Through a series of informed profiles, this book traces the stories of the great bombers of the worlds air forces, from the strange Capronis which were flown on heroic missions across the Alps in the First World War to the Viggen, representative of a new generation of strike aircraft when the traditional definitions of military aircraft types ceased to apply. In the 60 years between these aircraft many types were built to fulfil the primary offensive role forseen by the visionaries of air power. The Handley Page 0/400 was an early example, while between the two World Wars there were designs ahead of their time, such as the American Martin Bomber and the Soviet Tupolev TB3. Some of the Second World War classics described were conceived in the 1930s—the Bristol Blenheim, Vickers Wellington, Boeing B-17, Junkers Ju 87 and Ju 88 among them—while others had wartime origins in expediency, inspiration or derivation, the Avro Lancaster, de Haviland Mosquito and Boeing B-29 among them. The author also recalls the outstanding bombers of the jet age.