vimy only reached full service status in July 1919 when it entered service with 58 Squadron in Egypt, replacing the older Handley Page 0/400. On 12 June 1918, according to Flight International , the Air Board were to initially deploy

7497-490: The defender's radar, providing a potential advantage for a surprise attacker. Equally, guns do not require a radar lock to fire, giving them utility against stealth vessels or those too small to be detected. Undersea versus fleet action is commonly described as a "cat-and-mouse" game, where submarines seek to escape detection long enough to engage in a punishing strike against the much more valuable aircraft carrier fleet groups. Early Soviet submarine designs could be heard "across

7616-441: The first production Vimy units as maritime patrol aircraft , equipped for anti-submarine warfare, and once this requirement had been satisfied, subsequent aircraft would be allocated to performing night bombing missions from bases in France. This had been due to a recently introduced policy under which the number of land-based aircraft allocated to anti-submarine patrols was to be vastly expanded, from 66 landplanes in November 1917 to

7735-444: The first prototype was dispatched to RAF Martlesham Heath , Suffolk , for the official trials of the type. Reportedly, the F.B.27 quickly made a positive impression: it was able to take off with a greater payload than the Handley Page O/400 despite having about half the effective engine power. The engines proved to be unreliable during these trials, leading to the aircraft's return to Joyce Green on 12 April 1918. The first prototype

7854-448: The fleet better allows fighters to be used against attackers in the air. These improvements do not make a fleet impervious to missile attack but do increase a fleet's ability to defend itself and the number of attackers needed to saturate defences. Attackers retain the advantage because a fleet is still relatively static and needs to be successful against every incoming missile to avoid significant losses while attackers only need to achieve

7973-434: The heavy bomber's once-central role in strategic warfare by the late 20th century. Heavy bombers have, nevertheless, been used to deliver conventional weapons in several regional conflicts since World War II (for example, B-52s in the Vietnam War ). Heavy bombers are now operated only by the air forces of the United States, Russia and China. They serve in both strategic and tactical bombing roles. The first heavy bomber

8092-506: The horizon and engage ships without exposing the launcher to retaliation although such systems are yet to be deployed. One recent advance in surface to surface weaponry is the modification of RIM-66 Standard anti-air missiles to attack surface targets. Although not as powerful as a dedicated anti-ship missile they are extremely fast and agile and better able to penetrate anti-missile defences. Additionally as many more surface-to-air missiles are typically carried on every vessel this increases

8211-400: The initial design suitable for bombing and it was first used on a variety of VIP transport and maritime patrol missions. Its long range, however, persuaded the USAAF to send 177 Liberators from Benghazi in Libya to bomb the Romanian oilfields on August 1, 1943, in Operation Tidal Wave . Due to navigational errors and alerted German flak batteries and fighters, only half returned to base although

8330-407: The journey from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome to Darwin via Singapore and Batavia on 10 December 1919. Their aircraft G-EAOU is preserved in a purpose-built, climate-controlled museum in the grounds of the airport in Smith's home town Adelaide , Australia; "The trip from Darwin to Sydney took almost twice as long as the flight to Australia." Vickers Vimy Reserve in Northgate, a suburb of Adelaide,

8449-578: The largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs ) and longest range ( takeoff to landing ) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the largest and most powerful military aircraft at any point in time. In the second half of the 20th century, heavy bombers were largely superseded by strategic bombers , which were often even larger in size, had much longer ranges and were capable of delivering nuclear bombs . Because of advances in aircraft design and engineering — especially in powerplants and aerodynamics —

8568-556: The logistics (including transport of fuel for the B-29 fleet over the Himalayan range ) of flying from these remote, primitive airfields were complicated and costly. The island of Saipan in the Marianas was assaulted to provide Pacific air bases from which to bomb Japanese cities . Initial high-level, daylight bombing raids using high-explosive bombs on Japanese cities with their wood and paper houses produced disappointing results;

8687-523: The low-level bombing tactics used, with the air force chief-of-staff of the Zhili clique, General Zhao Buli (趙步壢) personally flying many of the missions. However, on 17 September, returning from a successful bombing mission outside Shanhai Pass , General Zhao's aircraft was hit by ground fire from the Fengtian clique in the region of Nine Gates (Jiumenkou, 九門口) and had to make a forced landing. Zhao made

