Membership: Six members (none identified)
Purpose: Mercenary wreckers/arsonists
Affiliations: Unidentified landlord
Enemies: Amos, Lt. Nathaniel "Blackbyrd" Byrd, Thor Odinson (Dr. Don Blake), tenants of old run-down hotels (including Max Yadow)
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout New York City, USA
First Appearance: Thor I#309 (July, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: The Bombardiers were normal humans who used extremely specialized equipment. They wore suits with wings that enabled them to fly. Their weaponry included wrist-mounted guns that fired explosive mini-missiles and wraparound rockets. Their most powerful weapon was their rocket-car.
History:
(Thor
I#309 (fb) - BTS) - The Bombardiers were hired by a ruthless
landlord to secretly destroy his tenement houses and set them on
fire--the landlord figured he could make more money collecting on the
insurance policies than he could by collecting rent money.
Using their nearly indestructible rocket-car, the mercenaries demolished the buildings without care for the people still living inside. However, Lt. Nathaniel Byrd of the NYPD guessed that the disasters weren't accidental and started investigating the landlord.
(Thor I#309) - Another of the landlord's properties, the Savoy Hotel, was demolished by the Bombardiers. After having rammed their rocket-car through the building, the criminals set the crumbling structure on fire. The disaster killed several people, among them Max Yadow, who died hours later in the hospital before Dr. Donald Blake could do anything for him; but Yadow's pet cat Amos stayed with Blake.
The Bombardiers were hired again to demolish the landlord's last property, the Belnord Arms, an old building built in 1891; but Byrd's investigations led him to guess that this was to be the next target, and he informed Blake. Blake subsequently transformed into Thor and flew to the scene with Amos.
Later that night, the Bombardiers found Thor--flanked by Amos the cat--waiting for them and ready to defend the Belnord Arms. Thor struck a powerful blow to their flying rocket-car with his hammer, but it resisted the hammer's blow and launched at full speed against the Asgardian. Another blow temporarily held back the car, then the Bombardiers came out of their vehicle and attacked Thor personally, utilizing their flying harnesses to provide some advantage.
When their mini-missiles proved ineffective against Thor's whirling hammer, the flying Bombardiers fired their wraparound-rockets and managed to entangle him. They then started punching Thor, and it took several seconds for the god of thunder to free himself. Meanwhile, Lt. Byrd and the police arrived on the scene and engaged the Bombardiers in a gun-fight, but the criminals were soon defeated and arrested. The Bombardier's leader managed to make it back to the rocket-car, and he tried to kill Thor by ramming the killer machine at maximum force against him, pinning the thunder god against the building's wall and repeatedly firing the vehicle's explosive concussion cannons at him at close range.
Then Lt. Byrd fired several shots at the rocket-car's damaged bulletproof windshield, and shattered it--in that moment, Amos the cat jumped into the vehicle and scratched at the Bombardier leader's eyes; the leader fell back onto the rocket-car's flight controls and he was electrocuted. But this also caused the the rocket-car's sleek wings to unfold from its sides.
Thor managed to lift the front of the rocket-car up and it launched into the air. But after learning from the captured gang-members that the rocket-car was carrying enough explosives to destroy the area, Byrd warned Thor. Thor followed the vehicle as its uncontrollable flight took it skyward; he retrieved Amos from the airborne rocket-car, and a moment later, the flying weapon exploded with a tremendous force.
When Thor returned to the ground with Amos, Byrd informed him that the detained Bombardiers gave them enough evidence to arrest the landlord.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Rick Leonardi and Chic Stone.
Where did the Bombardiers find so much Adamantium (alloy) to cover their car and build their weapons? Surely someone built the equipment for them.
My guess is that they got everything from the Tinkerer (Phineas Mason), who was known to supply equipment to other criminals at around the time of this story (e.g. Big Wheel, Binary Bug, Bruno Caper, Hypno-Hustler, Stinger).
