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A number of nations developed such aircraft prior to WWII, all in order to provide an aircraft with enough warload, given the limited engine power of the era, to quickly destroy a bomber. Primary among these pre-war designs were several American aircraft, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the Bell P-39 Airacobra being the best examples, both of which were designed explicitly to mount a huge 37 mm cannon in their nose for this mission.
Developments in armament, notably the introduction of the 20 mm cannon by the RAF, generally led to the disappearance of the bomber destroyer from most air forces. Even small fighters, like the Supermarine Spitfire, were able to carry enough firepower to effectively deal with German and Japanese bombers.
The same was not true for the LuftwaffeThe Luftwaffe (literally, "air weapon", prounounced looft-vaaf-fa) is the air force of Germany. World War I Founded during World War I with the emergence of military aircraft, the Luftwaffe utilized a wide variety of aircraft. After the war ended, it was however, who were facing much larger bombers than they fielded in return. Whereas German bombers were almost always twin-engined with a few hand-held rifle caliber machine gunA machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. Overview M2 machine gun surrounded by spent shell casings Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun wills for defence, RAF and US bombers were much larger four-engine designs with multiple multi-gun turrets. Since damage resistance is strongly correlated to aircraft size, they found that shooting down the bombers was proving to be very difficult.
Starting in about 19431943 is the common year starting on Friday. Events January January 4 End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren. January 11 The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China. January 1, the Luftwaffe started fielding an increasing number of bomber destroyers. The most common were modifications of the Messerschmitt Bf 110The Messerschmitt Bf110 (later Me110) was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. History Based around the concept of the long-range Zerstorer or "Destroyer Fighter" the Bf110 enjoyed some success in the Polish and, night fighters converted to the Zerstörer role by removing the radar and adding more guns. These planes proved to be very effective against US bomber raids in 1943, notably when firing rocketFor rocket lettuce, see arugula; for the early steam locomotive, see Stephenson's Rocket, for the sugar candy, see Rockets. A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of a fast moving exhaust from withis from long range. However they were also rather out of date, the 110 was supposed to have been replaced by 19411941 is also the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979 see 1941 (film). Events January January 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. January 10 Lend-Lease is introduced into the United St, and when the P-51 MustangThe North American P-51 Mustang was a successful long range fighter aircraft which set new standards of excellence and performance when it entered service in the middle years of World War II and is still regarded as one of the very best piston-engined fig appeared the Bf 110 proved to be a deathtrap.
Later designs concentrated on dedicated high-speed planes for this role, notably the Dornier Do 335Dornier Do 335A-0 Description RoleHeavy fighter Crewone, pilot Dimensions Length52 ft15. 80 m Wingspan60 ft18 m Height15 ft4. 55 m Wing area592 ft²55. 00 m² Weights Empty11,484 lb5,210 kg Maximum take-off19,500 lb8,590 kg Powerplant Engines2x Daimler-Benz Pfeil. Its speed would allow it to remain out of danger from the Mustangs, while still carrying a massive gunload. The Messerschmitt Me 262 also saw widespread use in the destroyer role, where its huge load of four 30 mm cannons proved to be more than capable. But in general, few new designs of any sort saw action due to the rapidly deteriorating war conditions.
After the war the destroyer classification disappeared almost instantly. This was due to the introduction of improved high-speed cannons, notably the British Aden and French DEFA. Both of these guns could fire 30 mm rounds at rates similar to all four 20 mm cannons of the typical WWII aircraft. A single one of these cannon provided any aircraft with enough firepower to be a reasonable destroyer, even light interceptors.
The Soviet MiG-15 may be the last design dedicated to the destroyer role, mounting a 37 mm cannon along with two 23 mm guns. While this load proved to be less than useful against other fighters over Korea, in the instances where MiG met bomber, massive B-29 Superfortresses in this case, the MiG's caused considerable damage.
The era of the destroyer was finally killed outright with the introduction of the guided missile. Missiles could do considerably more damage than a cannon, at longer range, were lighter, and kept the fighters out of the range of the defensive guns on the bombers. The Germans had experimented with missiles and rockets during the war for all of these reasons, but were unable to field any of their designs.
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