WesWorld

Here are the Specifications that have been released for future aircraft to equip the RAF, FAA and for civil use by the State-run airlines.

B.1/42: Issued for a ‘Giant Bomber’ to replace the ‘Ideal Bomber’ from the late 1940s. The desired specifications are; an operational range of 2,500 miles with at least a 15 ton bomb load and preferably with a 20 ton load, cruising speed of 300mph at 20,000ft but with the ability to cruise at 30,000ft if necessary. Defensive armament should consist of at six 20mm cannon in remote-controlled turrets to cover all angles. All-up weight will be between 250,000-320,000lbs, around 75 tons.

Contenders are;
Avro has offered two conventional designs based on the Type 683 Lancaster. One is a 75 ton design with 182ft 6in span and 130ft length with eight 2,000hp engines of unspecified type carrying 19,595lbs of bombs. The other is 100 tons of 221ft span and 152 ft long powered by ten 2,000hp engines all in separate nacelles and carrying 15,000lbs of bombs. Range for both bombers is 2,500 miles and fuel load 57,300lbs and 78,800lbs respectively and cruise speed is 300mph at 20,000ft for both designs. Both have contra-rotating propellers.

Bristol submitted a 222ft span, 141ft long ‘100 Ton Bomber’ powered by eight Centaurus radials with pusher contra-rotating propellers mounted in pairs or six 5,000hp Twin Centaurus engines, a four-wheeled undercarriage under the centre fuselage with two more wheels under the outer wings and a tail wheel. The monocoque wing has no spars but is reinforced by thick skins. The bomber is designed to carry a 64,000lbs bombload and is armed with dorsal, ventral and tail turrets each with four 20mm cannon. The fin and rudder may be replaced by a 77ft span V-tail and all turrets removed or made remote-control. Maximum cruise speed is 315mph at 25,000ft. Maximum fuel load is 48,800lbs.

Handley Page has submitted three designs. The first is a conventional design spanning 169ft with an all-up weight of 157,000lbs and is powered by four 3,000hp RR Vulture V engines with a cruise speed of 332mph at 30,000ft and carrying 48,000lbs of bombs. It has a straight wing with two spars and with tractor engines flush with the upper wing surface and has a tricycle undercarriage.50,400lbs of fuel is carried. The second is a canard design with a 155ft span 22.5 degree swept rear wing with buried engines and two-tier bomb stowage, all-up weight 157,000lbs, powered by four Napier Sabre engines or RR Vulture V engines with a bomb load of 48,000lbs and 354mph maximum cruise speed at 30,000ft. The wing has D-nose and integral fuel tanks. A third type was another canard design but only spanning 129ft 6ins and powered by eight 2,320lb thrust F.2 turbojets for a cruise speed of 500mph at 40,000ft. Bombload is 48,000lbs and all-up weight 157,000lbs, internal fuel tankage is 5,000gal but some kind of take-off assistance required.

Shorts have offered an enlarged six engined S.29 type design with six nacelles, 168ft span wing and 157ft 6ins long, 25,730lb bombload and armed with remote-control tail twin 20mm turret and cruise speed is 302mph or 317mph at 25,000ft depending on whether Centaurus or Sabre engines are fitted. Fuel load is 41,400lbs or 69,550lbs depending on whether Centaurus or Sabre engines are fitted.

Vickers has offered five various designs from conventional to flying-wings from 168,000lbs to 178,000lbs all-up weights. All are designed to carry 56,000lbs of bombs and are armed with six-seven 20mm and two .50in MG in turrets and remote barbettes. A and C have two remote-controlled twin 20mm barbettes in the tails of two engine nacelles controlled by a tail gunner based on the system developed for the Windsor. C has another single 20mm cannon in the tail position. B, D and E have a quadruple 20mm tail turret. All have a twin 0.50in MG nose turret above the bomb aimers position and all have two beam positions with a gunner and a single 20mm cannon. All are powered by six Bristol Centaurus radial engines with turbo blowers with 5,200 gallons of fuel. A and B are fully conventional and resemble enlarged Windsor bombers with the ‘B’ having pusher engines and both have tailplanes and both have four-wheel main bogies under the four inner engine nacelles. A is estimated to have a sea level rate of climb at full load of 1,310ft/min and a service ceiling of 35,000ft. B is estimated to have a sea level rate of climb at full load of 1,330ft/min and a service ceiling of 35,200ft. C has a canard foreplane and end fins with rudders and tricycle undercarriage and engines in line with c.g. and is classed as experimental. Wind tunnel tests are needed, wing sweepback might need increasing and to improve the c.g. 25% of the full will be carried in the foreplane. C is estimated to have a sea level rate of climb at full load of 1,280ft/min and a service ceiling of 34,800ft. Scheme D is similar to but has pusher engines and two engines are coupled into one nacelle to reduce the effects of lateral displacement of thrust in case of engine shut-down. D is estimated to have a sea level rate of climb at full load of 1,280ft/min and a service ceiling of 34,800ft. Scheme E is a tailless design with 15 degree swept wings with washout towards the tips for stability and tip fins. The pusher engine layout of D is used again. E is estimated to have a sea level rate of climb at full load of 1,150ft/min and a service ceiling of 32,000ft. Vickers acknowledges that a one-quarter scale prototype is needed of C, D and E designs during the development phase with work being subcontracted out to another firm. Rex Pierson in his covering letter favoured C and favoured E least of all the designs.

