The most over-rated bomber was the He 177 Grief. This single bombers problems lead to the lack of a strategic bomber in the Luftwaffe. Had the nazis had a heavy bomber, capable of doing what the Lancaster could do to them, would we seriously have been able to withstand the pummelling? Heinkle consistantly exaggerated the performance characteristics of the Grief for Goering in order to win the contract, and in turn, Goering wanted more from it! He wanted it to divebomb (as Hitler stated in a requirement that every bomber should be able to divebomb by at least a 45 degree angle in 1933). Another problem was Goering ordering that instead of four engine, it was only to have two, but the bombload and capabilities should remain the same, which many inside of Germany co nsidered to be impossible. However, with all the setbacks, with engines frequently catching fire and/or pulling so hard they came away from the air frame, Goering had to resort to using the He111, Do17 and Ju88 instead as the Luftwaffe’s ‘heavy’ bombers.
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