28 AH september 2019
DURING THE 1930S, THE CONCEPT OF A “HEAVY
FIGHTER” CAME INTO VOGUE. AIR COMBAT WAS
STILL IN ITS FORMATIVE YEARS, AND AIRCRAFT
DESIGNERS BELIEVED THAT FOUR-ENGINE
BOMBERS WITH ENOUGH GUNS TO MAKE THEM
“FLYING FORTRESSES” WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE.
Gloster Gladiator biplanes had yet to give way to
Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes, so
the idea of a large, twin-engine fighter with over-
whelming firepower that could both protect bomb-
ers and blast a path for them seemed to make sense.
Many pursued the idea: the Dutch with the
Fokker G-1, the Soviets with the Petlyakov Pe-2
and -3 and the British with the Bristol Beaufighter.
The Americans came up with both the uniquelysuccessful Lockheed P-38 and the useless Bell
YFM-1 Airacuda. The P-38 Lightning was a suc-
cess because from the outset it was intended to be a
fighter, though it later undertook other roles, such
as reconnaissance. Most heavies were designed as
multirole aircraft, which inevitably compromised
fighter performance.
Two late-war heavy fighter designs, Germany’s
Dornier Do-335 Pfeil centerline-thrust twinEASY MEAT
An Me-110C passes
Dover during the
Battle of Britain, when
many of the twin-
engine fighters were
shot down by Spitfires
and Hurricanes.