War Thunder Bomber Pilot's Guide to Surviving

Bombers exist to deliver ordnance on ground targets, and everything else about flying one is survival management. A bomber that reaches the target area, drops its load, and comes home has done its job perfectly even with zero kills. A bomber that chases one more target and dies has done nothing, because the repair bill and the lost spawn outweigh the bomb run.

The run, phase by phase

Phase	Action	Why it matters
Departure	Climb immediately, away from enemy airspace	Altitude is both your safety margin and your accuracy tool
Ingress	Pick a route that avoids the main fighter flow	The cheapest interception is the one that never happens
Target selection	Weigh value against risk, not reward alone	A defended target bombed from low altitude is a dead bomber
Release	Drop, then immediately turn away	Watching your bombs is how fighters kill you
Egress	Dive for speed, run for friendly airspace	You cannot out-turn anything; you can only out-run it
Recovery	Aim for your airfield	A crash landing costs the same as being shot down

Target selection: threat before reward

The default beginner instinct is to bomb the biggest, most valuable target on the map. That target is usually the most defended one. The better default is the target that pays reasonably and lets you release from altitude without overflying anti-air positions. Soft ground targets — columns, artillery, parked vehicles — are the bread and butter; they do not shoot back and they are everywhere. Learn each map’s ground-target density before committing to a plan: over a map with thin columns, altitude bombing is a repair bill with wings.

Altitude is survival

Every foot of altitude is insurance. High release means ground fire has trouble reaching you, your bombs have more time to fall accurately, and your escape dive buys speed the enemy cannot immediately match. Low bombing runs look effective in replays and end careers in practice. If a target genuinely requires a low pass, treat it as a one-way decision: accept that you may not come back, or skip it.

If a fighter jumps you

You will not win. The goal is to survive the first pass and use terrain, speed, and maneuvers to break the attack. Dive to gain speed, stay low only if the fighter is forced to overshoot, head for friendly airspace or your airfield, and use your defensive guns — if your bomber has them — to make the attacker’s approach expensive. A damaged bomber that lands is a bomber that flies again.

The bomber’s place in a lineup

Bombers earn Silver Lions when they hit ground targets, which is why one bomber per lineup is a common economy choice alongside fighters. The first air lineup guide covers how to balance them. For the airspace you will be flying through, the attacker and CAS guide explains how other pilots attack the same targets — and what they will do to you if you fly into their lane.