Quaint as they are, these Curtiss B-2s were the epitome of strategic bombing circa 1930. All the apostles of airpower – Douhet, Mitchell, Trenchard, etc. – envisioned great aerial armadas consisting of bombers such as these. But these visionaries had to work fast: advances in aviation came so fast that even the great prophets were often caught off guard by developments. Example: a doctrine or tactic had just been finalized, only to be relegated to the trash can because planes were suddenly twice as fast or could fly three times as far as their immediate predecessor.
The rules were still being made when World War II began.
The Jive Bomber 