A
Schnellbomber (German, literally
fast bomber) is the concept of a high-speed bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s when it was believed that a very fast bomber could simply outrun its enemies.
The first aircraft adopted for the Schnellbomber role was the
Heinkel He 70The Heinkel He 70 was a German mail plane, passenger, liaison, training and bomber aircraft of the 1930s. Although useful, it had a relatively brief commercial career before it was replaced by types which could carry more passengers. As a combat aircraft, it was a not a great success because it...
, but it soon was replaced by the
Dornier Do 17The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift , was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke...
in that role. In the 1937 air races in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
the Do 17 won a number of speed records, apparently demonstrating the value of the concept.
A
Schnellbomber (German, literally
fast bomber) is the concept of a high-speed bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s when it was believed that a very fast bomber could simply outrun its enemies.
The first aircraft adopted for the Schnellbomber role was the
Heinkel He 70The Heinkel He 70 was a German mail plane, passenger, liaison, training and bomber aircraft of the 1930s. Although useful, it had a relatively brief commercial career before it was replaced by types which could carry more passengers. As a combat aircraft, it was a not a great success because it...
, but it soon was replaced by the
Dornier Do 17The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift , was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke...
in that role. In the 1937 air races in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
the Do 17 won a number of speed records, apparently demonstrating the value of the concept. However, experience in the
Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
demonstrated that the Do 17's speed when loaded down with military equipment was insufficient to escape interception, and armament had to be added to give it some defensive fighting capability. While bomber development had temporarily outpaced fighter development in the 1930s, at the end of the decade fighters like the
Hawker HurricaneThe Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd....
and the
Supermarine SpitfireThe Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries through the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used into the 1950s both as a front line fighter and in secondary roles...
entered service that had the performance to catch up with the Schnellbomber, and dramatically outgunning it by eight to one (only one gun would normally be able to fire back). The Do 17 suffered at the hands of the RAF, and production ended in 1940.
The Germans nevertheless persisted in their attempts to create newer Schnellbombers, as opposed to large bombers with heavy defensive armaments which was favored by the RAF and USAAF. Other aircraft recognized as "Schnellbombers" by the Luftwaffe were the
Junkers Ju 88The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft.Designed by Hugo Junkers' Junkers company in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early operational roles, but became one of the most...
, the first to be custom designed for the role, the
Messerschmitt Me 410The Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse was a German heavy fighter and Schnellbomber used by Luftwaffe during World War II developed from the badly flawed Me 210...
and the jet-engined
Arado Ar 234The Arado Ar 234 was the world's first operational jet powered bomber, built by the German Arado company in the closing stages of World War II. In the field it was used almost entirely in the reconnaissance role, but in its few uses as a bomber it proved to be nearly impossible to...
(which also was called "Schnellstbomber" -
fastest bomber). Several other Luftwaffe aircraft were originally designed as Schnellbombers, including the
Heinkel He 219The Heinkel He 219 Uhu was a night fighter serving in the later stages of World War II with the German Luftwaffe. The requirement for an advanced night fighter was issued in 1942 and the He 219 was the product of this program...
and the
Dornier Do 335The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil , unofficially also Ameisenbär , was a World War II heavy fighter built by the Dornier company. The Pfeils performance was much better than that of other twin-engine designs due to its unique "push-pull" layout...
, but entered service in other roles.
Ironically the most successful Schnellbomber of the war was the bomber version of the
de Havilland MosquitoThe de Havilland Mosquito was a British combat aircraft that excelled in versatility during the Second World War. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, the Mosquito adapted to many other roles in during the air war in both the Pacific theatre of Operations and the European theatre,...
. It retained a speed advantage over its enemies for much of the war, and was only able to be effectively countered by specialist versions of various night fighter designs. The Mosquito ended the war with the lowest loss rate among any aircraft in
RAF Bomber CommandRAF Bomber Command was the organisation that controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II, the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s was at the peak of its postwar power with the V bombers and a...
. The Germans considered the Mosquito a superior implementation of their own Schnellbomber concept.