The winner is ?

B.14/42: Issued to Avro for modernised Lancaster as a stop-gap for ‘Giant Bomber’. Bombload 12,000lbs, four Griffon engines, new slim twin .50in MG nose turret and new twin .50in MG tail turret and twin 20mm dorsal turret. [This may or may not go ahead depending on progress with B.1/42]

N.5/42: Issued to de Havilland and Fairey for development of the DH.103 to meet a requirement for a Fighter Strike Naval to replace the Gloster Skipper. Armament is to include a ventral torpedo as well as the standard F.Mk.I armament.

N.6/42: Issued to Martin Baker and Boulton Paul for development of the private-venture carrier-based variant of the M.B.5 fighter. Boulton Paul is the main contractor for the folding wings and naval fittings.

N.7/42: A new single or two-seat carrier-based ‘strike-fighter’ with a speed of at least 350mph with two 20mm cannon and a remote twin 0.5in MG turret and an internal bay to carry a torpedo or 1,600lb bomb plus smaller bombs and RP on underwing racks.

Contenders are;
Boulton Paul P.105, J.D. North’s latest design is designed as a ‘quick-change’ aircraft capable of conversion aboard a carrier to undertake torpedo bombing, bomber/reconnaissance or escort fighter roles. It is two-seater but can be converted for single-seat roles and is powered by a Centaurus radial, has 260gal of internal fuel, wings have a span of 15ft 4ins folded, top speed at sea level is 407mph and 469mph at 20,000ft and initial rate of climb is 3,660ft/min. Armament is four 20mm cannon or .50in MG depending on role and one torpedo or two 1,000lb bombs can be carried.

Blackburn B.48, George Petty has offered a new fighter broadly based on the B.37 with a Centaurus radial with contra-rotating propeller and new 44ft 11in span laminar flow wings to increase speed and cut wing drag and weight by as much as 900lb. The aircraft now has a bubble canopy and maximum speed is 380mph at 19,000ft. Armament is four 20mm cannon and the B.48 capable of steep dive-bombing and can carry a torpedo or two 500lb bombs or eight 3in RPs.

Fairey has offered the ‘Strike-Fighter’, a novel design powered by two Merlins in tandem inside the fuselage driving a contra-rotating propeller to achieve a speed of 474mph at 23,00ft. Armament is one torpedo or 2,000lb or 1,600lb bomb or two 1,000lb bombs or drop tanks under the wings plus rockets and four 20mm cannon. 300gal of internal fuel is carried but total with drop tanks is 520gal for a range of 820 miles as an escort fighter. Service ceiling is 36,000ft as a fighter but 29,600ft with a torpedo. The pilot sits atop the forward Merlin and ahead of the rear Merlin and has a bubble canopy while the navigator is inside rear fuselage behind the rear Merlin. A variant with the new RR Eagle and one turbojet was also offered.

Westland W.34, designed by W.E.W Petter, this is a single-seat fighter powered by the new 3,500hp RR Eagle 24-cylinder engine mid-mounted inside the fuselage driving a contra-rotating propeller for a top speed of 472mph (450mph at 23,000ft) dropping to 432mph with a torpedo. Armament is one torpedo or 1,600lb or 1,000lb bomb under the fuselage with two 1,000lbs under the wings or rockets and four 20mm cannon.

The winner is ?

S.11/42: A two-seat shipboard reconnaissance variant of the Blackburn B.44 seaplane fighter. Unchanged structure and engine apart from the addition of a second-seat behind the pilot and lengthened rear fuselage and reduction to two 20mm cannon plus a dorsal single .303in Browning MG mount. Planned in service date is 1943. The engine is the 2,340hp Napier Sabre V. 50ft span, 44ft 8in length, 318sq ft wing area, maximum speed 350mph at 25,000ft, ceiling 38,000ft and range 850 miles.

