Bomber B Bomber B was a German military aircraft design competition dating to just before the start of World War II to develop a second - generation high - speed bomber . The new designs would be a direct successor to the " Schnellbomber " philosophy , using high speed as its primary defence . But the Bomber B would also be a much larger and more capable platform , allowing it to carry bomb loads equivalent of any existing medium and heavy bombers then being used , or even considered , by the Luftwaffe . The winning airframe design was intended to form the backbone of the Luftwaffe bomber force , replacing the wide collection of semi - specialized twin - engined medium bomber designs intended for replacement , as many of them had origins going back as early as the mid - 1930s , shortly after the Luftwaffe ' s founding . The Reich Air Ministry was so hopeful about the outcome that more modest projects were generally cancelled outright , so when the project eventually failed to deliver a working design , especially in the preference for a pair of high - output engines - meant to be capable of at least 1 , 500 kW ( 2 , 000 hp ) each , if not more - to power the design , the Luftwaffe was left with hopelessly outdated aircraft . Background . By the late 1930s , airframe construction methods had progressed to the point where airframes could be built to any required size , founded on the all - metal airframe design technologies pioneered by Hugo Junkers in 1915 and constantly improved upon for over two decades to follow - especially in Germany with aircraft like the Dornier Do X flying boat and the Junkers G 38 airliner , and the Soviet Union with the enormous " Maksim Gorki " , the largest aircraft built anywhere in the 1930s . However , powering such designs was a major challenge . Mid - 1930s aero engines were limited to about 600 hp and the first 1000 hp engines were just entering the prototype stage - notably the Rolls - Royce Merlin and Daimler - Benz DB 601 . But even the latest engines were limited in the sort of designs they could power ; a twin - engine aircraft would have about 1 , 500 kW ( 2 , 000 hp ) in total , the same power as a mid - war single engined fighter aircraft like the Hawker Typhoon or Republic P - 47 Thunderbolt . Although using a larger number of engines was possible , and achieved in some examples for both the United Kingdom and the Third Reich , the mass production by the aviation engine industries of both nations to build the numbers of engines needed to equip a large bomber fleet was a serious problem . The U . S . , confident in its ability to produce aviation engines , opted for four - engine designs with heavy defensive firepower , as seen in the Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress . The United Kingdom and Germany largely focused on twin - engine bombers with shorter range intended for a European war . The advantages of larger designs were evident , and both countries experimented with four - engine designs in the pre - war era , but the strain on the production capacity of each nations ' aviation industries for airframes , and the engines to power them , was always a concern . Large twins . One way to address this issue would be to build larger engines . If one had access to an engine in the 2 , 000 to 2 , 500 hp range , a twin - engine aircraft would have considerably more extra power , allowing for much greater payloads . Yet such an engine , in theory , would not take any longer to produce than a 1 , 000 hp design , it would simply be larger . By the late 1930s , engines of this sort of power class first started to be seriously considered , and both the British and Germans drew up bomber designs based on them . In the UK , Avro and Handley Page both drew up proposals for a large bomber based on two Rolls - Royce Vulture engines . The Vulture was essentially a quartet of six - cylinder - long cylinder blocks connected together onto a common crankcase and a single crankshaft , to make a larger displacement X - block design . As the bomber matured , problems with the Vulture became evident . Contrary to hopes , simply bolting together two engines to produce a working larger design led to the appearance of all sorts of additional problems . Development of the Avro Manchester pressed ahead , but Handley Page was asked to adapt their design for four smaller engines instead . When the Manchester flew with all of the problems with the Vulture remaining , it too received a four - engine remake . The resulting Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax designs formed the backbone of RAF Bomber Command s efforts for the rest of the war . In Germany , the original Bomber A design program in the summer of 1936 had led to the Heinkel He 177 , powered by two Daimler - Benz DB 606 engines . The 606 was an attempt to use two separate Daimler - Benz DB 601 powerplants mated to a common gear reduction case to arrive to a 24 - cylinder powerplant as with the Vulture , although arranged in an inverted W - block layout instead of the X from the use of two separate powerplants , even with the Daimler - Benz firm working in parallel with an X - engine design of their own from 1939 through September 1942 . Like the Vulture , DB engineers found the DB 606 " power system " simply did not work well , and was subject to considerable development issues . Production of the He 177 was pressed on anyway , and in service it was plagued by engine failures , overheating and in - flight fires , earning it the nickname " Flaming Coffin " by its own crews . Unlike the British , and Ernst Heinkel ' s own complaints in November 1938 over what " Reichsmarschall " Hermann Göring would himself later consider to be " welded - together engines " by August 1942 , the German government ' s military aviation agencies responsible for making the He 177A combat - ready never placed any serious efforts into a " separate four - engine version " of the production He 177A , until much later in the war , and inefficiently spreading the Heinkel firm ' s own efforts to develop such an aircraft