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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0174.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 January 1950 Though Very Advanced Jet-propelled Types are Being Developed, Piston- engined Bombers Still Preponderate in the Air Forces of the Powers Avro Lincoln four Merlin—rearguard of the "Old Brigade." WHETHER bombers be graded according to rangeor as "strategical" or "tactical," there is a riskoi obscuring their true status by the use of exped- ient terminology. The prefixes "light," "medium" and " heavy " are likewise unsatisfactory, unless duly qualified, for totally new values have been superimposed on the bomber picture. Recourse to such terms as " global " can further misguide the inquirer. It so happens that—unlike fighters—the bombers now in service or on test are so few that it is possible to enumerate those worthy of considera- tion on the fingers of both hands, enabling the principal types to be considered individually. Segregation of the jet from the piston-engined types is allowable and con- venient. Bombers with piston engines as their primary source of power are: (a) the Convair B-36—-abnormally large and heavy, with an exceptional bomb capacity and range; A structural studyof the English Electric CanberraB.I, Britain's first jet-propelledbomber.—(Flight drawing.) (b) Avro Lincoln, Boeing B-29 and B-50, and Tu-170— smaller, and with less capacity, but suitable, with flight refuelling, for very long-range operation; and (c) the so- called "tactical" bombers—exemplified by the Brigand, Douglas B-26, Tu-2, and certain Mosquito variants. All these types, with the addition of a small number of R.A.F. Mosquitoes equipped for target-marking, are in regular operation. Qf the jet bombers, only one—the North American B-45 Tornado, is known to be in squadron service; operation- ally it corresponds with the B-26 and Brigand. Others under active development are the versatile English Electric Canberra, now in production ; at least two designs of Russo- Gennanic conception; the army-support Martin XB-51; the Boeing XB-47 Stratojet (already being built in series), and—largest, and having the longest range, though not in quantity production—the Northrop YB-49 flying wing. Of This frontal aspect of the Canberra scales with the views opposite.
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