Early Bomber

Strategic bombing — the idea that wars could be won by destroying the enemy's industrial heart from the air — was born in the canvas cockpits of the Great War. Germany's Gotha G.IV raided London in 1917, sowing panic that anti-aircraft guns and cavalry patrols could not prevent. By the early years of the Second World War the concept had matured: Heinkel He 111s flew in tight formations over Poland and France, their bomb bays delivering payloads that conventional artillery could never project so far. These aircraft needed fighter escorts desperately; without them, defending interceptors extracted a terrible toll. Slow and lumbering, the early bomber trades speed and maneuverability for raw payload — it can level buildings, shatter supply depots, and break morale, but it demands air cover and suffers catastrophic losses if committed against defended airspace without escort.