Vickers Wellington Bomber (England)

In the late thirties aircraft construction was being revolutionized by new technologies. Metal, smooth sheathing and cowling-covered engines were becoming mandatory features in advanced combat aircraft. The Vickers company designers, in order to avoid seriously restructuring their production lines, decided to try to mix old and new features. The Wellington had all the external features of the best aircraft of the period, except one, it was made, not of metal, but of cloth stretched over a wooden lattice frame. The plane looked rather "fat" and not quite military-like, but thanks to a large internal capacity and good engines, it could haul a lot of fuel and a heavy bomb load. As a bomber, the Vickers Wellington proved to be a decent design, despite the obvious vulnerability of having cloth skin in place of metal. It was used in Burma and in the Mediterranean for want of something better and became the standard aircraft for raids on Germany until 1942, though losses were heavy. By autumn, 1943, it was no longer being used in Europe, having been replaced with more advanced aircraft.

Vickers Wellington Mk X main properties: Weight - 16,556kg (36,500 lbs); two engines 1,675 hp each; Speed - 410 km/h (255 mph) at 3.8km (12,500 ft) altitude; Weapons - eight 7.69mm machineguns and 1,814kg (4000 lb.) bomb-load.