Because I was asked to produce them, here are two aircraft of the Fleet
Air Arm built by Blackburn, plus a late war addition:
Skua - a divebomber (emphasis on bomb) that served on RN
carriers early in the war in the North Sea and the Med.
Roc - Skua's even less agile, slower fighter cousin, armed
only with the Boulton-Paul Defiant turret.
Firebrand - a single-seat carrier-borne fighter whose
development was slowed by an engine change that became the first single-seat
torpedo fighter in the FAA just after the end of the war.
They are available together in one PDF
file (77 Kb).
Army Co-op
Westland Lysander - Used through
out the war for a variety of purposes, include agent insertion, recon, light
bomber, utility hack, and army co-operation.
Hawker Hurricane IID - before there was the Typhoon, there was
the Hurri IID tank buster, busily annoying the Germans in North Africa and the
Japanese in Burma.
de Havilland Mosquito Nightfighters -very similar to the
fighter-bomber version, but carrying radar instead of bombs.
Fairey Firefly F.I and FR.IV - Late- and post-war variants of
the successor to the Fulmar. Used as a shipborne search and nghtfighter until
the Korean War.
Hawker Fury II - Very successful (for its day) 1930s biplane
fighter. Used by Yugoslavia and by the South Africans in East Africa.
Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 - Last (and best) FAA carrier-borne
fighter-bomber. Used in Korea.
RAF Bomber Command
In September, 1939, Britain had something the vaunted Luftwaffe did
not - a strategic bomber command. Here are some of their toys:
Light and Medium Bombers:
Not every job calls for Heavy bombers. This set of 6 ADCs (139Kb) includes:
Bristol Blenheim I - The RAF's first modern bomber. Used by
Yugoslavia, Finland, and Greece, as well as by the RAF as a night fighter.
Handley-Page Hampden - The "Flying Suitcase" was a mainstay
of British Bomber Command for the first 2 years of the war.
Martin 180 Baltimore (I & V) - Larger cousin to the
Maryland. Used in the Med.
Armstrong-Whitworth Albemarle - medium bomber designed using
non-strategic materials. Used as glider tug and paratroop transport.
European DB-7s
While researching French aircraft, I learned of sveral US imports into
the Armee de l'Air. One of these was the Douglas DB-7 light bomber. It struck
me as odd that so well-received an aircraft should have disappeared. On further
research, I found that it had not disappeared, but had spawned a variety of
names, and served with many allied air forces in significant numbers, including
in the USAAF, the RAF, RCAF, RAAF and the Red Air Force. In fact, half the fun
of the research was trying to figure out which names and designations mapped
across to what capabilities.
The RAF names were all based on their use: Bostons were bombers; Havocs
were night fighters. This set of 4 ADCs (90kb)
includes:
Douglas DB-7: Original version as delivered to France. A few
escaped to England in June 1940, and the balance of the order was delivered to
England in its bomber configuration and called the Boston I, which uwas used
only for training.
Douglas DB-7/Boston II/Havoc I: The second half of the
original order included these models with upgraded engines. In England, some
were configured as bombers and some as nightfighters.
Douglas DB-7A/Havoc II: an upgraded nightfighter. a few were
left configured as bombers.
Douglas DB-7B/Boston III: The equivalent of the A-20C.
These are the bad boys of Bomber Command. They flew the night war
against Germany as the 8th Air Force flew by day - and were vets when the first
8th AF planes landed in England. This set of 7
ADCs (460 Kb) includes:
Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley - Only RAF Heavy available in
1939.
Short Stirling I Mk 3 and III - the first RAF
four-engine bomber
Avro Manchester - The unsuccessful fore-runner of the
Lancaster. The basic idea was sound, but that Vulture engine...
Handley-Page Halifax I, III & VI- Second
fiddle to the Lancaster, this is the only British heavy to fly in the Med.
Where's the Lancaster? JD published it in Air Power #53.
JD Webster has produceed the following (official,since they arefrom JD)
British aircraft to FW2.0 (Whistling Death) format that he has made available
to all players through the web:
HMS Prince of Wales: Battleship, flagship of Force Z.
HMS Repulse: Battlecruiser, Force Z's other major unit.
HMS Hermes: Light aricraft carrier. An experimental design in
the 20s, it was not meant to be a major combat unit in WW2. Sunk off Ceylon
during Nagumo's Indian Ocean Raid.
RN Heavy Cruisers: Two near sister Heavy Cruisers, HMS
Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire sunk off Ceylon.
Class S & W destroyers: British WW1 period DDs still in
service: Tenedos and Vampire.
Aircraft and Ships of the United Kingdom