The RAF's bomber establishment would press to turn the fighter-engine program into a fast, long-range strike aircraft. A Canberra-like twin-jet is the useful visual model, with an operational type placed around 1940-43 after multiple engine and airframe generations. Early designs might resemble a scaled-up Meteor, while turboprop Wellingtons or Hurricanes remain in service as insurance during the transition. The V-bomber force remains several generations away because larger payload, range, and airframe demands require additional development. The result is an earlier medium jet bomber, not an instant reproduction of 1950s strategic aviation.
Chapter · 2:22:18-2:27:31
A Canberra-like bomber arrives generations before the V-bombers
Sustained turbine development gives Bomber Command a plausible route to medium jet bombers during the early 1940s without leaping directly to postwar strategic aircraft.