I have left three options open for people to add others and I have only included British and American Medium/Heavy bombers.

When Voting please consider the following;

Looks
Survivability
Impact on war effort
Handling


Thankyou

I can't believe I'm saying this but the Lancaster.     It could fly father and carry a bigger load than the B-17.  Although it wasn't armered as well, but hell, it flew at night.  It would not break up as easily or the fuel would not leek like in the B-24.  And nothin' sounds as pretty as a Merlin.   

I'm saying the B-17.  Sure, she couldn't fly the farthest or carry the heavest load but it had an incredably successiful career.  And when it came down to bringing the crew home and taking damage, no other aircraft comes close.

The lanc and Wellington could take a fair beating as well. After the introduction of radar to Brittish bombers the RAF was able to bomb more accuratly at night than the USAAC could in daylight with the Norden. And then theres the Lancs adaptability to carry "special weapons"
ie "Grandslam" and the bouncing bomb.
I'll vote for the Lanc but the B-29 is noticably missing, though I'd probably still vote Lancaster 8).

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It is now....

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50 years?

I heard they hope to have them all out of service
By      2027   


Brad

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One of the most beautiful aircraft ever
built, I wish we had a sim. model, if just
to look at!!

Brad

The B-29 should definetly be in there.  I vote Lancaster though, the B-17 is pretty, but it's not what I'd want to do any serious bombing with.  Besides, what's the most famous strike of World War II?  The Dambusters.

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Famous strike?.....Suppose it depends on whether you mean the most daring, most successful, most memorable etc.
For success and memory, the Hiroshima drop must be the taker. But again, very little 'daring' on the part of the crews. It was hardly a dangerous run.

I recall that Lanc's were responsible for a raid against the Bismarks sister ship in a Norweigan fiord. They apparently got a hit with a 12,000 lb bomb (not sure). if that is so, it has to be one of the most successful in terms of the odds of a hit with a single bomb. (The Enola Gay could hardly have missed......) 

Definitely! If you include 'infamous' in the list of proviso's I mentioned.
Also very successful too! 

There was also a memorable strike on (I think Berlin), when 60 out of 180 B17's didn't come back. A pretty 'memorable' one too!

I seem to have caused contention, please not the Hee hee hee I added to the title of the poll.  This was intentional.

I was thinking along the lines of WW2 heavies and added Hustler because I'd never heared of it ( ) and I said I would make additions if people requested them.

Please note that the Avro Manchester is in the Poll, could there be a more disastrous attempt at a heavy bomber?  The Manchester was more dangerous to it's crew than the enemy LOL.

I wanted to cause a debate, not blind slavery to the poll.  Most would aggree that it will be, in most minds, a straight fight between the Lanc and the Fort.

On survivability for the crew the best British bomber was the Halifax, you had twice as much chance of surviving than if you were in a Lancaster.

So, ignore the poll, tell us what you think was the best Allied heavy and why.  My list is:

Lancaster for looks and romance value (I don't want to marry one )

Halifax because it was safe

Wellington because of the geodedic structure and its adaptability.

B17 because it hammered the German war machine to mulch.

Will

I love the Blenheim!  Go outside and castrate yourself Brensec!

Huh.

Will

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How very nice!.................In fact, charming, I must say!

Whilst no one would argue with the fact that the B-29 was the most advanced bomber to see service in WW2, its pressurised cabin and advanced fire control system where streets ahead of anything else flying, it only arrived at the end and only flew in one theatre of operations.
I, like Scorpion consider the B-29/A-Bomb combo to be the start of the cold war era rather than the end of WW2 era. In it’s first intended roll as a high altitude strategic bomber, the B-29 was disappointing and it really only started to have an impact when its roll was changed to medium altitude raids using incendiary bombs to cause huge firestorms.
The Lancaster is rightly considered to be the most successful heavy bomber of WW2. It served from 1942 onwards and was the only allied bomber capable of carrying the 22,000lb Grand Slam bomb.

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Yes, there is a jetstream in germany too, helped you while going to the target.

And the B-29 did fail in the beginning because they bombed from high-altitude.
When they started firebombing tokyo they got more success, but that came because of unapporved tactics: flying a lot lower

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As for the 'firestorms' in Japan, the predominance of wooden housing and buildings was the real reason for the fact that the whole place went up so badly on every raid.