British WWII's bombers

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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley

Twin-engined monoplane bomber. The Whitley was one of the first heavy night bombers of the RAF, and the first RAF aircraft with a stressed-skin fuselage. It had a characteristic nose-down flying attitude, because of the high incidence of the wing. Performance was mediocre, and from 1942 onwards it was used as trainer and glider tug.

General characteristics Whitley V
Primary function	Heavy bomber
Power plant	Two 12cylinder Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines
Thrust	2x 1,145 HP		2x 854 kW
Wingspan	84 ft		25.6 m
Length	70.5 ft		21.5 m
Height	15 ft		4.57 m
Weight	empty	19,330 lb	8,768 kg
	max.	33,500 lb	15,196 kg
Speed	max.	222 mph	357 km/h
	cruising	about 185 mph	about 297 km/h
Initial climb rate	800 ft/min		244 m/min
Ceiling	20,000 ft		6,100 m
Range	1,647 mi		2,650 km
Armament	5x 7.7 mm machine gun; 3,175 kg bombs
Crew	Five
First flight	17.3.1936
Date deployed	1937 (version I)
Number built	1,737 all versions

Jirka Wagner