Level bomber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A level bomber is a bomber aircraft capable of attacking a ground object with bombs. Modern level bombers have multiple engines. During World War II, they possessed significant batteries of defensive guns; these guns were stripped away over the postwar years as the guided missile became more important as an air to air weapon, until the ultimate level bomber designs of all major powers lacked defensive weaponry. Level bombers are distinguished from dive bombers in that they fly and attack from high altitude, and from strike fighters or fighter bombers in that they have no capability to fight other aircraft aggressively. During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union both used several level bomber designs, but the bulk of their offensive forces were in the form of, respectively, the B-52 Stratofortress and Tu-95 Bear.
