A bomberdestroyer is a former type of fighter aircraft dedicated to destroying enemy bomber aircraft.
While the German Zerstörer (destroyers) had been conceived as multi-role aircraft, the bomberdestroyer role was given priority later and these planes proved to be very effective against US bomber raids in 1943 as they could emply heavy cannon armement as well as rockets fired from long range.
Though the threat of nuclear bombs carried by long-range bombers was met by fighter aircraft purpose-built for the destruction of these bombers, the destroyer classification disappeared almost instantly after WW2 to be replaced by the interceptor classification.
The Japanesedestroyer Shigure is sunk by the submarine USS Blackfin (SS-322) in the Gulf of Siam.
The destroyers USS Fletcher (DD-445) and USS Hopewell (DD-681) are damaged by coastal defense guns and the destroyers USS Radford (DD-446) and USS Lavallette (DD-448) are damaged by mines, all in the Philippines.
The destroyer USS Pritchett (DD-561) is damaged by horizontal bomber; the destroyer escort USS Foreman (DE-633) by dive bomber; and the attack transports USS Chilton (APA-38), USS Henrico (APA-45), USS Goodhue (APA-107) and USS Telfair (APA-210) and LST 599 are damaged by suicide plane, all in the Okinawa area.
Encyclopedia: Fighter aircraft(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs.
They then found themselves being converted to an ever-growing list of secondary roles, including strike fighters, bomberdestroyers and night fighters, where their two engines gave them the increased payload needed to fill these roles.
The Luftwaffe's inability to destroy the British fighter squadrons during the Battle of Britain made the seaborne invasion of Britain infeasible.
ipedia.com: Interceptor aircraft Article(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
An interceptor aircraft (or simply interceptor) is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, particularly bombers.
A number of such aircraft were built in the period starting just prior to World War II and ending in the late 1960s, when they became less important due to the shifting of the strategic bombing role to ICBMs.
They are designed to take off and climb to altitude as quickly as possible, destroy the incoming bombers, and then land.
This in turn led to considerations of several different alternative configurations, including a two-seat attack aircraft with six forward-firing 20-mm cannon and a three-seat bomber with a bombardier in the nose, an enlarged central nacelle containing an internal bomb bay, and with or without the 75-mm nose cannon.
In both the attack and bomber versions, the dorsal and ventral turrets were to be deleted, and unsupercharged engines were to be used.
However, at this stage of the war (late 1942), the enemy bomber threat had largely disappeared, both in the European and in the Pacific theatres.
It could be better described as a bomberdestroyer.
It was a defensive weapon to be used only against incoming bombers that were beyond the range of escorting fighters.
It is important for the reader to keep in mind that the Bell would be used only against enemy bomber formations that were out of range of protective fighter escort.
Beech Model 28 XA-38 Grizzly Info(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
However, by this time it was 1945, and it was becoming obvious that, not only was the war coming to an end, but so was the day of the piston engine.
In addition to this, the engines for the Grizzly were the same as those used in the B-29, and the few engines that were not slated for that bomber were usually given to the new Douglas BT2D-1 and Martin Mauler aircraft programs.
The program ended with only the two prototypes being built, with one being scrapped in the forties, and the other being slated for display in the Air Force Museum, but disappearing, never to be seen again.
The main role of this proposed new aircraft was to be a bomberdestroyer, which led to the term Zerstorer being applied to any twin-engined fighter design.
The last role was that of day bomberdestroyer, where the Bf 110 would find itself attacking bombers, instead of defending them as in 1940.
It did not perform this role alone, as Me 410's and Ju 88's were also used as bomberdestroyers against the American strategic bombers.
A specialist bomberdestroyer variant of the classic 'Wurger' nicknamed the 'Sturmbock' (Battering Ram; der Bock is a male goat or ram).
Because it needed to be able to fly through heavy return fire from enemy bombers, the Sturmbock was fitted with additional armour plating around the cockpit and the ammunition boxes, and with extra panels of laminated glass (Panzerscheiben) on the sides of the cockpit canopy.
The extra armour around the cockpit of the Fw 190 would enable its pilot to survive in the defensive crossfire from a score or more bombers, close within a hundred yards behind the bomber chosen as target and either deliver a coup de grace with heavy cannon or more controversially ram the bomber.
This die cast is next to impossible to find loose or complete, and if you can find it, it is buco dinero.
The TIE Bomber features a die cast body, plastic removable wings and plastic detailing.
That's what makes this die cast so great, in addition to fantastic detailing and paint, there is a miniature command ship that fits inside the bottom of the Cruiser!
