WAR IN THE AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22776, 9 July 1937, Page 8

WAR IN THE AIR

* «•» St BRITAIN PREPARES 1 fast bombing machines i RAPID FACTORY PRODUCTION I * # [from our own correspondent] I LOXDON, June 19 *f An enormous increase in the striking power of the Royal Air j 9 apparent in official details of speed range and armament of- new bombed which are now in series production f or f the service. Although the Air Minis. try has lifted only partially the veil I of secrecy over the performance of the I new aeroplanes, sufficient is revealed 1 to show that they, challenge com pari. | son with the best military aircraft 0 f | any other country. In the meantimo 1 the pace of aeronautical development 1 accelerates. t| Two medium bombers and two hear? I bombers are included in the list of | craft admitted to wider publicity, I Fastest- of the group is the twin. 1 engined Bristol Blenheim, which, ac- I cording to official trials at the Royal I Air Force experimental station at' 1 Martleshsfm Heath, reaches a level | speed of 279 miles an hour, with full * ! military load on board, at a height of 14,000 ft. ' -I Several Hundred Ordered This is the aeroplane which ofigin- .1 ated in a civil transport craft called f "Britain First," which was purchased I by Lord Rothermere. its performance I on official test, in which it reached I 208 miles an hour—so miles an hour I: faster than the best contemporary 1 foreign commercial aeroplane—led the IAir Ministry to ask for a bomber version. As a result work was begun that I has culminated-in contracts for several hundred Blenheims, to be fulfilled in a ' "shadow factory" as well as by the . Bristol company itself. In the process the machine became a mid-wing monoplane, with the wings attached half-way up the fuselage, and other extensive changes were made-to accommodate the military load. The | Blenheim is built entirely of metal, with "stressed skin" covering 'of wings and fuselage. It is now going into service with .Royal Air . Force ? squadrons. Its normal range in still i air is about 1000 miles. The bomb- | load may not be divulged. The defen- \ sive armament is carried in two gun I stations, and three men make up the crew. Quicker Building Methods -- Each of the heavy bombers—the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and the 1 Handley Page Harrow —is capable of a maximum level speed of about about 200 miles an hour. The. heavier of the two is the Harrow, which has a normal cruising speed of 163 miles an hour at a height of 15,000 ft. TLe range with full bomb-load is 1250 miles, which may be extended, by permissible overload and adjustment of-, armament carried, to IS4O miles. Harrow monoplanes are flowing rapidly through the company's factory, thanks to adoption of clever quantity production methods which have reduced enormously the time needed to build big aeroplanes. The "Whitley bomber has a normal range of 1500 miles. Enclosed gun turrets are located at nose, tail, and amidships. The tail turret embodies an J ingenious trap door so that the gunner may leave the machine with his parachute in emergency. If he i 3 obliged to jump all he has to do is to pull a catch, when he immediately falls out of the aeroplane.