Bristol Bombay
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The Bristol Bombay was a medium bomber and troop transport aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Development
The Bombay was built to the Air Ministry Specification C.26/31 for a monoplane aircraft which could carry bombs or 24 troops. Bristol's early experience with monoplanes was downright dismal -- both the 1922 racer prototype and the 1927 Bristol Bagshot fighter suffered from lack of torsional rigidity in the wings. As the result, when a pilot tried to roll in one direction (for example, right), the wings warped causing the roll to happen in the opposite direction (left, in this example). Based on this experience, Bristol overengineered the Bombay's wing to include no less than seven spars made from high-strength steel. Not surprisingly, the end product was a very heavy airplane.The prototype Type 130 first flew on 23 June 1935, and entered production as the Bombay. All 50 aircraft were built by Short & Harland of Belfast in 1939. The Hele-Shaw propellers used by the Bombay were the first product of a Bristol-Rolls-Royce joint venture called Rotol.
Operational history
Despite the all-metal construction, the Bombay retained some features which were outdated at the time, such as its fixed undercarriage. Outclassed for the European theatre, it saw service in the Middle East, replacing the Vickers Valentia. Although the Bombay was capable of dropping 250 lb (113 kg) bombs, the smaller 20 lb (9 kg) bombs had to be thrown by hand through the cargo door. Nonetheless, the aircraft flew bombing sorties in Abyssinia, Italian Somaliland, Iraq, and Benghazi. Hopelessly obsolete, the Bombays were predominantaly used as transports ferrying supplies and evacuating the wounded. One Bombay crew was credited with flying out 6,000 wounded troops (Gunston 1995).Five Bombay bombers were used by the fledgling SAS in there first official operation in the middle east to attack 5 forward German aerodromes (Cowes 1958).
Specifications (Bombay Mk.I)
References
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