Abomber is a type ofairplane that is used to attack ground targets, mainly by droppingbombs. The first bombers were made at the start ofWorld War I.
Bombers often fly low to the ground to confuse enemyradar. Most cannot fly very fast. Because of this, bombers are not outfitted to fight other airplanes. To make up for this, bombers in the past had manymachine guns for defense.
Dive bombers were numerous inWorld War II. They attacked surface targets including tanks and ships.Strategic bombing became important. Bombers had large crews, sometimes as many as 12 people. Usually a bomber had apilot, abombadier, a co-pilot/navigator, and many machine gunners all around to shoot at enemyfighter aircraft defending the target. Friendly fighters often came along to help fight the defenders.
Bombers now have one or two people in them. The other positions have been replaced by computers. Bombers have very few guns on them partly because they are much faster. In bombing missions now, the pilot drops a bomb and leaves as quickly as possible. During theCold War, a few bombers were made that could travelsupersonic, so anuclear bomb could be dropped without killing the people in the airplane. They were never used that way, however.
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