British WWII's bombers

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Fairey Barracuda

The first monoplane torpedo bomber of the RN. It was said that the Barracuda was designed by a committee and built in a madhouse. In fact, it was not that bad an aircraft, but early versions were seriously underpowered, and it was certainly ugly. The Barracuda was a shoulder-wing design with large slotted Fairey-Youngman flaps and a T-tail.

General characteristics Barracuda Mk. II
Primary function	Torpedo bomber
Power plant	One water-cooled Rolls-Royce Merlin 32 in-line engine
Thrust	1,640 HP		1,223 kW
Wingspan	47.6 ft		14.50 m
Length	40 ft		12.18 m
Height	15 ft		4.58 m
Wingarea	405 sq ft		37.62 sq m
Weight	empty	9,800 lb	4,445 kg
	max.	14,080 lb	6,386 kg
Speed	210 mph		338 km/h
Ceiling	21,600 ft		6,585 m
Range	724 mi		1,165 km
Armament	2x 7.7mm machine gun; 744 kg torpedo or bombs
Crew	Three
First flight	prototype 7.12.1940
Date deployed	1943
Number built	2,572

Jirka Wagner