R.8/42: Issued to Shorts for an improved Sunderland with a higher gross weight of 75,000lbs with a new wing with four 1,770hp Hercules VIII radials, new tailplanes and taller fin and rudder and 3ft 3ins added to the length of the fuselage. The hull itself will have flared chines and a deeper step. New twin 0.5in MG twin turrets developed by Boulton Paul will be fitted in the dorsal and tail positions and two more identical weapons fitted in the nose decking will also be fitted alongside the existing nose turret. Known as Sunderland MR Mk.V.

P.2/42: A pressurised transatlantic airliner for BOAC to operate non-stop between London and New York (3,000nm) from prepared runways. Accommodation is to be provided for 50 sleeping or 100 day passengers. Crew is to comprise two pilots, radio officer, navigator, engineer and five stewards/stewardesses. The engines must be accessible in flight and at least two inner engines must have reversible-pitch propellers.

Contenders are; Bristol Type 167 based on designs for a theoretical 100-ton bomber powered by four 5,000hp Bristol Twin Centaurus radial engines buried in the wings with contra-rotating propellers on extension shafts. This is a conventional aircraft in design but much larger than anything yet attempted in Britain. The span is 230ft and the length 177ft. The loaded weight will be around 290,000lbs.

Shorts S.46 Transatlantic Express powered by six Bristol Centaurus for a cruise speed of 259mph; cruising height is 20,000ft and it can carry 24 day or night passengers. The airframe is conventional with unusually a tailwheel layout and massive main undercarriage wheels which retract sideways into the lower wing.

The winner is ?

P.4/42: A flying boat complement to P.2/42 to carry 200 day passengers or 50 night passengers on transcontinental flights.

The contenders are;
Saro SR.45, a massive flying boat with retractable floats and double-deck fuselage and powered by either six paired Centaurus or six 5,000hp Twin Centaurus. The span is 219ft and the length 148ft with a maximum weight of 345,000lbs.

Shorts S.30, a very similar design to the Saro SR.45 with double decks for 106 passengers, lounges, cocktail bar etc and ten cabins along with front and rear cargo holds. To be powered by eight paired Centaurus or four Twin Centaurus, span 232ft and length 152ft.

The winner is ?

OOC Info on New Types and First Flights for information for the boards.

New Types
Supermarine Spitfire PR.Mk.V - photo-recon variant of F.Mk.IV, 16 to be converted during 1942

de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B.Mk.III - specs as PR.Mk.II but with provision of 2x 500lb bombs underwing

Blackburn B.44 Firebrand FN.Mk.I - retractable-float seaplane fighter

Bristol Beaufort GR.Mk.III, equipped with ASV Mk.III radar and no beam guns but otherwise identical to GR.Mk.II.


First Flights
Feb 21 - Hawker P.1022 Sea Fury
April - Miles M.25 Martinet
June 14 - Avro 688 Tudor
July 28 - De Havilland D.H.103 Sea Hornet
May 8 - Supermarine-Vickers Seafang
July - Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax
July 28 - D.H. 103 Sea Hornet
August 21 - Vickers Type 447 Windsor
September 23 - De Havilland D.H.104 Dove
October 27 - Bristol Type 166 Buckmaster
November 7 - Handley Page H.P.66 Hermes

New 1942 RAF and FAA OOB is here

Specification Winners

B.1/42: Issued for a ‘Giant Bomber’ to replace the ‘Ideal Bomber’ from the late 1940s. The desired specifications are; an operational range of 2,500 miles with at least a 15 ton bomb load and preferably with a 20 ton load, cruising speed of 300mph at 20,000ft but with the ability to cruise at 30,000ft if necessary. Defensive armament should consist of at six 20mm cannon in remote-controlled turrets to cover all angles. All-up weight will be between 250,000-320,000lbs, around 75 tons.

N.E. Rowe, Director of Technical Development at the Air Ministry, made the final assessments of the B.1/42 designs. None of the designs fully met the requirements but then this was a state-of-the-art requirement pushing the limits of current technology. Rowe favoured the Bristol 100 ton design but he raised concerns over the maintenance of buried engines and the inadequate stability the V-tail would offer. Rowe felt that none of the designs could meet the requirements at 75 tons and that all would need at least eight engines and he praised Bristol for its work on neat pairings of Centaurus radials and the bigger Twin Centaurus engine. He felt the low wing loading of the Bristol design was “uneconomical” but “near the optimum within the choice of engines available.” The RAE felt that the tail-first aircraft offered little advantage since fuselage drag was not improved and conventional designs were better. It also noted that none of the designs were pure flying-wings and so not really indicative of what could be achieved. All the Vickers designs had geodetic construction and thus had structure weights of around 26%, below anything built previously and potentially a huge advance. The four bogie undercarriage kept wheel weight down but Rowe disliked the buried inner twin engines on a common shaft. The Vickers C and D designs with the foreplanes appeared to be laterally and longitudinally unstable, sweepback might help but would alter the design. C had inadequate defensive armament, range and bomb load figures. Vickers submitted a revised C with a single fin and a new tail turret with twin 20mm cannon which Rowe re-assessed. Rowe found the balance between range, bomb load and defensive armament was hard to make and he felt none of the designs would be in production within five years. Not only that but the Ministry began looking at civil airliner variants of the basic designs too.


