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Junkers Ju-87 "Stuka" dive bombers

A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy and limit the exposure to and effectiveness of anti-aircraft fire. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers. ... Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers. ... Stuka redirects here. ... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... Dive is a word that can have several meanings: Diving is the act of plunging head first into water, or swimming under water. ... “Flak” redirects here. ...

[edit] Technique

Diving (nearly) vertically at the target, in the same direction the bombs will take, the aircraft will release the bombs very close to the target at high speed. This allows a dive bomber to accurately place bombs on relatively small and/or moving targets with relative ease. Additionally, no complicated precision equipment like the American Norden bombsight is needed. The Norden bombsight A page from the Bombardiers Information File (BIF) that describes the components and controls of the Norden Bombsight. ...

Dive bombers were widely used to attack high value targets such as ships and bridges. This also had the advantage of attacking ships at a weak spot; armour was the heaviest near the waterline and thin or nonexistent on the deck. In addition, dive bombing allowed relatively small airplanes carrying limited bombload to inflict disproportionately heavy damage.

On the minus side, optimizing an airplane for near-vertical dive came at the expense of performance. In addition, a dive bomber was extremely vulnerable to ground fire as it dove towards its target. Dive brakes were employed on many designs. These created drag which slowed the aircraft somewhat in order to increase accuracy. These were almost exclusive to dive bombers, though the air brakes fitted to modern aircraft are often of a similar design. An object moving through a gas or liquid experiences a force in direction opposite to its motion. ... In aeronautics air brakes are a type of flight control used on aircraft to reduce speed during landing. ...

[edit] History

[edit] World War I

The first recorded use of dive bombing was an ad-hoc solution by RAF pilots during World War I. During 1917 and 1918 they practiced the technique at the Orford Ness Bombing Range, but the aircraft of the day were generally too frail to be able to withstand the acceleration generated when pulling out of the dive after releasing the bombload. Only a few years later, U.S. Marines nevertheless put the system to use in Haiti and Nicaragua. RAF redirects here. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Orford Ness, described by a BBC documentary as half wilderness, half military junkyard, is a peninsula on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford. ... Flying machine redirects here. ... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the United States military responsible for providing power projection from the sea,[1] utilizing the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. ...

An SBD Dauntless drops its bomb. The dive brakes are extended and are visible behind the wings.

As planes grew in strength and load capability, the technique became more valuable. By the early 1930s, the technique was clearly favored in tactical doctrine, notably against targets that would otherwise be too small to hit with level bombers. While the USAAC concentrated on mass attacks by very large bombers, the U.S. Navy ordered the first custom dive bomber aircraft, the Curtiss F8C Hell-Diver biplane (not to be confused with the single-winged Douglas SBD or later SB2C Helldiver). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navys main scout bomber and dive bomber from mid-1940 until 1943, when it was replaced by the SB2C Helldiver. ... The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known as the [[. In East Asia, the rise of militarism occurred. ... A level bomber is an aircraft capable of attacking a ground object with bombs. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... USN redirects here. ... A number of biplanes built by Curtiss were named Falcon, most under the US Army Air Corps designation O-1. ... The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navys main scout bomber and dive bomber from mid-1940 until 1943, when it was replaced by the SB2C Helldiver. ... For the biplane, please see Curtiss Helldiver. ...

[edit] World War II

Oddly the only major force not to deploy a dedicated dive bomber were the inventors, the British. The Royal Navy attempted to introduce their own on several occasions, but were never able to do so due to various reasons, not the least of which was political interference by the RAF. The only produced hybrid of dive bomber and fighter Blackburn Skua was used for a short time and in a small number. This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ... The Blackburn Skua was a navaI combat aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm and combined the dual functions of dive-bomber and fighter. ...

[edit] Atlantic theater

In the early 1930s, Ernst Udet visited the U.S. and was able to purchase four F8C's and ship them to Germany. There they caused a minor revolution. The dive bombing technique would allow a much smaller Luftwaffe to operate effectively in the tactical role, and this was all they were interested in. Soon they had sent out contracts for their own dive bomber designs, resulting in the gull-winged Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (a contraction of Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally "diving warplane"). Ernst Udet (April 26, 1896 – November 17, 1941) was the second-highest scoring German flying ace of World War I. He was one of the youngest aces and was the highest scoring German ace to survive the war (at the age of 22). ... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or   (German: air force, IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... The gull-winged PBM Mariner. ... Stuka redirects here. ...

