B-2 Spirit (Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ United States Air force) A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, firing torpedoes at them, or, more recently, by launching cruise missiles at them History: The first use of an air-dropped bomb (actually a hand grenade) was carried out by Italian Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti [1] during the 1911 Italo-Turkish war in Libya , although his plane was not designed for the task of bombing, and his improvised attack had little impact. The first heavier-than-air aircraft purposely designed for bombing were the Italian Caproni Ca 30 and British Bristol T.B.8 , both of 1913. [2] The Bristol T.B.8 was an early British single engined biplane built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company . They were fitted with a prismatic Bombsight in the front cockpit and a cylindrical bomb carrier in the lower forward fuselage capable of carrying twelve 10 lb (4.5 kg) b