- Yes
- No
Vickers Type 287 Wellesley Mk II
Design history:
The Vickers Wellesley, as previously outlined in my previous suggestion, was a medium bomber developed in the early 1930s in response to Specification G.4/31 as a private venture. It would serve as a stepping stone aircraft before its successor, the Vickers Wellington, entered service. The Wellesley had a production run of 177 aircraft, with two main variants. The first one is outlined in my other suggestion, but there was a drastically different version which further modified the unusual cockpit design found on the original aircraft, by drastically extending the glass canopy covering the pilot and bomb aimer, and usually involved the addition of additional defensive guns to the airframe. This changed canopy was not universal and was unofficially designated the Wellesley Mk.II, though on official documentation, there was no specification between the two variants, which would commonly serve side by side with the smaller canopy version of the airframe.
This modification seems to crop up in the airframes from the middle of the production before returning to the familiar design, and likely relates to making the aircraft more suitable for army cooperation, as it drastically increases the field of view for the navigator/bombadier/observer, though this is simply conjecture, as the exact reason doesn’t seem to be noted in readily avalible documentation.
Vehicle specification:
General characteristics
Crew: 3 (pilot, bomb-aimer, and rear-gunner)
Length: 39 ft 3 in (11.96 m)
Wingspan: 74 ft 4 in (22.66 m)
Height: 15 ft 3+1⁄2 in (4.661 m)
Wing area: 630 sq ft (59 m2) [31]
Empty weight: 6,760 lb (3,066 kg)
Gross weight: 11,048 lb (5,011 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 12,500 lb (5,670 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Pegasus XX radial engine, 925 hp (690 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 228 mph (367 km/h, 198 kn) at 19,700 ft (6,000 m)
Cruise speed: 180 mph (290 km/h, 160 kn) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m) (57% power)
Range: 1,220 mi (1,960 km, 1,060 nmi)
Service ceiling: 25,500 ft (7,800 m)
Time to altitude: 17.8 min to 15,000 ft (4,600 m)
Armament
Guns:
One × .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun in the right wing
four × .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun, two in the rear cockpit, two mounted on either side of the navigators’ position
Bombs: up to 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs
Torpedos: 1xMk.XII torpedo
Historical photos:
Sources:
- Vickers Wellesley - Wikipedia (Wiki page for the Wellesley)
- Vickers Wellesley (additional design history)
- Vickers Wellesley Ideas and Inspiration (Source of some of the photos)
- Vickers Wellesley Long-Range Bomber - PlaneHistoria (More history)