N.7/42: A new single or two-seat carrier-based ‘strike-fighter’ with a speed of at least 350mph with two 20mm cannon and a remote twin 0.5in MG turret and an internal bay to carry a torpedo or 1,600lb bomb plus smaller bombs and RP on underwing racks.
The winner is Blackburn B.48 Firecrest, first flight planned for early 1943, 180 on order.


P.2/42: A pressurised transatlantic airliner for BOAC to operate non-stop between London and New York (3,000nm) from prepared runways. Accommodation is to be provided for 50 sleeping or 100 day passengers. Crew is to comprise two pilots, radio officer, navigator, engineer and five stewards/stewardesses. The engines must be accessible in flight and at least two inner engines must have reversible-pitch propellers.
The winner is Bristol Type 167, first flight due 1946

P.4/42: A flying boat complement to P.2/42 to carry 200 day passengers or 50 night passengers on transcontinental flights.
The winner is Saro SR.45 Princess.

Aircraft
Gloster G.40 E.28/37 Pioneer
Developed as a flying testbed for the Whittle W.1 gas turbine.
Dimensions; 29/ 25.3/ 9.3/ 146.5 sq ft; 1x 860lb thrust Power Jets W.1; max speed 390-410mph; service ceiling 32,000ft and loaded weight 3,750lb.
The first prototype W4041 was first flown 15 May 1941 with an 860lb W.1 engine. It was refitted with a 1,160lb W.1A in Feb 1942.
The second E.28/37, W4046, will be fitted with a 1,200lb W.2 engine, and should fly during early 1943. It is currently in assembly.
The third prototype, W4047, will be fitted with a 1,600lb RB.23 Welland, and will fly later in 1943. Still in jigs at present.

Gloster G.41
George Carter’s original study was approved in November 1940 and on 7th February 1941 eight prototypes were ordered (DG202-210). Carter predicted a top speed of 385mph with two 1,640lb turbojets at sea level, 3,220ft/min sea level rate of climb and a ceiling of 46,000ft. At the final design conference an order was made for 150 production aircraft plus the 8 prototypes and it was felt a prototype would be flying within a year. Given the likely delays with the chosen Power Jets W.2 turbojet it was also planned to use the 2,500lb Halford H.2, with this engine the max sea level speed was estimated at 470mph and with its full planned thrust near 3,000lbs speeds over 500mph were envisioned. Rampage was assigned as a security codename, Millet would be the security code for the actual test flights.
The first prototype DG202 is in assembly and should fly early next year. Further prototypes will soon begin construction.

De Havilland DH.100
As Frank Halford’s H-1 engine began to mature on the test bench an aircraft was planned by de Havilland to test it and also form the basis of a fighter. The first design was the DH.99, an all-metal twin-boom fighter armed with six 20mm cannon and with a maximum weight of 8,470lbs. estimated performance was 445mph at sea level, 4,590ft/min rate of climb at sea level and an operational ceiling of 45,400ft. Captain Liptrot felt there was too little detail and that the weights were optimistic and the performance over-estimated. However the Air Ministry gave the go-ahead in July 1941. The design was refined as the DH.100 with a mixed wooden-metal airframe, the fuselage pod being wooden. Two prototypes were ordered under Spec E.6/41, LZ548 and LZ551. The first prototype is now entering the jigs. The planned maiden flight is for mid/ late-1943.