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And since Thor was able to break free from the wraparound-rocket cables, and the rocket-car itself was destroyed by the explosion, they were probably all made of Secondary Adamantium, which is strong, but not quite indestructible.--Ron Fredricks The Bombardier's leader stated that they would destroy the Belnord Arms in the year 1981--that date can be considered topical. The scream emitted by the rocket-car reminded me of the siren used by Stukas, German dive-bombers used in WWII; the sound produced by the siren instilled terror in people even before the bombing started. A squad piloting a special airplane which bombed and destroyed buildings, and a hero who stopped them after some difficulties, reminded me of an old Superman cartoon, probably set during WWII. The Bulleteers was a 1940s cartoon with Superman from Fleisher animation.---John McDonagh & Doc Savage |
Profile by Spidermay. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Bombardiers have no known connections to:
Max Yadow has no known connections to:
Amos the avenging cat has no known connections to:
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The Bombardiers most powerful weapon, it was a four-wheeled vehicle capable of reaching high speeds. Its shell was made of an Adamantium alloy (see comments); it could withstand the impacts of rubble from a crumbling building, and even the blows of Thor's hurled hammer. However, its windshield, while bulletproof and highly durable, could still be weakened by repeated blows. The rocket-car could accommodate at least six individuals. When running, its engine emitted a frightening sound and produced a pushing force near to 100 tons. The rocket-car was armed with several destructive concussion cannons, and it was loaded with powerful demolition explosives. |
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With its wings extended outward from the sides, the car could use its rear-mounted turbines to switch to flying mode, much like a rocket. The Bombardiers drove it to ram through several tenement buildings, then used the concussion cannons to set the demolished structures on fire. When their mission of destruction was completed, they switched the vehicle to flight mode and flew away. After the Bombardiers were defeated by Thor, the leader of the gang escaped in the vehicle; but the rocket-car was sent on an uncontrollable flight skyward, where it was destroyed when the explosives it was carrying detonated. --Thor I#309 (Comment: The look of the rocket-car reminds me of the Batmobile from the 1989 Batman movie.) |
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Small missiles which towed cables made of an Adamantium alloy (see comments), they could entangle, bind and restrain a target. The Bombardiers used them against Thor, but the thunder god was eventually able to break free by flexing his muscles. --Thor I#309 |
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Max Yadow was a normal elderly man, and Amos was his pet black cat; they both resided in the old Savoy Hotel, and Max considered Amos to be his sole surviving friend. One night, the Bombardiers used their rocket-car to attack the hotel. Max was terrified by the rocket-car's appearance ("Eyes like the devil [referring to the vehicle's headlights]--screaming like a soul in torment!" {referring to the sound of its engine]). The rocket-car demolished the Savoy building in only a few minutes, and Yadow was buried under the debris. Amos managed to escape and follow his wounded friend, who was taken to the Westside Clinic, but the gravely injured Yadow died a few hours later, just after having spoken to Dr. Donald Blake. Blake took Amos into his care, and when the doctor transformed into Thor, Amos attracted his attention, so the thunder god carried the cat to the Belnord Arms, the hotel where the Bombardiers were expected to strike next. Once there, while Thor battled the rocket-car, Amos managed to slip into the building; the cat stood upon the building's switchboard, which influenced the switchboard-man to call the police. Shortly afterward, Amos went outside, and with his mewing, he alerted Thor to the rocket-car's sneak-attack. Thor managed to hold the rocket-car in his clutches for several seconds, and when the vehicle's windshield was broken by police detective Lt. Byrd's gunshot, Amos jumped inside. The cat then attacked the eyes of the Bombardiers' leader, causing the leader to fall against the controls and electrocute himself; but the explosive-filled rocket-car went out of control and flew skyward, with Amos inside. Thor flew upward and grabbed Amos just before the rocket-car exploded--the cat had gotten his revenge for the death of Max. --Thor I#309 |
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images: (without ads)
Thor I#309, p9, pan2 (main image - Bombardiers inside rocket-car)
Thor I#309, p12, pan4 (Bombardiers firing mini-missiles)
Thor I#309, p13, pan2 (Bombardiers flying)
Thor I#309, p14, pan1 (as they swoop down on Thor, Bombardier mentions Adamantium alloy [underlined in red])
Thor I#309, cover (rocket-car in flight)
Thor I#309, p1, pan1 (rocket-car driving on street)
Thor I#309, p2, pan2 (interior of rocket-car)
Thor I#309, p22, pan3 (rocket-car explodes)
Thor I#309, p13, pan3 (wraparound-rockets fired at Thor)
Thor I#309, p13, pan4 (Thor entangled by wraparound-rockets)
Thor I#309, p2, pan3 (Max Yadow and Amos)
Thor I#309, p2, pan4 (Max Yadow and Amos hear approaching rocket-car)
Thor I#309, p17, pan1 (Amos gets nasty)
Appearances:
Thor I#309 (July, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Rick Leonardi (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), George Roussos (colors) Joe Rosen (letters), Jim Salicrup (editor)
First Posted: 12/28/2007
Last updated: 02/22/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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