8806-404: The maximum range that a missile could be usefully launched at. Also, launching from low altitude costs more fuel than air launch, further decreasing a missile's potential range. However ships can carry far more missiles than any other platform and are thus able to attack more targets or continue an engagement for longer than other platforms. While ships do retain a robust anti-ship missile armament

8925-423: The nature of military aviation and strategy . After the 1950s intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines began to supersede heavy bombers in the strategic nuclear role. Along with the emergence of more accurate precision-guided munitions ("smart bombs") and nuclear -armed missiles , which could be carried and delivered by smaller aircraft, these technological advancements eclipsed

9044-406: The number of missiles needed to saturate defences. The arrival of vertical launching systems allow for dozens of SAMs to be launched almost simultaneously from each ship, a substantial advance over older missile launchers that could only fire one or two missiles before reloading. Should salvoes of SAMs fail to destroy a saturation attack, 'soft kill' countermeasures are complemented by the invention of

9163-401: The point-defence close-in weapon system (CIWS), usually a rapid-fire autocannon sometimes paired with a missile system as a last line of defence. Finally the arrival of networked fleet level defence direction using many radars and many launch platforms together to intercept a cloud of missiles allows for better use of defence resources. Previously each ship would have to act individually against

9282-566: The possible hit on a single plane). However, the concept of the submarine firing on the plane has been revived with Germany's Type 209 diesel submarines. Submarines seeking to engage in ASuW can also be targeted by other submarines, resulting in wholly undersea combat. Shore-based assets may have provided the decisive edge in surface warriors, with constraints imposed by range of such assets. Furthermore, satellites controlled from ground stations could provide information on enemy fleet movements. In

9401-514: The powerplant seriously delayed the B-29's operational service debut. The aircraft had four remotely operated twin-gun turrets on its fuselage , controlled through an analog computer sighting system; the operator could use any of a trio of Perspex ball stations. Only the tail gunner manually controlled his gun turret station in the rear of the airplane. B-29s were initially deployed to bases in India and China, from which they could reach Japan; but

9520-678: The prototype was flown from Brooklands to Amsterdam in the Netherlands as part of Vicker's exhibit at the Eerste Luchtverkeer Tentoonstelling Amsterdam . During early 1918 the second prototype was completed. Unlike the first, it had plain elevators and ailerons which had an inverse taper; the tops of the wings and tailplanes also differed. The defensive armament was increased, giving the rear gunner two separate guns; these changes would be standardised on production aircraft. The second prototype

9639-642: The prototypes was extremely rapid; the detailed design phase of what had become internally designated as the Vickers F.B.27 and the manufacture of the three prototypes was completed within four months. By the time the first prototype had been completed the RAF 4D was not sufficiently developed, so it was fitted with the alternative Hispano Suiza engine. On 30 November 1917 the first prototype, flown by Captain Gordon Bell, made its maiden flight from Royal Flying Corps Station Joyce Green , Kent . In January 1918

9758-484: The result of a pilot-induced stall . It was decided to construct a fourth prototype to test the Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine. On 11 October 1918 this was flown from Joyce Green to Martlesham Heath to conduct official trials. Aside from being powered by the Eagle engine, it was identical to the earlier prototypes except for having a greatly increased fuel capacity and reshaped and enlarged rudders. By

9877-506: The results of the Battle of Taranto and the Battle of Midway during World War II , the primary combatant ship type was the fleet aircraft carrier . After World War II, the ASuW concept primarily involved the multiple carrier battle groups fielded by the United States Navy , against which the Soviet Union designed specialized strategies that did not equate to a 1:1 match of designs. Broadly speaking, military planners in

9996-470: The scenario of a multi-ship flight. The same advantages that made planes so successful against surface ships in World War II are largely still existent. Aircraft can attack in large numbers with little warning and can carry multiple weapons that are each capable of disabling a ship. While warships are able to carry powerful defensive technologies the need to destroy every incoming missile leaves them at

10115-636: The size of payloads carried by heavy bombers has increased at rates greater than increases in the size of their airframes. The largest bombers of World War I , the Zeppelin-Staaken Riesenflugzeuge of Germany, could carry a payload of up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg) of bombs; by the latter half of World War II , the Avro Lancaster (introduced in 1942) routinely delivered payloads of 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) (and sometimes up to 22,000 lb (10,000 kg)) and had

