Armstrong Whitworth Whitley

The Story of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley

The British Armstrong Whitworth Whitley continued the tradition of ugly but sturdy and reliable heavy bombers as the heavy bomber of choice early in the war and until 1942. The massive, unattractive design gave the RAF a versatile heavy hitter to smash the inner workings of the German war machine.

Although obsolete by the middle of the war, Wheatley would still fulfill the intended role of its design and provide the RAF with a much-needed offensive strike.

The Wheatley was originally a derivative of the AW 23 transport/bomber design, the first Wheatley prototype flew in 1936. Operating models in the form of the previous two brands - Mk I and Mk II - in 1937 initially ordered 80 aircraft (34 and 46 respectively). There are subtle differences between the two, but more notable is the use of different powerplants - the Tiger IX radial engine in the Mk I and the Tiger VIII radial engine in the Mk II.

By the time the aggression broke out, the Mk I would have almost completely eliminated Europe. The Mk III appeared shortly after the first batch and introduced a retractable ventral gun position. The Mk IV will be equipped with a different Rolls-Royce radial engine.

A sub-variant of the Mk IV will feature a reconfigured powered rear turret housing four 7.7mm machine guns. The final bomber variant of the Whitley series will have to wait until the Mk V model arrives, when the system will bear the brunt of advanced bombing raids on enemy territory.

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley's design was a basic twin-engine aircraft with a heavy bomber classification. One of the most noticeable features of the range is the interesting downward sloping format of the nose and cockpit sections, which itself contains a very pronounced protruding "chin" attachment.

Crew accommodation for a total of five people spread across various parts of the aircraft, crew systems or defensive weapons. Standard armament on the Mk V model consists of a 7.7mm machine gun in the nose gunner's position, supplemented by 4 x 7.7mm machine gun assemblies in a powered turret assembly at the rear of the aircraft.

The addition of Nash & Thompson products eliminates the retractable ventral gun position on earlier models. Internal bomb loads were limited to 7,000 pounds of various guns.

Whitley's, while noticeably lagging behind and vulnerable to an ever-improving enemy attacked day and night, slowly progressed as required by front-line combat capability until early to mid-1942though production continued until 1943, when Whitley changed Got to be more British through next-generation and better defenses by American bombers designed for long-range heavy strikes. Even so, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley would have been a great performer.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes