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CAC Woomera (A23)

1941 WORLD WAR 2

History

The CAC A23 "Woomera" was an Australian-built short-lived dive bomber/torpedo bomber during World War II. The advance of Japanese troops into the Pacific, of course, put the Australian nation in immediate and immediate danger, even though the nation found they had no internal resources to produce for the war economy. Because of this, Australia relied heavily on British and American support throughout the war, waiting for supplies and receiving aid to build wartime infrastructure. However, most of these early war years were devoted to the development of several domestic military weapons, and foreign supplies were inevitably constrained by host nation demands.

One such homegrown design became the Woomera, a twin-engine bomb platform designed to fill the ranks of the Royal Air Force (RAAF) when the first British fighter jets were moved to other imperial needs.

Originally in 1939, it was expected that Australians would benefit from the local production of British Bristol Beauforts. The Beaufort was a conventional bomber designed for torpedo bombing. Introduced in 1939, 2,129 prototypes were built by the end of production. Progress was slow, however, and the war in Europe had a rather severe impact on the British mainland in the summer of 1940. The Luftwaffe was determined to destroy Britain through aerial combat - the Battle of Britain - to pave the way for Hitler's "Operation Sea Lion" mass invasion of the island.

As a result, every war-grade material and natural resource was used in the island's defense, leaving little room for Australians to move on.

Around the time the Australian government decided to buy Bristol Beaufort for local production, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) began work on a competing design that would outperform the British design and win a lucrative defence contract. CAC introduced a similar twin-engine, three-crew (pilot, bomber/navigator, and tail gunner) design developed on the wing layout of a low monoplane. The aircraft was intended as both a required torpedo bomber and a dive bomber in the traditional sense, possibly with reconnaissance and light bombing as a secondary feature. As such, the aircraft needed to be fairly robust to handle the rigors of both roles. An interesting design element of the new plane is its sealed wings, which are used to store fuel to make a lighter plane (as opposed to those that started out with self-sealing fuel tanks).

Another aspect of the design was the use of nacelle-mounted remote-controlled turrets (each with 2 x .303 machine guns) designed to counter the rear aircraft (targeted from the rear cockpit position via a periscope). Power is provided by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp R-1830-S3CS radial piston engines - one mounted on each wing and built under a local CAC license.

The crew sat in a centerline arrangement under the greenhouse roof. This plane attacks with 4 x. The 303 caliber machine gun is in the nose and can carry bombs and torpedoes or both. External fuel tanks for longer range are also available.

The landing gear consists of two two-wheeled main landing gear legs and a small single-wheeled tail wheel.

While the Australian government initially showed little interest in the CAC design, changing events in Europe forced them to focus on the new aircraft and a ?50,000 order was placed with the development team in June 1940. A model was then created and made public later that year.

This spawned the CA-4 prototype, which first flew in September 1941 with serial number A23-1001. More testing followed, proving that the CAC product was fairly robust and consistent with the Allied designs available at the time. The Australian government ordered 105 of these promising aircraft in early 1942, interestingly without prior consultation with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Production was planned for early 1943, and the RAAF received the A23-001 prototype for evaluation in 1942. However, the CA-4 prototype was eventually lost in an accident in January 1943 - an explosion caused by a fire on board.

A new type of design work was started and the basic CA-4 was used to build the newer prototype CA-11 (A23-1). The plane is similar to the original in many ways, although it features a new tail, an extended canopy, and a revised tail gun station. This version exploded in June 1944.

The aircraft was again powered by Pratt & Whitney radial piston engines (initially a 1,200-hp R-1830 Twin Wasp, but later upgraded to a 1,300-hp R-2000 Twin Wasp) and had a crew of three. Top speed is 282 mph and range is 2,225 miles. She has a service ceiling of 23,500 feet and a climb rate of 2,090 feet per minute. The main armament is slightly modified from the CA-4 prototype, including 2x. 303 caliber machine gun and 2 x 20mm cannons in bow assembly.

The four-gun turret turrets have been retained, as have their remote-controlled features. Both the bombs and torpedo guns were mounted under the wings and under the fuselage - the engine nacelles doubled as bomb bays.

The CA-11 prototype was handed over to the Royal Australian Air Force in November 1944, but by this time wartime surpluses from Britain and the United States had been made available to the Allies in large quantities, thereby eliminating the need for indigenous aircraft. The original government contract for 105 CA-11 aircraft was officially reduced to 20 and eventually cancelled entirely, ending the effort. For light bombing/reconnaissance missions, the Australian government has opted to purchase a North American stockpile of P-51 Mustang fighter jets that can be used in countless battlefield roles. The second prototype experienced unnecessary self-pressurization when its air engines exploded, killing two of its three crew members.

The aircraft wreckage was later salvaged and used as scrap.

The design of the Woomera aircraft is attributed to Wing Commander L.J. Wackett. The name Woomera itself comes from the Aboriginal throwing sticks used to throw spears. This stick allows the spear to move farther and has more power.