10234-587: The spars of the lower centre section; a typical load consisted of 12 bombs. In some variants further bombs could be stowed externally for a total of 18 bombs, if the particular engine used provided enough power. For anti-surface warfare in the maritime environment, the Vimy could also be armed with a pair of torpedoes . To improve bombing accuracy, the Vimy was equipped with the High Altitude Drift Mk.1a bombsight . Standard equipment also included two Michelin -built Mk.1 flare carriers. The Vimy

10353-625: The standard heavy bomber in the Pacific and the only one used by the RAAF. The SAAF used Liberators to drop weapons and ammunition during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The Avro Manchester was a twin-engine bomber powered by the ambitious 24-cylinder Rolls-Royce Vulture , but was rapidly redesigned for four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines due to technical problems with the Vulture which caused

10472-609: The technical problems of the larger Rolls-Royce Vulture emerged in the Avro Manchester . The Halifax joined squadrons in November 1940 and flew its first raid against Le Havre on the night of 11–12 March 1941. British heavy bomber designs often had three gun turrets with a total of 8 machine guns . In January 1941, the Short Stirling reached operational status and first combat missions were flown in February. It

10591-415: The three great pioneering Vimy flights: England to Australia flown by Lang Kidby and Peter McMillan (in 1994), England to South Africa flown by Mark Rebholz and John LaNoue (1999) and in 2005, Alcock and Brown's 1919 Atlantic crossing was recreated by Steve Fossett and Mark Rebholz. The aircraft was donated to Brooklands Museum in 2006 and was kept airworthy in order to commemorate the 90th anniversaries of

10710-522: The time the fourth prototype commenced flying trials, mass production of the Vimy had already begun. Since the performance of the first prototype was satisfactory it was decided to start production before the evaluation of either of the other prototypes. On 26 March 1918 the first production contract, for 150 aircraft, was issued; these were built at Vickers' works in Crayford in the Bexley . Production of

10829-594: The time, but all orders for the Liberty-equipped Vimy were terminated in January 1919 and no examples were ever completed. The BHP Puma was also intended for use on the Vimy, but it was cancelled without any aircraft being fitted with the engine. Use of the Vimy extended beyond its original use as a bomber. A model with greater internal space was developed, known as the Vimy Commercial within

10948-540: The type by additional manufacturers was envisaged early on; in May 1918 follow-up contracts were issued to Clayton & Shuttleworth , Morgan & Co , and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), in addition to a separate production line at Vickers' Weybridge complex. At one point over 1,000 aircraft had been ordered under wartime contracts. The type had received the official name of Vimy , after

11067-472: The type did not serve in active combat operations during the war, but the Vimy became the core of the Royal Air Force (RAF)'s heavy bomber force throughout the 1920s. The Vimy achieved success as both a military and a civil aircraft, the latter using the Vimy Commercial variant. A dedicated transport derivative of the Vimy, the Vickers Vernon , became the first troop-transport aircraft operated by

11186-448: The ubiquity of such missiles makes an engagement with anti-ship missiles between surface ships fairly unlikely because for one ship to launch its missiles it would have to bring itself within range of the enemy's missiles. Even with surprise the flight time of such missiles is long enough for an enemy to return fire before being hit, making such an engagement extremely dangerous without some additional advantage. The Battle of Latakia during

11305-530: The war, German industrial production actually increased , despite a sustained Allied bombing campaign. As the German Luftwaffe 's main task was to support the army, it never developed a successful heavy bomber. The prime proponent of strategic bombing, Luftwaffe Chief of Staff General Walther Wever , died in an air crash in 1936 on the very day that the specification for the Ural bomber (later won by

11424-469: The war, bombers continually managed to strike their targets, but suffered unacceptable losses in the absence of careful planning and escort fighters . Only the later de Havilland Mosquito light bomber was fast enough to evade fighters. Heavy bombers needed defensive armament for protection, which reduced their effective bomb payload. The second tenet was that strategic bombing of industrial capacity, power generation, oil refineries, and coal mines could win