For its day, the Stuka was the most advanced dive bomber in the world. Using it as "aerial artillery" solved a major problem in the concept of Blitzkrieg—how to attack dug-in defensive positions. Normally this would require slow-moving artillery to be used, making the fast moving armored forces wait for it to catch up. This article is about the military term. ... For other uses, see Artillery (disambiguation). ...

This was proven to great effect during the invasion of Poland and the Low Countries. In one particular example, the British Expeditionary Force set up strong defensive positions on the west bank of the Oire River just front of the rapidly advancing German armor. Attacks by Stukas quickly broke the defense, and combat engineers were able to force a crossing long before the artillery arrived. For information about the confusion between the Low Countries and the Netherlands, see Netherlands (terminology). ... The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the British army sent to France and Belgium in World War I and British Forces in Europe from 1939–1940 during World War II. The BEF was established by Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War in case the...

The Stuka soon grew outdated, and repeated efforts to replace it with a newer and more capable plane all failed. By the start of the Battle of Britain it was already hopelessly outclassed, and suffered stiffly at the hands of the Britain. This article is about military history. ...

[edit] Pacific theater

The Japanese also spent considerable effort on dive bombers, for the same reason as the U.S. Navy—to allow it to strike ships. They started the war with one of the best designs, the Aichi D3A, but this design also quickly became outdated. They later introduced the much better Yokosuka D4Y Suisei, but at a time when their industry was already unable to supply them in any numbers. In contrast, the U.S. fielded the Douglas SBD Dauntless which was similar to the D3A in performance, but later replaced it with the faster, more complex Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. Both were provided in large numbers. Aichi D3A1 in flight. ... Lt. ... The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. ... The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navys main scout bomber and dive bomber from mid-1940 until 1943, when it was replaced by the SB2C Helldiver. ... Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company went public in 1916 with Glenn Curtiss as president. ... For the biplane, please see Curtiss Helldiver. ...

The most famous example of successful naval dive-bombing attacks took place in the Battle of Midway in June 1942 when American Dauntlesses scored fatal hits on three separate first-line Japanese aircraft carriers within a six minute timespan. Combatants United States Empire of Japan Commanders Chester W. Nimitz Frank J. Fletcher Raymond A. Spruance Isoroku Yamamoto Chuichi Nagumo Tamon Yamaguchi† Strength 3 carriers, ~50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft 4 carriers, 7 battleships, ~150 support ships, 248 carrier aircraft, 16 floatplanes Casualties 1 carrier... The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navys main scout bomber and dive bomber from mid-1940 until 1943, when it was replaced by the SB2C Helldiver. ...

[edit] Decline

After the war, the dive bomber class quickly disappeared. Anti-aircraft warfare had improved as had the speed and effectiveness of fighter aircraft against the vulnerable, slow-flying dive bombers. At the same time the quality of various computing bombsights allowed for much better accuracy from smaller dive angles, and the sights could be fitted to almost any plane, especially fighter aircraft, much improving the effectivness of ground attack aircraft. Although the aircraft could still "dive" on their targets to some degree, they were no longer optimized for steep diving attacks at the expense of other capabilities as the dive bombers of old. As these same aircraft were capable of many other missions as well, they were no longer considered to be dive bombers. “Flak” redirects here. ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Today, smart bombs have replaced most other bombing techniques in the United States and the UK. Bombs can be dropped many miles from the target at high altitudes, placing the aircraft at little risk. The bomb then guides itself onto the target through a number of means. These include laser designation, onboard GPS, radar, infrared, television guidance, and inertial wind-correction. Bombsights continue to supply several "toss bombing" modes, a sort of reverse dive bombing when an aircraft releases its bomb while steeply pulling up from low level. Shallow, 45 degree or less dive bombing attacks are still used to deliver unguided bombs when they are employed. BOLT-117 laser guided bomb Precision-guided munitions (smart munitions or smart bombs) are self-guiding weapons intended to maximize damage to the target while minimizing collateral damage. Because the damage effects of an explosive weapon scale as a power law with distance, quite modest improvements in accuracy (and hence... For other uses, see Laser (disambiguation). ... GPS redirects here. ... Toss bombing (sometimes known as loft bombing) is a method of bombing where the attacking aircraft pulls upwards and releases its bomb load, giving the bomb additional forward velocity. ...