Placing the Fairey Battle.

[Ruy Horta]

No bomber in the early phase of the war was able to "fit intended purposes" and "were either removed from service or send to other duties". However this is very much a blanket statement. Since RAF and Luftwaffe bombers couldn't fulfil the vision of unescorted bombing and winning wars in a few days.

But not even the B-17 was able to fulfil its intended* purpose and tactics had to be adjusted. And even if accepting that fact it may have had more to do with the output of new a/c and aircrew than tactics, thus winning a battle of attrition.

The Ju 87 was a specialist a/c, just like the A-10. In the Gulf the latter was a great success, but I always wonder about its intended mission, protecting the Fulda Gap against a Soviet onslaught, facing an umbrella of (then) modern SAM and AAA and aerial opposition. We'll never know...

*actually its official design made it a coastal bomber, but during the NEI campaign it was less successful than the obsolete B-10/12 fulfilling intended purpose.