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 ?