Vickers Windsor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Vickers Windsor or Type 447 was a four-engined British heavy bomber design of World War II, designed by Barnes Wallis and R.K. Pierson at Vickers-Armstrongs.

Notable features of the Windsor included its pressurised crew compartment, four mainwheel struts (each extending from one of the engine nacelles and carrying a single balloon-tyred wheel), elliptical planform high aspect ratio wings, and guns mounted in barbettes at the rear of each (outboard) nacelle, which were to be remotely operated by a gunner in the rear turret. The Windsor also used the geodetic body and wing structure that Wallis had employed in the Wellesley and Wellington bombers.

The first prototype flew in October 1943. Only three examples (the original plus successive prototypes Type 457 and Type 461) were built in total due to refinements in the existing Lancaster bomber rendering it suitable for the role for which the Windsor had been designed.

[edit] Specifications (Vickers Windsor)

General characteristics

• Crew: 4
• Length: 76 ft 10 in (23.43 m.)
• Wingspan: 117 ft 2 in (35.71 m)
• Height: 23 ft (7.01 m)
• Wing area: 1248 ft² (116 m²)
• Empty weight: 38,612 lb (17,511 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 54,000 lb (24,495 kg)
• Powerplant: 4× Rolls-Royce Merlins various types, 1,635 hp (1220 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 317 mph at 23,000 ft (510 km/h at 7,010 m)
• Range: 2511 nm (4651 km)
• Service ceiling: 27,250 ft (8300 m)
• Rate of climb: ft/min (m/s)
• Wing loading: 43.26 lb/ft² (211 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.12 hp/lb (0.20 kW/kg)

Armament

• Four 20 mm cannon in remote controlled barbettes firing to rear
• 12,000 lb of bombs

[edit] External links

• Short overview of the Windsor

[edit] Related content

Related development

None

Comparable aircraft

Avro Lancaster - Handley Page Halifax

Designation sequence

Vickers Wellesley - Vickers Wellington - Vickers Warwick - Vickers Type 432 - Windsor - Viking - Valetta - Viscount - Varsity - Valiant - Vanguard - VC-10