Machines - Whitley

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 It is one of the ironies of history that although the RAF started the Second World War believing that strategic bombing was the way to win, the RAF had no bomber in service that could fulfill the role expected of it. As late as 1936, the RAF's bombers were biplanes! They were characterized by short ranges, small bomb-loads and maximum speeds of 137 mph.  The arrival a year later of the Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley, the first of three "medium" or twin-engined bombers, was the dawn of a new age 

-- sort of.

 

The Whitley was designed as a combined night bomber and troop transport and it was initially expected to find service in the far-flung corners of the Empire where fighting against insurgencies or putting down tribal conflict often took place in remote locations poorly accessible by road. The Air Staff envisaged Whitleys flying in ground troops to these inaccessible places and then provided air support -- against forces without air defenses or opposing air forces. In short, it was not ever designed to fight a modern opponent in the heart of Europe.
 
Nevertheless, it was a clear improvement over its predecessors. It was a metal monoplane aircraft with nearly double the range of previous RAF bombers, and it had a maximum speed one hundred miles an hour faster than the aircraft it was replacing. It was also the first RAF aircraft equipped with variable pitch propellers, an innovative idea at the time. Yet it was not a particularly elegant or attractive aircraft, earning instead the appellation "the flying barn door" because of its square wings. Nor were its flying characteristics remembered fondly by all pilots, particularly the peculiar nose-down attitude while in level flight caused by wings set at a steep slant for maximum lift at take-off and landing. 

The Whitley carried a crew of five: pilot, navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator and rear gunner. The navigator was initially also a second pilot, and his seat swiveled enabling him to either take control of the aircraft or turn 90 degrees to work at the navigator's table. The later models of Whitleys, already deployed by the start of the war, were armed with four browning machine-guns, making it the best-defended bomber then in service -- provided the attacks came from astern. 
 
At the start of the Second World War, seven squadrons with a total of nearly 200 aircraft, had been equipped with the Whitley. These had the distinction of being the only dedicated night bomber force in the entire world at this time, and the RAF employed them immediately on operations against Germany -- dropping propaganda leaflets. They also took part in the first bombing raid on Germany on the night of March 19/20, 1940. Because it had always been intended as a night bomber, the Whitley squadrons escaped the slaughter suffered by their colleagues in day-bombing squadrons at the start of the war. 
 
Nevertheless, flying Whitleys on ops was not pleasant. The aircraft flew comparatively high (ca 16,000)  to avoid flak and searchlights, but they were not equipped with any form of heating. No matter how many layers of clothing worn, there were still the risk of hands freezing on the metal surfaces, and in any case sandwiches were rock hard, and coffee or tea turned to solid ice.  The de-icing equipment also proved inadequate, and many Whitleys sent to bomb Italy never made because ice forced formed on the wings making them incapable of gaining the altitude necessary to clear the alps. 
 
Perhaps the best account of flying Whitleys is provided in Leonard Cheshire's "Bomber PIlot," where he describes in considerable depth several of his ops while flying Whitleys.  Few, if any, other aircrew seem to have left accounts. The Whitleys were withdrawn from operations in the summer of 1942 to be replaced by the four-engine bombers -- the Sterlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters. They do not appear to have been mourned by anyone, yet they had done their job.

For the greater part of the war, RAF Bomber Command was viewed by civilians and aircrew alike as the only means of striking back at Hitler for the damage, destruction and misery he had inflicted. 

My novels about the RAF in WWII are intended as tributes to the men in the air and on the ground that made a victory in Europe against fascism possible. 

Riding the icy, moonlit sky, 

they took the war to Hitler. 

Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent. 

Their average age was 21.

This is the story of just one bomber pilot, his crew and the woman he loved. 

It is intended as a tribute to them all.  

Buy now on amazon

or Barnes and Noble. 

 

Disfiguring injuries, class prejudice and PTSD are the focus of three heart-wrenching tales set in WWII by award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader. Find out more at: https://crossseaspress.com/grounded-eagles


 

  

 

 

 

 

"Where Eagles Never Flew" was the the winner of a Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Military Fiction. Find out more at: https://crossseaspress.com/where-eagles-never-flew

For more information about all my aviation books visit: https://www.helenapschrader.com/aviation.html




 

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