Hi, I was wanting to attempt to scratchbuild a Ju 89/ Do 19 heavy bomber in service ~1941/1942 as a what-if project of if General Walter Wever had survived. Now the aircraft that I intend to build is suppose to resemble a very developed Ju 89/Do 19 bomber, so my question is, what would this aircraft look like? Would its development resemble that like its opponent the B-17 by having heavier defensive armament over time and more powerful engines?

Also in comparison to the B-17, would the Ju 89/Do 19 have been superior as General Milch said:


Any help would be greatly appreciated

Well looking at the Do 19 it's a really dated design. The thing looks like an up engined WW1 bomber with that odd front end and flat bottomed nose. I would first update that cockpit area. From what I recently read the German designers were trending towards that "stepless" design as seen in the He 111, He 219, Ju 388, the Arado jet bombers, etc. So the front end would look like a B-29 or have that futuristic bubble like on the He 219/Ju 388.
Next the tail plain and vertical stabilizers need modernization. After that definitely engine upgrades. I don't know if they would redesign the wings without just making it a whole new plane. Oh, and remote control defensive weapons as seen on the other German designs.

Same for Ju 89, definitely change out the engines for more powerful DB 603 or something like that. Maybe update the cockpit canopy to make it smoothed and more aerodynamic. Tweak the tail as it looks old fashioned. That design is not very sleek to begin with so there's not much that I can think of to make it better.

Oh and it seems like the Germans had a thing for remote control weapons stations. I don't imagine it would have waist guns installed like the B-17, or other "manned" defensive positions, it just wasn't their style. Shucks, I'm not even sure how effective those remote control guns were, so as to whether the designs would have been superior to Allied designs, I think that's some arm-chair blather that could be said with the luxury of never having to be proven. Basically you can pick any abandoned design and claim that had it been pursued it would have been superior, if only this or that. Looking at those planes though, I personally don't buy it. German aircraft engine industry seemed to be fraught with delays and design problems and defects, and everything was always "under powered." Yeah, to me it seems that there was too much stacked against them.

The German's and the American's were very forward thinking when it came to remote-controlled defensive armament. The B-29 is living proof that remote-controlled armament is much more effective to manned armament. Here's some data on the B-29's defensive armament: http://www.scribd.com/doc/37162906/B-29-Remote-Control-Turrets

As for the Ju 89: The Ju-89 (and even the Do 19) is very comparable to the YB-17, and it's not too far-fetched to imagine that they could prove to be superior if they were properly developed.