BMW Schnellbomber I

The BMW Schnellbomber I was a German long-range bomber design of the Second World War that never left the design stage. It continued an earlier BMW study of using turboprop engines in aircraft, which also served to advertise the engines BMW had under development. A report concluded that turboprops worked best together with turbojets, and the Schnellbomber I was the company's own example of such a mixed-power fast bomber: two BMW 028 turboprops driving contra-rotating four-blade propellers sat forward at the wing kinks, and two BMW 018 turbojets below them at the rear of the wings, the jets for extra speed when enemy fighters attacked and the turboprops for economical cruise to the target. The wing had a reversed short inboard section and a swept outer section, the tail was comparatively small because fuel and bombs were carried in the wing, and the crew of three sat in a pressurised cockpit. The armament was two remotely controlled, periscope-sighted two-cannon turrets, one above and one below the rear fuselage, and the internal bomb bay took up to 15,000 kg.