along three simultaneous lines between the He 177B , an " Amerika Bomber " contract contender , and a high - altitude heavy bomber series of development programs . High - output aviation engines for the Luftwaffe . Nazi Germany ' s own attempts during the late 1930s to create aviation powerplants in the over - 1 , 500 kW ( 2 , 000 hp + ) power output class initially started with the foreknowledge that unlike the United States , the Third Reich did not have the large production capacity for aviation powerplants as the Americans did , and twin - engined aircraft powered with two 1 , 500 kW class powerplants were more realistic for heavy bomber - sized airframes , given their own restricted production capacity in comparison with the American aviation industry . The first attempts by the Third Reich to get to over - 1 , 500 kW power output levels began , roughly simultaneous with both the RLM ' s original " Bomber A " heavy bomber specification of June 3 , 1936 , and in August of the same year with the private venture Heinkel He 119 high - speed reconnaissance aircraft projects ' need for such powerplants . The need for such high - output powerplants was initially intended to be met by the Daimler - Benz firm in 1936 - 37 , through mounting a pair of Daimler - Benz inverted V12 engines , in a " side - by - side " manner within a common mount , and mechanically coupling the two powerplants together at their forward ends into a single " power system " , using a common gearbox at the front of the arrangement with a single propeller shaft . The first example of such a " coupled " powerplant was created by combining two Daimler - Benz DB 601 engines in the aforementioned manner to create the " DB 606 " before World War II in February 1937 , in time for both airframe designs to have their powerplants ready and in the initial stages of production . This line of thinking led to the continuation of the format in creating ever more powerful " power systems " ; using the Daimler - Benz DB 605 design in a similarly - twinned format resulted in the " DB 610 " in June 1940 , and the Daimler - Benz DB 603 twinned - up in such a form to create the most powerful of the cumbersome " coupled " power systems , the " DB 613 " in March 1940 . None of these " power systems " really ever had all their design flaws worked out during the war years , some of which were also related to airframe design issues in how the " power systems " were mounted onto the airframe , and housed in their nacelles . Such issues in airframe powerplant installation design did not exist in the prototype airframes for both the Heinkel He 119 reconnaissance design , nor in the Messerschmitt Me 261 long - range design due to those designs having well - laid out DB 606 engine installations — however , such issues with poor engine accomodation design for such a heavy and complex " power system " as the DB 606 partially contributed to the endlessly troubled career of the Luftwaffe ' s only heavy bomber design to see production , the Heinkel He 177 A . The operational front - line versions of the " Greif " only used the Daimler - Benz produced coupled engine systems for propulsion , resulting in " Reichsmarschall " Hermann Göring ' s complaints in August 1942 that derisively labeled the Daimler - Benz firm ' s " coupled " engine concept , as used in the He 177 , as " welded - together engines " , with each " power system " weighing roughly 1 . 5 tonnes apiece . Simultaneously with the early development of the " coupled " engines , was Daimer - Benz ' s attempt at creating an over - 1 , 500 kW output aviation powerplant using only one common crankcase , the twenty - four cylinder Daimler - Benz DB 604 , with four banks of six cylinders each , arranged in an upper and lower set with a 60º angle between each bank per set . Possessing essentially the same displacement of 46 . 5 litres ( 2830 in2 ) as the initial version of the Junkers Jumo 222 , the DB 604 was intended to have A and B versions of opposite rotation , like the coupled engines did , but as its protracted development was diverting valuable German aviation powerplant research resources , and with more development of the DB 610 coupled engine giving improved results at the time , the Reich Air Ministry stopped all work on the DB 604 in September 1942 . The BMW company ' s work with radial engines resulted in the BMW 802 eighteen - cylinder air - cooled radial engine design from the mid - war years , which was close to being a high - output aviation engine , being in the same general class in the number of cylinders and output power as the American Double Wasp powerplant ( which had itself achieved a 2 , 000 horsepower output rating as early as 1939 ) while having a 53 . 67 litre ( 3 , 275 cu . in . ) displacement , close to that of an even more powerful American radial , the Wright " Duplex - Cyclone " . The largest displacement radial piston engine designed and built in Germany for aviation purposes during the war years , the incredibly complex Wasp Major - class BMW 803 28 - cylinder liquid - cooled radial was proving to be a total failure in testing of its prototypes . The Junkers company ' s own 24 - cylinder Junkers Jumo 222 , liquid cooled six - bank inline engine , with four cylinders in each bank , came the closest to being Nazi Germany ' s only production , single - crankcase design high - output powerplant candidate during the war years , intended to power not only the Junkers Ju 288 , but also many other German multi - engined advanced combat aircraft projects . The 222 was a remarkably compact and efficient engine design , being almost identical in cylinder number , displacement and weight to the British Napier Sabre H - type four - bank inline engine , and the best attempt at creating a German aviation engine that could routinely exceed 1 , 500 kW output at altitude , but as with the BMW designs and even the later Heinkel HeS 011 advanced turbojet engine , never came close to being a production - ready aircraft powerplant , with just under 300 examples of the Jumo 222 produced in total