ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH WHITLEY

The 'Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley' was one of three twin-engine, front-line medium bomber types in service with the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of World War II. It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft.

Contents

Design and development

Operational history

Variants

Operators

Military operators

Civil Operators

Specifications (Mk V)

References

External links

Related content

Design and development

The Whitley was developed by John Lloyd, the chief designer of Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft from the Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 bomber-transport to meet Air Ministry Specification B.3/34 for a heavy night bomber. While the AW.23 was a low wing monoplane, the Whitley had a mid wing and a monocoque fuselage with slab sides to ease production. As Lloyd was unfamiliar with the use of flaps on a large heavy monoplane, the wings were set at a high angle of incidence to give good take off and landing performance. As a result, all Whitleys flew with a pronounced nose-down attitude of the fuselage. Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways, , B., Gunston, Osprey, 1995, ISBN 1-85532-526-8 This 'nose down' attitude was first seen in the design of the Armstrong-Whitworth Ensign pre-war airliner.
The first prototype Whitley first flew on March 17, 1936, powered by two 795 hp Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IX engines . Owing to the urgent need to replace biplane heavy bombers still in service with the RAF, an order for 160 aircraft had been placed in 1935, before the Whitley had first flown. After the first 34 aircraft had been built, the engines were replaced with more reliable Tiger VIIIs, in the Whitley II.
While the Tiger VIIIs used in the Whitley II and III were more reliable than those used in early aircraft, the Whitley was re-engined with Rolls Royce Merlin engines in 1938 giving rise to the Whitley IV.
Early marks of the Whitley had bomb bay doors which were kept closed by bungee cords, and opened by the weight of the released bombs falling on them. The Mk III version introduced hydraulically actuated doors which greatly improved bombing accuracy. To aim bombs, the bombardier opened a hatch in the nose of the aeroplane which extended the bomb sight out of the fuselage, but to everyone's comfort, the Mk IV replaced this hatch with a slightly extended transparency.
A total of 1,737 Whitleys were produced.

Operational history

The Whitley first entered service with No. 10 Squadron in March, 1937 , replacing Handley Page Heyford biplanes.
By the outbreak of World War II, seven squadrons were operational with the Whitley. The majority were flying Whitley IIIs or IVs as the Whitley V had only just been introduced .
Along with the Handley Page Hampden and the Vickers Wellington, it bore the brunt of the early fighting, seeing action on the first night of the war, dropping leaflets over Germany. Amongst the many aircrew who flew the Whitley in operations over Germany was the later to be famous Leonard Cheshire who spent most of his first three years at war flying Whitleys. Unlike the Hampden and Wellington, however, the Whitley was always intended for night operations, and so did not share the early heavy losses received in attempted daylight raids on German shipping early in the war. Along with Hampdens, the Whitley made the first raid on German soil, dropping bombs on the night of March 19-20, 1940. Whitleys also carried out the first RAF raid to Italy in June, 1940.
As the oldest of the three bombers, the Whitley was obsolete by the start of the war yet over 1,000 more were produced before a suitable replacement was found. The Whitley was retired from all front-line service in late 1942 but it continued to operate as a transport for troops and freight (including service with BOAC) as well as towing gliders. No. 100 Group RAF used Whitleys to carry airborne radar and counter-measures.
With Bomber Command Whitleys flew 8,996 operations, dropped 9,845 tons of bombs and lost 269 aircraft in action.
BOAC operated 15 Whitley MK.Vs converted into freighters in 1942. These were needed to run night supply flights from Gibraltar to Malta. They took seven hours to reach the island, often landing during air attacks. They proved to use large quantities of fuel for a small payload and were replaced in August 1942 by the Lockheed Hudson ^[1]. The 14 survivors were returned to the Royal Air Force.

Variants

After the two prototypes (K4586 and K4587) 34 of the 'Mk I' and 46 'Mk II' Whitleys were built, powered by two 795 hp Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IX radial engines. The 80 'Mk III' aircraft received the 920 hp Tiger VIII engine and a retractable ventral turret aft of the wing root. In 1938 the powerplant was altered to use the Rolls Royce Merlin inline liquid-cooled engine, resulting in 33 'Mk IV' aircraft powered by the 1,030 hp Merlin IV and seven 'Mk IVA' being produced using the 1,145 hp Merlin X.
At the outbreak of the war the RAF had 207 Whitleys in service, ranging from Mk I to Mk IV types. The Mk IV became the basis for the main wartime production mark, the 'Mk V', which first flew in December 1938. Powered by the Merlin X, the Mk V had a longer fuselage and a modified tail. A total of 1,466 were built before production ceased in June 1943. The 'Mk VI' was intended to be fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines, but none were ever built.
The final Whitley variant was the 'Mk VII', designed for service with Coastal Command, of which 146 were built. The Mk VII was capable of longer range flights and equipped with an ASV radar for anti-shipping patrols. The first submarine kill by a Mk VII Whitley was the sinking of the German U-boat U-751, on July 17, 1942 in combination with a Lancaster heavy bomber.^[2]

Operators

Military operators

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★ Royal Air Force

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★ No. 7 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between March 1938 and May 1939.

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★ No. 10 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between March 1937 and December 1941.

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★ No. 51 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between February 1938 and October 1942.

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★ No. 53 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between February 1943 and May 1943.

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★ No. 58 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between October 1937 and January 1943.

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★ No. 77 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between November 1938 and October 1942.

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★ No. 78 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between July 1937 and March 1942.

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★ No. 97 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between February 1939 and May 1940.

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★ No. 102 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between October 1938 and February 1942.

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★ No. 109 Squadron RAF operated only one aircraft (P5047).

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★ No. 138 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between August 1941 and October 1942.

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★ No. 161 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between February 1942 and December 1942.

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★ No. 166 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between July 1938 and April 1940.

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★ No. 295 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between August 1942 and November 1943.

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★ No. 296 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between June 1943 and March 1943.

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★ No. 297 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between February 1942 and February 1944.

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★ No. 298 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between August 1942 and October 1942.

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★ No. 502 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between October 1940 and February 1943.

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★ No. 612 Squadron RAF operated Whitleys between November 1940 and June 1943.

★ Fleet Air Arm

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★ No. 734 Naval Air Squadron operated Whitleys between February 1944 and February 1946.

Civil Operators

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★ British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)

Specifications (Mk V)

References

1. British Civil Aircraft since 1919 (Volume 1), , A.J., Jackson, Putnam, 1973, ISBN 0-370-10006-9
2. U-boat.net/U-206, Uboat.net/U-751,


★ Bomber Pilot, , L., Cheshire, Goodall, 1943, ISBN 0-907579-10-8

★ Encyclopedia of world military aircraft, , D., Donald, AIRtime Publishing, 1996, ISBN 1-880588-24-2

★ Famous Bombers of the Second World War, , William, Green, Macdonald and Jane's, 1959, third revised edition 1975, ISBN 0-356-08333-0

★ WW2 Aircraft Fact Files:RAF Bombers, Part 1, , William, Green, Macdonald and Jane's, 1979, ISBN 0-354-01230-4

★ The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, , Philip J.R., Moyes, Profile publications Ltd., 1967,

★ Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and Their Aircraft, , Philip J.R., Moyes, Macdonald and Jane's, 1964, revised edition 1976, ISBN 0-354-01027-1

★ Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Warpaint Series No.21, , Ken, Wixey, Hall Park Books Ltd., 1999, ISBN unknown

External links

★ Whitley Bomber Crews and Their Experiences

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