11543-512: The wars, aviation opinion fixed on two tenets. The first was that “ the bomber will always get through .” The speed advantage of biplane fighters over bombers was insignificant, and it was believed that they would never catch them. Furthermore, there was no effective method of detecting incoming bombers at sufficiently long range to scramble fighters on an interception course. In practice, a combination of new radar technology and advances in monoplane fighter design eroded this disadvantage. Throughout

11662-605: The way to the target and back. Losses were reduced to 247 out of 3,500 sorties, still devastating but accepted at the time. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator and later version of the Fortress carried even more extensive defensive armament fitted into Sperry ball turrets . This was a superb defensive weapon that rotated a full 360 degrees horizontally with a 90-degree elevation. Its twin M2 Browning machine guns had an effective range of 1,000 yards (910 m). The Liberator

11781-511: Was Torpex torpedo explosive, it was developed specifically to sink the Tirpitz which was moored in Trondheim fjord behind torpedo nets. Development delays in the 'bouncing bomb' meant that another Barnes Wallis invention, the 5-ton Tallboy was deployed instead; two Tallboys dropped by Avro Lancasters from 25,000 ft (7,600 m) altitude hit at near- supersonic speed and capsized

11900-474: Was armed with anti-ship missiles. Following the end of the Cold War , ASuW still involves asymmetries, which may for now be more pronounced. After the development of reliable, long-range, guided missiles, air ASuW was imagined to consist of a mass attack by high-speed jet aircraft launching a sufficient number of missiles to overwhelm the air defences of a fleet. Some commentators believed that this capability

12019-544: Was based on the successful Short Sunderland flying boat and shared its Bristol Hercules radial engines, wing, and cockpit with a new fuselage. It carried up to 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) of bombs—almost twice the load of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress —but over just a 300-mile (480 km) radius. Due to its thick, short wing it was able to out-turn the main German night fighters, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and

12138-752: Was built by the Vintage Aircraft Flying Association at Brooklands; this was first flown by D. G. 'Dizzy' Addicott and Peter Hoar. It was badly damaged by fire and was displayed until February 2014 at the RAF Museum , Hendon, London). It is currently stored dismantled at the RAF Museum storage facility in Stafford . A second flyable Vimy replica, NX71MY, was built in 1994 by an Australian-American team led by Lang Kidby and Peter McMillan, and this aircraft successfully recreated

12257-745: Was clear that the B-17C model was not combat ready and that its five machine guns provided inadequate protection. Combat feedback enabled Boeing engineers to improve the aircraft; when the first model B-17E began operating from English airfields in July 1942, it had many more defensive gun positions including a vitally important tail gunner. Eventually, U.S. heavy bomber designs, optimized for formation flying, had 10 or more machine guns and/or cannons in both powered turrets and manually operated flexible mounts to deliver protective arcs of fire. These guns were located in tail turrets , side gun ports either just behind

12376-484: Was consistently underestimated. Exocet anti-ship missile strikes against the Royal Navy during the Falklands War even resulted in the adoption of 'Exocet' as a slang term for a 'sharp, devastating and surprising attack.' The USS Stark incident showed a medium-sized power could significantly damage a modern frigate, with the attack of a single plane on a single ship capable of inflicting heavy damage, let alone

12495-678: Was designed as an airliner . Igor Sikorsky , an engineer educated in St Petersburg, but born in Kiev of Polish-Russian ancestry designed the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets to fly between his birthplace and his new home. It did so briefly until August 1914, when the Russo-Balt wagon factory converted to a bomber version, with British Sunbeam Crusader V8 engines in place of the German ones in the passenger plane. By December 1914

12614-447: Was destroyed by Grand Slams creating an earthquake effect, which shook the foundations. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a development of the Fortress, but a larger design with four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone engines of much greater power, enabling it to fly higher, faster, further and with a bigger bomb load. The mammoth new Wright radial engines were susceptible to overheating if anything malfunctioned, and technical problems with

12733-547: Was expected to meet the requirement for a night bomber which could attack targets within the German Empire . The Vickers F.B.27 Vimy is an equal-span twin-engine four-bay biplane, with balanced ailerons on both upper and lower wings. The engine nacelles were positioned mid-gap and contained the fuel tanks. It has a biplane empennage with elevators on both upper and lower surfaces and twin rudders. The main undercarriage consists of two pairs of wheels, each pair carried on