between several different versions . The original " Bomber A " pre - war medium bomber competition was intended to create Germany ' s first truly effective bomber . Previously they had developed a collection of much smaller designs , some of them developed from pre - war passenger and courier aircraft . Their first purpose - designed type , the Junkers Ju 88 , had limited range and payload , forcing the Luftwaffe to maintain the Heinkel He 111 for other missions . Also facing limited availability of both designs , the early - war Luftwaffe was forced to use a collection of different aircraft , a problem no one in the Luftwaffe was at all happy with . The Ju 88 was just entering service when Germany ' s own aforementioned 1 , 500 kW + output class power plants started bench testing . Compared to the Jumo 211 s in the Ju 88 , a pair of such engines in a bomber ' s airframe would more than double the power when compared to a pair of the earlier inverted V12 powerplants , upwards to 5 , 000 hp ( 3680 kW ) . With this sort of power , a significantly more capable design could be built , one with considerably larger internal space for a much large bombload , more fuel for longer range , and even better speed . Junkers had been studying dramatically more capable versions of the Ju 88 powered by their relatively compact Jumo 222 , or the four - crankshaft Jumo 223 diesel engine design from late 1937 . No serious work was undertaken , but after Heinrich Hertel left Heinkel and joined Junkers in 1939 , the EF 74 design was submitted to the RLM in May 1939 . Accordingly the RLM sent out the specifications for Bomber B in July 1939 . The specification called for a new medium bomber with a maximum speed of 600 km / h ( 375 mph ) , able to carry a bomb load of 4000 kg ( 8 , 820 lb ) to any part of Britain from bases in France or Norway . To improve crew performance and defensive firepower , the designs were to have a pressurized cabin with remotely aimed armament . With the extended range , larger payload and better performance , Bomber B would replace all existing bombers in service . Different designs . Arado , Dornier , Focke - Wulf and Junkers all responded with designs , and Henschel later added its own entry ( the Hs 130 ) . However , it was clear even at this point that the call for designs was to some extent a formality , as the Junkers design had already been selected for production . The Ar 340 was dropped in the design stage and Do 317 was relegated to low - priority development , while prototype orders were placed for the Fw 191 and the Ju 288 . With the Focke - Wulf and Dornier projects as first and second backups , the " Technisches - Amt " technical development office of the RLM started using these other designs as experimental testbeds . For instance , the Fw 191 was based around an all - electric platform that replaced hydraulics wherever possible . The Fw 191 thusly earned the nickname of " Das Fliegende Kraftwerk " ( the flying power station ) . However this dramatically increased the complexity of wiring the planes , and the chance that one of the many motors would fail was considerable . But that was not terribly important — it was felt that the Junkers design would work anyway . The end of the project . Prototype airframes of the Ju 288 and Fw 191 designs were ready mid - 1940 , but in a taste of things to come , neither the Jumo 222 nor the DB 604 were ready to be installed . Instead of waiting , both teams decided to power their prototypes with the BMW 801 radial engine , although with 900 hp less per engine , the planes would be seriously underpowered . The first 222s did not arrive until October 1941 , and some eleven months later the DB project was cancelled outright . By May 1942 , things were getting desperate , and it was suggested that the Daimler - Benz DB 606 be used instead , even though it was considerably larger and heavier , and was well known to have serious problems . Prototypes of both designs with these engines were ordered , although the Fw 191 was just getting into the air with the BMW 801 radials at this point and the 288 was showing a continual tendency to break its landing gear on touchdown . Desperation set in at the RLM , who had no other designs " in the pipeline " to fill the gap left if Bomber B did not work , even though some minor designs like the Henschel Hs 130 , usually powered with two DB 603 or 605 engines , and the Dornier Do 317 , itself being tried with the same , trouble - prone DB 606 or 610 " welded - together engines " on some of its prototype airframes were also being considered . A slightly improved Ju 88 — based on the prototype - only Ju 88B design — was ordered as the Ju 188 , and several prototypes of " stretched " versions of existing bomber designs with four engines were also ordered , as with Junkers ' own Ju 488 in 1943 - 44 . In June 1943 , the T - Amt finally gave up ; by this point , even if the Jumo 222 started working reliably , as it had begun to do so in the summer of 1943 , a shortage of the metals needed for the high - temperature alloys it used meant it would not be able to enter production anyway , with just under 300 development powerplants built . The three - year development period during wartime in Europe , with no combat - ready designs to show for the effort , meant that the Germans ' Bomber B project was a time - consuming venture that delivered nothing , while also serving to ensure that no other designs were available in late 1943 , when their existing twin - engined medium bombers — most of which were first developed in the mid to late 1930s — started to become hopelessly outdated . With the failure of Bomber B , four engine versions of the He 177 were finally considered through most of 1943 . The trio of completed DB 603 - powered He 177B prototypes would successfully start their flight tests by the end of 1943 . However , production of the B - series He 177s by Arado Flugzeugwerke , the prime subcontactor for Heinkel ' s heavy bombers , was never undertaken as the Luftwaffe ' s attention turned to fighter production .