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In 1939, the office of the RLM launched the Bomber-B program for
a new type of medium bomber capable of carrying a 4,000kg bomb load to any
point in the British Isles. Power would be supplied by the Junkers Jumo
9-222 or the Daimler Benz DB-9-604, both were under development. The
contract was issued to the firms of Arado, Dornier, Junkers and Focke-Wulf.
The first manufacturer to respond was Arado. They submitted the E.340
design which had already reached the mock-up stage. The E.340 layout
featured a central gondola and two separate tail booms, in order to
guarantee the rear gunner an unobstructed field of fire. However, this
revolutionary design was not accepted by the RLM. It was rejected and the
design was dropped from the development program. The other three designs
responded to the program was the Dornier Do.317, the Junkers Ju.288 and
the Focke-Wulf Fw.191. All of them had reached prototype stage and were
flights tested. Despite the good flying characteristics of all the
prototypes, the RLM decided to cancel the Bomber-B program, on the lack of
the intended Jumo power-plant.
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