Best medium bomber of WWII poll 1, 1939

Same rules as with the fighter poll.

 

The Blenheim does not belong there as it was a light, the Hampden should probably be in its place.

 

Did the MkII of the Wellington have the self sealing fuel tanks?

 

You're right about the Blenheim, but for some reason I can't change the poll anymore.

 

I voted for the Wellington, mainly because of its superiour range. But I nearly voted for LeO 451, it had superiour speed and a decent range and bombload compared to its adversaries.

 

And Mosquito is not there, because.....

Try editing you post, I think it lets you do it there (of course you've already tried that right?)

....it was mostly used in other roles? Or what?

 

Mainly because it wasn't in service as early as in 1939.

I can edit my post, but not change the options. Maybe one of the moderators can do something?

 

Of course.....go figure.

Bugger, I'm out of my knowledge......

 

Ju-88a because i think it's the most versitile of them ...
Wimpy scores point for strength but still Ju-88 is fav.

 

The 88 was good, but I still like the Wimpy.

 

The Ju 88 was definitely the more versatile aircraft, but was it the best medium bomber in 1939?

 

atleast i think it is the best...

 

Either way , they were both fodder.

 

Wheres the B-26 marauder. Surely this plane deserves mention. I chose the wellington because it could carry a decent load and absorb an extrodinary amount of damage. If i had to fight in any medium bomber on that listen then it would be the Wellington.

 

No B-26s until the 1941 poll. There were no B-26s in service as early as in 1939.

 

The Hampden wasn't any more than any other medium bomber, for all it's reputation for toughness and heavier armament the Wellington was little more than fodder by daylight too (Heligoland is a good example). A Hampden is supposedly creditted with chasing and shooting down a Bf110 around the time of the Battle of Britain, a freak occurrence to be sure but impressive nonetheless.

As Varyag already commented, the Marauder didn't exist in 1939 so it doesn't count.

 

Actually the B-26 did exist in 1939 , it flew for the first time that year, but it didn't enter service until 1941. Perhaps CSP just misunderstood the rules for the poll? I chose to include the aircraft by the year of service entry, not year of first flight. I thought that was more fair.

 

Of the List I chose Ju88, I'd considered the Wellington but personally I think both it and the He111 were Heavies in 1939 so discounted each for those reasons. Overall I'd probably have considered the SM79 nearer a heavy Heavy as well.

The Ju88 definitely had the better track record, although if it's the aircraft I'm thinking of I'd consider the LeO 451 very close.

 

I almost voted for the LeO 451 myself. If the stats I have is correct then it was completely superiour to the Ju 88 as a medium bomber if not in every other respect. Much better range, speed and bombload.

But the Wimpy outranges every other aircraft on the list by a good margin as far as I can tell, and carried a much heavier bombload than most.

 

Part of the problem with this is that there is no clear definition of what is classed as a heavy or medium bomber throughout the war or what such classification is based on. I'd consider the Wimpy/He111/Sparviero all Heavy Bombers in 1939, but mediums by late 1941 onwards.

I haven't got the stats of the LeO to hand, but the only thing really counting against it as far as I can see is the lack of a proven track record.

To be honest the one that really surprises me is the PZL.37 Los, personally I believe it to be a fairly over-rated aircraft. It's bombload, performance and defensive armament was pretty mediocre and the aircraft itself very short-legged IIRC, equally important I've yet to see any indication of how much armour or self-sealing tanks it used if any at all. It was one of if not the most modern aircraft in the Polish airforce, but I think in offensive operations against pretty much any European airforce it's suffer badly.