Oh, there were bombers with numbers in between, some never made it past prototypes, some reached limited production. Some even saw combat.

B-32 Dominator was the alternate in case the B-29 didn't cut it. Over 100 were made and they actually flew missions over Japan.
The last aerial combat over Japan took place 3 days after the war ended. 4 B-32s were tasked with photo recon of targets in the Tokyo area "just in case", two were pulled from the mission due to mechanical problems so only 2 flew the mission. And they were attacked by Japanese fighters. They took some damage and claimed some fighters shot down, but Japanese records did not acknowledge any losses.

List of US Bombers, or bomber-capable aircraft (this mess of designations shows why they made the change in 1962)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_bomber_aircraft Note that some have the designation "A"=attack bomber, the most famous is the A-10 Thunderbolt II/aka Warthog. While those deemed capable of also being fighters have the "F" designation such as the F-117 Nighthawk stealth bomber.

The B-32 underwent radical redesigns from the prototype to the production versions. They were all scrapped in the late 1940s so all we have left are photos.
https://planehistoria.com/the-b-32-dominator-took-part-in-the-last-dogfight-of-wwii/#:~:text=One%20notable%20aspect%20of%20the,last%20dogfight%20of%20the%20war.

The Pentagon decided to standardize designations across all branches in 1962. So they went back to "1" and started over instead of having the branches fight over whose designation would be used.

The F-4 Phantom was first designed with the designation F-110A.

If it is a guerrilla-style terrorist group, just find their base camp(s) and turn a Buff* or two loose.

*Big Ugly Fat Fu**er"

In Vietnam, they sometimes used them on VC/NVA camps in the jungle or against the many trails they traveled on.
Line a few up a few hundred feet apart and they drop their bombs one at a time in series until they are out. Then another line of B-52s takes their place until you run out of the target area or loaded bombers. It was called "carpet bombing" though some GIs referred to it as "plowing" since from the air it looked like the furrows of a plowed field on a huge scale.

The Vietnam-era 500lb bomb had a blast radius of 80 meters, and the 2000 lb bomb had a 385-meter radius. The B52D common in Vietnam could carry 84 500 lb bombs internally and 24 750 lb bombs on hard points under the wings. The result of a carpet bombing was indeed destruction on a grand scale.

And in current news, a fuel barge hit and collapsed part of a causeway/bridge in Galveston.

I now live in So Cal and my HS is in Western Kentucky, so except for the one reunion long ago, no I haven't kept up with them.

My Freshman and Sophomore college year were in Western Kentucky, so no to those friends either.

Then I went into the Army for three years and on returning to the states I worked at a supermarket while living with my now widowed Mother and going to College. A mix of day, night and weekend classes so not much chance to make friends. Then part-time college, graduate-level courses while teaching, again not many friends. And now that I am retired I live almost 70 miles from the nearest school where I taught so no contact with other teachers either. I do have friends at the Railway Museum where I belong to the operations department. But I haven't seen much of them since C***D hit. The museum is back to regular operations so I really need to start going back out. Even with my Sciatica and bad left knee I can go back to being an announcer for events - talking I can do.

If you think it is too small you must have large hands. I find it great

As to balance, I use mine on a tripod or with a pistol grip and a rail mount. Just slide it forward or back until balanced and tighten it down.

It works with my RF 100-500 L on both and Tamron EF 150-600+ adapter and even 1.4x on a tripod. It works with a pistol grip also but for the last couple of years, that rig has been a bit too heavy on my 78 yo arthritic left wrist and fingers for a long period. Works with a monopod also.

Now to get an adapter that will fit a head to my new TactiStaff hiking staff. Then I will have a monopod and a defensive staff all in one. The TactiStaff is aircraft aluminum, in eight sections, six with tools like knife, ice breaker etc., and the other two empty for height adjustment. I never learned Quarter Staff defense but with the cross-piece handle on the top it makes a fair substitute for a bayoneted rifle and my dear Uncle Sam taught me how to fight with one of those. The cross-piece = rifle butt and the other end with traction point = pointy end/bayonet. It works for me and no explaining what I am doing with a rifle and bayonet. Cops and Sheriffs seem to think people shouldn't wander around with a bayoneted rifle for some reason. But a hiking staff, with a left leg limp from sciatica/bad knee, no problem, esp in parks and if I can find an adapter for a camera mount, well, it's a camera monopod officer.

Interesting, parts of Granite City I never saw.
I went to the 593rd Engineer Group at the Granite City Army Engineers Depot in March 1966. The day I arrived it changed to the 593rd General Support Group and we trained to deploy to Vietnam. We left by plane in early Nov 1966 and flew to Oakland CA where we boarded a transport ship for a 28-day trip across the Pacific.

In the early 1970s while visiting my Father in St Ann, Missouri I went across to Granite City to have dinner with the family of a guy from my unit in Vietnam who lived in Granite City.

I am used to using center point-expanded AF. Every so often in the bag or while handling a button gets pushed and suddenly the focal point is elsewhere. Two days ago I found the 9-point AF pattern had migrated to the lower left corner of the frame. How in BLUE BLAZES did that happen?

Huh? I just heard a giggle in an Irish Accent - Murphy is here at my house.

In 1931 it was built as a Federal Building (as a territory at the time the Feds ran the place) and upon statehood, it became the State Capitol. Being frugal and having a perfectly serviceable building they just stuck with what they had. With as small a population as Alaska has to tax you try to save money. Of course then along came the energy boom with lots of money but?... Who knows when those petroleum fields will run out? Yes, "Experts" have calculated predictions, but... I am sure Murphy would love to have a say. Like a major earthquake crunching the oil bearing rocks and letting the oil sink down even deeper. Or even warming turning the Tundra into a swamp/marsh and transport etc. for the oil fields would get more difficult and more expensive.

Are you referring to the the user "Rab-Eye"?

I read Disney, Warners and the other big animation studios did a lot of the military patches and "nose art". Things like the "Sea Bee" art, major ships symbols etc.

In other words, they think they are getting their money's worth without having to take care of those things themselves.

Then they did find a brain!