Vickers Wellington, MK111 BK440
Built at Vickers Factory at Broughton nr Chester. Oct 1942. First served with No. 426 (B) Squadron, R.C.A.F, coded 'OW-V'.
Flew attack at Wilhelmshaven February 24/25, 1943. Attacked 5 times by Ju 88, resulting in a large hole in the fuselage.
Flew attack at Essen March 12/13, 1943. Attacked by fighter, no damage.
Flew attack on Kiel April 4/5, 1943. Attacked by single engine fighter, no damage.
Transferred to RAF Little Horwood, 26 operational training unit. (OTU). Crashed 11th Dec 1943.
Facts about Wellingtons
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, Rex Pierson. The Wellington used geodesic construction, devised by Barnes Wallis inspired by his work on airships.
He later designed the bouncing bomb used in Dambuster raid.17th May 1943.
The number of Wellingtons built 11,461. 1936 to 1945.
Named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, nicknamed the Wimpy by RAF personnel, after the portly J. Wellington Wimpy character from the Popeye cartoons.
In October 1943, workers at the Broughton factory, built Wellington number LN514 in a record time of, 23 hrs 50 mins, and took off after 24 hours 48 minutes.
There are two complete surviving Vickers Wellingtons preserved in the United Kingdom.
Wellington IA serial number N2980 is on display at Brooklands Museum at Brooklands, Surrey, and Wellington MF628 at Royal Air Force, Museum, Hendon.
General characteristics
Crew: six Length: 64 ft 7 in (19.69 m) Wingspan: 86 ft 2 in (26.27 m)
Height: 17 ft 5 in. Wing area: 840 ft². Empty weight: 18,556 lb (8,435 kg).
Max. Takeoff weight: 28,500 lb (12,955 kg) Power plant: 2 × Bristol Pegasus Mark XVIII radial engines, 1,050 hp (783 kW) each
Maximum speed: 235 mph (378 km/h) at 15,500 ft (4,730 m) Range: 2,550 mi (2,217 nmi, 4,106 km) Service ceiling: 18,000 ft (5,490 m) Rate of climb: 1,120 ft/min (5.7 m/s)
Armament
Guns: 6-8× .303 Browning machine guns: Bombs: 4,500 lb (2,041 kg).
