British WWII's bombers

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Vickers Wellington

Twin-engined medium bomber of geodetic construction. It was the main British bomber during the first part of WWII, but the RAF was soon forced to abandon daylight attacks because of its vulnerability. The Wellington was in production until the end of the war. After its replacement in Bomber Command by the new four-engined bombers it was flown on numerous other duties, and some were used until 1953. The Mk.X introduced a fuselage structure of light alloy, instead of steel. There were also prototypes and a small production series (about 60) of the Mk.V and Mk.VI, with early cabin pressurisation systems, which did not enter service. Wellingtons were built with Pegasus, Hercules, Merlin or Twin Wasp engines.

General characteristics Wellington B Mk.X
Primary function	Medium bomber
Power plant	Two Bristol Hercules VI or XVI
Thrust	2x 1,675 HP		2x 1,249 kW
Wingspan	86.2 ft		26.26 m
Length	64.6 ft		19.68 m
Height	17 ft		5.17 m
Wingarea	840 sq ft		78.04 sq m
Weight	empty	26,323 lb	11,940 kg
	max.	36,500 lb	16,556 kg
Speed	255 mph		410 km/h
Initial climb rate	1,050 ft/min		320 m/min
Ceiling	22,000 ft		6,710 m
Range	2,200 mi		3,540 km
Armament	8x 7.7mm machine gun; 2,014 kg bombs
Crew	Six
First flight	Prototype 15.6.1936
Date deployed	Mk.I December 1937
	Mk.X 1942
Number built	3,804 (just Mk.X)
	11,461 (all versions)

Jirka Wagner