Because I frequently look up military aircraft a lot on Wikipedia, and time and time again, I keep hearing how bombers are slower and less maneuverable than either fighters, attackers, or multirole aircraft. So does that mean that bombers are more heavily armored than the other three types of military aircraft? If not, and armor just weighs down *any* plane, why are bombers the largest, slowest, and leave maneuverable of the military aircraft, anyway?
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Bombs are large and heavy. WW2 bombers also had more armor than fighters. They also usually want them to have a long range, and fuel is heavy too.
In general, the power-to-weight ratio of a plane is going to be worse if you’re trying to carry a bunch of heavy crap around. There are practical limits to how large you can make an airplane and still have it usable at regular airfields, which limits how much power the engines can generate. And the longer the range, the more fuel you have to carry, which means the plane will be even heavier near the start of the flight. The structure of the plane also has to be stronger (and usually that means heavier) to carry more weight.
Conceptually it’s the same reason why a big cargo truck/van is slower and less maneuverable than a compact passenger car.
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