Schnellbomber

However, experience of the Spanish Civil War demonstrated that the Do 17's speed when loaded with military equipment was insufficient to escape interception, and armament had to be added to give it some defensive fighting capability.

The last generation of biplane fighters (like the Gloster Gladiator and Polikarpov I-15) that had been placed in service during that decade could not catch the privately created Bristol Type 142 twin-engined light bomber prototype in 1935.

However by the end of the 1930s, low-wing monoplane fighters like the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire had entered service, and they had the performance to catch up with the Schnellbomber, and dramatically outgun it by eight to one (only one gun would normally be able to fire back).

With the ever-growing Japanese blockade of war materials and high-octane aviation fuel, particularly following the capture of Nanning in the Battle of South Guangxi, and the increasing obsolescence of Chinese fighter aircraft burning low-grade fuel versus fast and high-flying massed bomber formations burning high-octane avgas, the Japanese continued to wreak havoc and devastation against Chinese cities for years to come, particularly in the Battle of Chongqing and Chengdu beginning in May 1939.

Other aircraft recognized as Schnellbombers by the Luftwaffe were the Junkers Ju 88,[7] the first to be custom-designed for the role, three years before the start of the war, the Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse in 1943, and the jet-engined Arado Ar 234 Blitz (dubbed "the fastest bomber" – "Schnellstbomber").