@CWO:
I’m wondering if perhaps the current board ranks Bomber (2000-2499) and Heavy Bomber (5000+) should be updated to reflect the newer A&A 1940 terminology of Tactical Bomber and Strategic Bomber, which are actual unit (and sculpt) types in the 1940 games, as opposed to the older Heavy Bombers being a tech upgrade to the unqualified Bomber unit but not a new sculpt type.
Not knowing about the history you mentioned above, I had always thought that “Mechanized Infantry” addressed the tech upgrade, as Heavy Bombers do, too.
Having signed in to AaA.org in 2008, I now recall to have gone through the steps “Conscript”, “Infantry”, “Mech Infantry”, too…
So maybe the enhancement of the “lower than 100 ranks” had been introduced already any time between 2006 and (late) 2008?
On a sculpts-base your idea is good, for sure.