ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH WHITLEY (dropped the first bombs on German territory during WWII)

The Whitley, designed in response to Air Ministry specification B.3/34, was an all metal twin engine monoplane bomber with retractable landing gear, and first flew on March 17, 1936. It entered service with RAF in March 1937, was one of the first heavy night bombers of the RAF and the first RAF aircraft with a stressed skin fuselage.

The high incidence of the aircraft’s wing gave the Whitley a distinctive nose down flying attitude. During the “phoney war” period, the RAF’s Whitley squadrons bore the brunt of leaflet dropping raids over German cities, which resulted in many losses. On March 19, 1940 Whitley’s dropped the first bombs on German

territory during World War II when they attacked the Hornum seaplane base on the island of Sylt. The Whitley, together with the Wellington and Hampden lightweights by the standards of later Bomber Command “heavies” formed the backbone of the early British bomber offensive.

 Heavy losses during the winter of 1940-1941 and the introduction of four engine aircraft meant that the Whitley’s front line activities were soon restricted to Coastal command U-boat patrol duties over the approaches to their bases along the French Atlantic coast. Coastal Command’s first success using air to surface vessel (ASV) radar was by a Whitley VII of No.502 Squadron against U-Boat U 206 in November 1941.

The Whitley I was delivered to the RAF off the drawing board while the Whitley II were completed with two stage superchargers for the engines. Though similar to the II, this version had a retractable ventral “dustbin” turret armed with two 0.303in machine guns this version could also carry larger bombs. The final 40 airframes of second production run were completed as Whitley IV with the famous Rolls Royce Merlin engines and increased fuel capacity.

The Mark V was similar to the Mark IV but replace the manually operated turret with a Nash and Thompson powered tail turret with four 0.303in machine guns. As a result of combat experience, the rear fuselage of this version was also extended by 15into improve the rear gunner’s field of fire. Other changes included a revised fin shape, the addition of a leading de-icing facility and greater fuel capacity.

The Whitley VII was built specifically to serve with Coastal Command units on maritime reconnaissance duties. The VII was equipped with ASV Mk II radar and can be most readily identified from other versions by four dorsal radar masts atop the rear fuselage, and numerous aerials carried. This model also differed by having a sixth crew member and extra fuel tank age in the bomb bay and fuselage.  Compared to early versions with a range of 1250 miles this version could reach distances of 2300 miles.

Earlier Bomber Command versions were phased out of front line service from 1942, after which they were used as trainers and glider tugs, the aircraft was heavily used for training airborne troops for D-Day. During 1942-1943, 15 Whitley Mk V were transferred to BOAC and given civil registrations to carry out Gibraltar to Malta supply flights. Some Whitley served in the Fleet Air Arm until 1946 as flying classrooms to instruct on Merlin engine handling and fuel transfer.