Glasses,
I think the He177A-5 (which is not a 1942 aircraft anymore than our B-17G is) would be a perk plane, albeit a cheap one, because of the following:
Bombload: 13,000lbs (more than twice that of the B-17 and only slightly less than the Lancaster)
Armament: one 7.9mm MG81J machine gun in nose, one 20mm MG151/20 in front ventral gondola, two 7.9mm MG81 in rear ventral gondola, two 13mm MG131 in dorsal barbette, one 13mm MG131 in dorsal turret, one 20mm MG151/20 in tail. (not quite as good as the B-17G, but vastly better than the Lancaster)
Speed: 303mph (faster than either the B-17G or Lancaster).
The He177A-5 out peforms, by a wide margin, every bomber now in AH. In reality this was hampered by a multitude of reasons, none of which are present in AH. Because of this combination (bombload, firepower and speed) the He177 would have the same effect on the usage of other bombers as the F4U-1C had on the usage of other fighters. In my opinion this makes it worthy of the same solution as the F4U-1C, namely cheap perking.
He177A-5 = cheap version of B-29A
Mosquito B.XVI = cheap version of Ar234B