, a famous
World War II heavy bomber and high level bomber High level bombers were primarily used by the
Allies for
carpet bombing (particularly later in the war), such as the
bombing of Dresden or
Tokyo. They were also deployed in other kinds of missions such as
Operation Tidal Wave,
Operation Crossbow, and the
sinking of the Tirpitz. After initial operations by day suffered heavy losses, the British switched to night-time
sorties where the darkness gave some protection against German fighters.
Arthur "Bomber" Harris's strategy for the
RAF Bomber Command was to attack area targets that the bombers could be more certain of hitting at night, while the
U.S. preferred daylight,
precision bombing techniques. The development since the 1930s of
gyroscope-stabilised optical
bombsights, such as the
Norden bombsight, also helped the Allied air forces' ability to accurately strike their targets with medium- to high-altitude level bombing attacks.
Nazi Germany used high level bombers such as the
Heinkel He 111, the
Dornier Do 17 and multi-role aircraft such as the
Junkers Ju 88 against the Allies in the
Battle of Britain, both for carpet bombing and for precision attacks on British
radar stations as part of
Operation Eagle. == Cold War ==