Victory Bomber
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The British "Victory Bomber" was a Second World War design by Barnes Wallis at Vickers-Armstrong Aircraft for a bomber that could carry a single large earth quake bomb to targets in Germany.
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[edit] Background
The Victory bomber came about because of Barnes Wallis suggestion for single large bombs that could cause massive destruction to strategic infrastructure targets in Germany. His reasoning was that by selectively destroying the German capacity to make armaments their war effort would be stopped. The design for the bomb came out at around 10 long tons which was beyond the capacity of any current or in design Royal Air Force (RAF) bomber. Accordingly Wallis sketched out a bomber that would have to be built for the bomb.
Wallis was an expert on geodetic construction of aircraft, previously using it in designs such as the Vickers Wellington, and naturally used it again for the Victory Bomber; Vickers were not tooled for other construction methods either. His specification was for a 50 ton bomber that could fly at high level, 45,000 feet needed to give the bomb speed in the drop, at 320 mph for 4,000 miles. It would carry a single 10-ton bomb. Defensive armament was minimal; speed and height would be its chief defence with one 4-gun turret in the tail position for any fighter aircraft that did attempt to reach it. The bomber would benefit by climibing to altitude while over Britain where fighter defences could protect it. The crew compartment was pressurised.
The limitation of the purpose of the aircraft to a single bomb did not endear it to the Air Ministry who required more flexibility of their aircraft and what little support they gave it was dropped in 1942. The earthquake bomb idea continued, initially as the smaller 12,000 lb Tallboy bomb, and then the larger 22,000 lb Grand Slam bomb, the carrying aircraft being the Avro Lancaster whose performance improved during the war to the point where it could manage such a load.
There was further design work on large high flying bombers by the British during the war including 75 and 100 ton designs but these did not progress either.
[edit] Specifications (as planned)
General characteristics
- Length: 96 ft (29.3 m)
- Wingspan: 172 ft (52.4 m)
- Height: ()
- Wing area: 2,675 square feet (248.8 square metres)
- Loaded weight: 104,000 lb (47,200 kg)
- Powerplant: 6× Rolls Royce Merlin or Bristol Hercules piston with superchargers, () each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 352 mph at 32,000 ft (566 km/h at 9,750 m)
- Service ceiling: 45,000 ()
Armament
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Buttler, Tony. Secret Projects: British Fighters and Bombers 1935 -1950 (British Secret Projects 3). Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-85780-179-2.
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