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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



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