Engines
RB.23 Welland
The RB.23 Welland will be Britain's first production jet engine. It was designed by Frank Whittle's team at Power Jets Limited. Stanley Hooker joined the team from Rolls' supercharger division. Added his experience in turbocompressor design. The RB.23 is a larger version of Whittle's original flying design, the Whittle Supercharger Type W.1, which flew in 1941 in the Gloster E. 28/37 experimental aircraft. The engine uses a single double-sided centrifugal compressor with the compressed air being taken off at several ports around the extreme outer edge of the compressor disk. It uses Whittle's reverse flow design, in which the flame cans (combustion chambers) are placed around the turbine to produce a shorter engine. This requires the heated air to flow forward before reversing its direction to pass through the single-stage axial-flow turbine. The impeller is 19 inches (480 mm) in diameter and there are ten flame cans. Air is bled from the compressor and fed into the inner portion of the turbine for cooling. The entire engine weighs about 850 lb (390 kg).
The first examples produced had serious problems with surging, in which the speed of the engine would suddenly increase out of control. Maurice Wilks eventually delivered a solution, by adding a set of 20-vane diffusers to the exhaust area. Also there were serious problems with the turbines failing due to heat. J.P. Herriot of the Air Inspection Department (A.I.D.) provided improved turbine materials, and then the engine achieved a 25-hour test at 1,250lbs thrust in November 1942. A flight-test took place on 9 August, 1942, fitted in the tail of a Vickers Wellington bomber. Rolls-Royce has built a new factory at Barnoldswick to build its jet engines on behalf of Power Jets and its own products, hence the new RB designation.
Diameter: 43 in (1,098 mm)
Dry weight: 850 lb (386 kg)
Maximum thrust: 1,700lbs

H-1 Goblin
The de Havilland Goblin, originally the Halford H-1, is a turbojet engine designed by Frank Halford. The Goblin was the second British jet engine to fly, and the first to pass type tests and receive a Gas Turbine class type rating. Design of the engine was carried out by Frank Halford at his London consulting firm from April 1941. It is based on the basic design pioneered by Frank Whittle, using a centrifugal compressor providing compressed air to sixteen individual flame cans, from which the exhaust powered a single-stage axial turbine. Compared to Whittle designs, the H-1 uses a single-sided compressor with the inlet at the front, and a straight through layout with the flame cans exhausting straight onto the turbine. This made the engine somewhat simpler than Whittle's designs, allowing one of the main bearings to be removed. The H-1 first ran on 13 April 1942, and quickly matured to produce its full design thrust of 2,700lbs within two months.
Length: 107 in (2,718 mm)
Diameter: 50 in (1,270 mm)
Dry weight: 1,550 lb (703 kg)
Compressor: Single sided, centrifugal flow
Combustors: 16 chambers
Turbine: Single stage
Maximum thrust: 3,000lbs at 10,200 rpm
Overall pressure ratio: 3.3:1
Turbine inlet temperature: 790 °C
Fuel consumption: 3,720 lb/hr (465 imp.gal/hr) (1,687 kg/hr - 2,114 L/hr)
Specific fuel consumption: 1.3 lbs/lb/hr
Thrust-to-weight ratio: 1.9 lbs/lb

ASX
Armstrong Siddeley are working on an axial flow jet engine that should run in early 1943. The ASX is unique in layout. The inlet to the 14-stage compressor is placed near the middle of the engine, the air flowing forward as it is compressed. From there it feeds into 11 flame cans arranged around the outside of the compressor, flowing back past the inlet, and finally through the turbine. This layout allows the compressor and combustion areas to be folded together to make the engine shorter.

Bristol Propeller-Turbine
Under development. Bristol's first gas turbine design and it should begin bench tests in 1943.

A few misc new variants of some old friends.

Westland Lysander GR.Mk.III
An improved variant with a 950hp Bristol Perseus XVII, new radios, improved rear armament of single .303in Browning MG and the provision for an external ventral fuel tank. 200 ordered.
Dimensions; 50/ 30.6/ 14.6/ 260 sq ft; 1x 950hp Bristol Perseus XVII; max speed 235mph, range 650 miles and service ceiling 24,500ft.

Miles M.9 Master T.Mk.III
As Mk II but with revised cockpit layout and new radios. 450 ordered in 1942.

Fairey Swordfish MR.Mk.III
Flown in early 1943 as a seaplane replacement for the older Swordfish and Sea Fox in FAA shipboard use. Changes include stronger and metal-skinned lower wings and 810hp Pegasus XXVI LR engines and a canopy over the cockpits. 60 ordered in 1942.

Avro 652E Anson C.Mk.II
This is the standard Avro 652D civil feederliner with an all-metal wing and 420hp Cheetah XV radials with variable-pitch propellers in RAF service as a communications type. Entered service in late 1942, 140 ordered, 20 equipped as flying ambulances.
Dimensions; 56.5/ 42.3/ 13.1/ 410 sq ft; 2x 420hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX; max speed 200mph; range 790 miles and service ceiling 21,000ft.

Blackburn B.20 Boston MR.Mk.III
As Mk II but with ASV Mk.III and a quadruple .303in MG dorsal turret. 50 ordered in 1942.