Continuing with my first post after a beautiful presentation by my friend Sailor...
The First bomber of the world was manufactured in Russia in 1914, it was four engined II'ya Muromets and effectively used in First World War.
Image of II'ya Muromets: (Image : Wikipedia)
General characteristics
* Crew: four to eight (up to twelve)
* Length: 17.5 m (57 ft 5 in)
* Wingspan:
* Top wing: 29.8 m (97 ft 9 in)
* Bottom wing: 21 m (68 ft 11 in)
* Height: 4 m (13 ft 1 in)
* Wing area: 125 m² (1,350 ft²)
* Empty weight: 3,150 kg (6,930 lb)
* Loaded weight: 4,600 kg (10,140 lb)
* Powerplant: 4× Sunbeam Crusader V8 engines, 148 hp (110 kW) each
Performance
* Maximum speed: 110 km/h (68 mph)
* Wing loading: 36.8 kg/m² (7.5 lb/ft²)
* Power/mass: 7.7 kg/hp (16.9 lb/hp)
* Endurance: 5 hours with 300 kg (660 lb) of bombs & armament, 10 hours with extra fuel.
Armament
* Various numbers and combinations of guns at different points during the war, including 12.7 mm, 15.3 mm, 25 mm, 37 mm, and 76.2 mm guns, Maxim guns, Lewis guns, Madsen guns, Colt machine guns and Leonid Kurchevsky's experimental recoilless guns among them.
* Various loads of 50 kg, 100 kg and 656 kg bombs or 6 x 127 mm rockets (under the wings) depending on fuel, armament and crew carried. With three crew and two defensive machine-guns, a V type Ilya Muromets could carry 500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs. ( Source: Wikipedia)
This true bomber was designed by Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972) who later emigrated to The USA in 1919 and found famed empire of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in the USA.
Igor Sikorsky (Image : Wikipedia)
However , this was based upon Sikorsky's Russky Vityaz (S-21) built on 1913.
Image: Russky Vityaz
Specification ( Wikipedia) :
General characteristics
* Crew: 3
* Length: 20 m (65 ft 7 in)
* Wingspan:
* Top wing: 27 m (88 ft 7 in)
* Bottom wing: 20 m (65 ft 7 in)
* Height: 4m ()
* Wing area: 120 m² (1,290 ft²)
* Empty weight: 3,400 kg (7,495 lb)
* Loaded weight: 4,000 kg (8,820 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 4,940 kg (10,890 lb)
* Powerplant: 4× Argus Motoren inline engines, 75 kW (100 hp) each
Performance
* Maximum speed: 90 km/h (55 mph)
* Range: 170 km (105 mi)
* Service ceiling: 600 m (1,970 ft)
Source: Wikipedia
Regards