Bristol Bombay
Type 130 Bombay | |
---|---|
Bombay Mark I L5838 in flight. | |
Role | Transport aircraft |
National origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Bristol Aeroplane Company |
First flight | 23 June 1935 |
Introduction | 1939 |
Retired | 1944 |
Primary users | Royal Air Force Royal Australian Air Force |
Produced | 1939 |
Number built | 51 |
The Bristol Bombay was a British troop transport aircraft adaptable for use as a medium bomber flown by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.
Design and development
The Bristol Bombay was built to
Bristol's design, the Type 130, was a high-wing
The aircraft's crew consisted of a pilot, who sat in an enclosed cockpit, a navigator/bomb-aimer, whose working position was in the nose, and a radio-operator/gunner, who divided his time between the radio operator's position behind the cockpit and a gun turret in the nose. When the aircraft was operated as a bomber, an additional gunner was carried to man the tail gun position. In the prototype, this position was equipped with a Lewis gun on a Scarff ring but in production aircraft, both gun positions were hydraulically-operated gun turrets each armed with a Vickers K machine gun. Eight 250-pound (110 kg) bombs could be carried on racks under the fuselage.[1][4][5]
A
Operational history
The first production Bombay flew in March 1939, with deliveries to No. 216 Squadron RAF based in Egypt beginning in September that year.[9] Although it was outclassed as a bomber for the European theatre, it saw some service with British-based 271 Squadron ferrying supplies to the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940.[9][10] In June 1940, French pilot Jean-Francois Demozay used an abandoned Bombay to ferry himself and 15 troops from France to England, after which he became an ace with the RAF.[11]
The Bombay's main service was in the
As transports, they ferried supplies and evacuated the wounded during the
Bombays evacuated over 2,000 wounded during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, and one crew was credited with carrying 6,000 casualties from Sicily and Italy before the type was finally withdrawn from use in 1944.[20][21]
Variants
- Type 130 : Prototype.[1]
- Type 130A Bombay Mk I : Twin-engined medium bomber and troop transport aircraft. Original designation Type 130 Mark II.[22][23]
- Type 137A Proposed civil transport version. Unbuilt.[22]
- Type 137B Combi version of Type 137A. Unbuilt.
- Type 144 Unbuilt development with retractable undercarriage proposed for Specification B.4/34 (won by Handley Page Harrow).[22]
Operators
- Royal Air Force[10]
- No. 117 Squadron RAF formed from C Flight of 216 Squadron in Apr 1941 and used the Bombay until November 1941 at Khartoum
- Heliopolis, El Khnaka and Cairo West)
- No. 271 Squadron RAF used the Bombay from May 1940 to February 1941 at RAF Doncaster, England
Specifications (Bombay Mk.I)
Data from The British Bomber since 1914 [10]
General characteristics
- Crew: 3-4
- Capacity: 24 armed troops or 10 stretchers
- Length: 69 ft 3 in (21.11 m)
- Wingspan: 95 ft 9 in (29.18 m)
- Height: 19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
- Wing area: 1,340 sq ft (124 m2)
- Empty weight: 13,800 lb (6,260 kg)
- Gross weight: 20,180 lb (9,153 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Pegasus XXII9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,010 hp (750 kW) each
- Propellers: 3-bladed variable-pitch propellers
Performance
- Maximum speed: 192 mph (309 km/h, 167 kn)
- Cruise speed: 160 mph (260 km/h, 140 kn)
- Ferry range: 2,230 mi (3,590 km, 1,940 nmi) with overload fuel
- Rate of climb: 750 ft/min (3.8 m/s)
- Wing loading: 14.9 lb/sq ft (73 kg/m2)
- Power/mass: 0.10 hp/lb (0.16 kW/kg)
Armament
- Guns: 2 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns in both manually-operated nose and tail turrets.
- Bombs: 2,000 lb (907 kg) as 8 × 250 lb (113 kg) bombs on underfuselage racks
See also
Related development
- Bristol Type 170 Freighter — the first air ferry. (The Bristol Freighter's wing was based on that of the Type 130.[24])
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Handley Page Harrow
- Armstrong Whitworth A.W.23
- Dornier Do 23
- Douglas C-47 Skytrain
- Savoia-Marchetti SM.81
Related lists
- List of aircraft of World War II
- List of aircraft of the RAF
- List of bomber aircraft
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Barnes 1964, p. 249.
- ^ Lewis 1980, pp. 256–259.
- ^ Barnes 1964, pp. 202–203.
- ^ a b c d e f Mason 1994, p. 277.
- ^ Cooling 1982, p. 8.
- ^ Cooling 1982, p. 4.
- ^ Mason 1994, pp. 277–278.
- ^ Barnes 1964, pp. 250–251.
- ^ a b c d e Barnes 1964, p. 251.
- ^ a b c d e f Mason 1994, p. 278.
- ^ Ketley 1999, p. 45.
- ^ Shores, Massimello and Guest 2012, p. 448.
- ^ a b Cooling 1982, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Shores, Massimello and Guest 2012, pp. 448–451.
- ^ Shores 1992, p. 44.
- ^ Cooling 1982, p. 5.
- ^ Shores 1992, pp. 176, 189, 193.
- ^ Shores, Massimello and Guest 2012, pp. 309–310
- ^ Cooling 1982, p. 17.
- ^ Barnes 1964, pp. 251–252.
- ^ a b Cooling 1982, p. 10.
- ^ a b c Barnes 1964, p. 250.
- ^ Barnes 1964, p. 386.
- ^ Barnes 1964, pp. 250, 330–331.
Bibliography
- Barnes, C.H. (1964). Bristol Aircraft Since 1910. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-00015-3.
- Cooling, Rupert (April–July 1982). "The Bombay: Pegasus Draught, Bristol Dray". ISSN 0143-5450.
- Green, Peter H. T. (1984). "Talkback". ISSN 0143-5450.
- Ketley, Barry (1999). French Aces of WWII. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-898-4.
- Lawrence, Joseph (1945). The Observer's Book Of Airplanes. London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co.
- Lewis, Peter (1980). The British Bomber since 1914 (3rd ed.). Putnam. ISBN 0-370-30265-6.
- Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.
- Mondey, D. (1982). The Hamyln concise guide to British aircraft of World War II. Hamlyn/Aerospace. ISBN 0-600-34951-9.
- Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell (2012). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: North Africa June 1940–January 1942. Vol. I. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-908117-07-6.
- Shores, Christopher (1996). Dust Clouds in the Middle East: The Air War for East Africa, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Madagascar, 1940–42. London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-898697-37-X.
- Warner, Guy (July–August 2002). "From Bombay to Bombardier: Aircraft Production at Sydenham, Part One". ISSN 0143-5450.