12852-467: Was extensively modified, receiving new Salmson water-cooled aero-engines in place of the Hispano Suizas; other changes included the adoption of an alternative exhaust stack configuration, a 3-degree dihedral on the mainplanes, and a modified tail unit. Following these modifications, the prototype was used for several years, surviving the war and being allocated a civil registration. In August 1919

12971-414: Was issued with a contract for three prototype aircraft and Rex Pierson , chief designer of Vickers' aviation division, started designing a large twin-engine biplane bomber, to be powered by either a pair of RAF 4d or 200 hp (150 kW) Hispano Suiza engines. Pierson discussed the proposed aircraft with Major J. C. Buchanan of the Air Board to establish the rough configuration of the aircraft, which

13090-482: Was lent to the pair by the RAF at Heliopolis, and named Silver Queen II . This second aircraft reached Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia , where it was badly damaged when it failed to take off. Van Ryneveld and Brand then used a South African Air Force Airco DH.9 to continue the journey to Cape Town . The South African government awarded them £5,000 each. The Vimy Commercial was a civilian version with

13209-542: Was never made, but the model was completed and paid for. Its fate remains a mystery although it appeared on static display at the Battle of Britain air display at RAF Biggin Hill in 1955 and may have been subsequently stored dismantled in East London until at least the late 1980s. The engine nacelles appear in the mine scene from the film ' Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. ', so it may not have been in good condition by then. In 1969 an airworthy Vimy replica (registered G-AWAU)

13328-401: Was officially opened by Peter McMillan, and this unique aircraft is now on public display there. Data from Profile Publications No. 005: Vickers F.B.27 Vimy General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering

13447-405: Was powered by a pair of Sunbeam Maori engines, which were found to have an unreliable cooling system during initial testing at Joyce Green. On 26 April 1918 the aircraft was dispatched to RAF Martlesham Heath for official tests, but testing was interrupted by its loss in a crash following an engine failure. During the first half of the 1918 the third prototype was also completed. It was powered by

13566-428: Was powered by a range of different engines. Owing to engine supply difficulties, the prototype Vimys were tested with a number of different engine types, including Sunbeam Maoris , Salmson 9Zm water-cooled radials , and Fiat A.12bis engines, before production orders were placed for aircraft powered by the 230 hp (170 kW) BHP Puma , 400 hp (300 kW) Fiat, 400 hp (300 kW) Liberty L-12 and

13685-492: Was reconditioned four times. By October 1918 only three aircraft had been delivered to the Royal Air Force (RAF), one of which had been deployed to France for use by the Independent Air Force . It had been envisioned that the Vimy would be able to conduct long-range bombing missions into Germany, having the ability to reach Berlin from bases in France, but the Armistice of 11 November 1918 brought an end to

13804-513: Was the result of a proposal to assemble Fortresses in Consolidated plants, with the company returning with its own design of a longer-range, faster and higher-flying aircraft that could carry an extra ton of bombs. Early orders were for France (delivered to the RAF after the fall of France) and Britain, already at war, with just a batch of 36 for the USAAF. Neither the USAAF nor the RAF judged

13923-489: Was too great for fighter escorts based in Japan, so the B-29s flew alone. In November, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s flown by Soviet pilots started to intercept the US bombers over North Korea. The MiG-15 was specifically designed to destroy US heavy bombers; it could out-perform any fighter deployed by United Nations air forces until the capable F-86 Sabre was produced in greater numbers and brought to Korea. After 28 B-29s were lost,

14042-457: Was used for daylight raids on naval targets, damaging a German destroyer. But after one was lost, the O/100 switched to night attacks. The uprated Handley Page Type O /400 could carry a 1,650 lb (750 kg) bomb, and wings of up to 40 were used by the newly formed, independent Royal Air Force from April 1918 to make strategic raids on German railway and industrial targets. A single O/400

14161-610: Was used to support T. E. Lawrence 's Sinai and Palestine Campaign . The Imperial German Air Service operated the Gotha bomber, which developed a series of marques. The Gotha G.IV operated from occupied Belgium from the Spring of 1917. It mounted several raids on London beginning in May 1917. Some reached no further than Folkestone or Sheerness on the Kent Coast. But on June 13, Gothas killed 162 civilians, including 18 children in

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