Vickers Windsor

infobox Aircraft
name = Vickers Windsor
type = bomber
manufacturer = Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd.

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caption =
designer =
first flight = 23 October 1943
introduction =
retired =
status = Prototype
primary user = Royal Air Force
more users =
produced = 1943-1944
number built = 3
unit cost =
variants with their own articles = The Vickers Windsor was a Second World War British four-engined heavy bomber, designed by Barnes Wallis and R.K. Pierson at Vickers-Armstrongs.

Design and development

The Windsor was designed to Air Ministry Specification B.3/42 for a high-altitude heavy bomber with a pressurised crew compartment, and an ability to fly at 345 mph (555 km/h) at 31,000 feet (9450 m)cite web |url= http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/vickers_windsor.php |title= Vickers Windsor - Bomber |accessdate=2008-05-04 |format= html |work= Virtual Aircraft Museum ] . Notable features of the Windsor included its pressurised crew compartment, four mainwheel struts (each extending from one of the engine nacelles and carrying a single balloon-tyred wheel), elliptical planform high aspect ratio wings, and guns mounted in barbettes at the rear of each (outboard) nacelle, which were to be remotely operated by a gunner in a pressurised compartment in the extreme tail. The Windsor used Wallis' geodetic body and wing structure that Vickers employed in the Wellesley, Wellington and Warwick bombers.

Operational history

Only three examples (the original plus successive prototypes Type 457 and Type 461) were built in total due to refinements in the existing Lancaster bomber rendering it suitable for the role for which the Windsor had been designed. The first prototype flew in 23 October 1943, second on 15 February 1944, third on 11 July 1944. Two latter prototypes were tested till the end of the Second World War, when further development and production were cancelled.

Variants

;Type 447:First prototype, serialled "DW506", powered by four 1,315 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 65 engines.;Type 457:Second prototype, serialled "DW512", powered by four 1,635 hp Merlin 85 engines.;Type 461:Third prototype, serialled "NK136", powered by four 1,635 hp Merlin 85 engines, armed with two 0.303-in (7.7-mm) Brownings in the nose and remote-controlled barbettes in tails of inner engine nacelles (pair of 20mm guns each) aimed from the unarmed tail turret.

Operators

; UK
* Royal Air Force

pecifications (Vickers Windsor)

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

ref=

crew= 4
length main=76 ft 10 in
length alt=23.43 m.
span main= 117 ft 2 in
span alt= 35.71 m
height main= 23 ft
height alt= 7.01 m
area main= 1248 ft²
area alt= 116 m²
empty weight main= 38,612 lb
empty weight alt= 17,511 kg
max takeoff weight main= 54,000 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 24,495 kg

engine (prop)= Rolls-Royce Merlin
type of prop= inline piston engine
number of props= 4
power main= 1,635 hp
power alt= 1,220 kW

max speed main= 317 mph
max speed alt= 510 km/h
max spped more=at 23,000 ft (7,010 m)
range main= 2,511 NM
range alt= 4,651 km
ceiling main= 27,250 ft
ceiling alt= 8,300 m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main= 43.26 lb/ft²
loading alt= 211 kg/m²
power/mass main= 0.12 hp/lb
power/mass alt= 0.20 kW/kg

guns=Four 20 mm cannon in remote controlled barbettes firing to rear
bombs= 12,000 lb of bombs

ee also

aircontent
related= None

similar aircraft=
*Avro Lancaster -
*Handley Page Halifax
*Avro Lincoln

lists=

see also=

References

* Bridgman, Leonard, ed. "Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft 1945-1946". London: Samson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd., 1946.
* Swanborough, Gordon. "British Aircraft at War, 1939-1945". East Sussex, UK: HPC Publishing, 1997. ISBN 0-9531421-0-8.

External links

* [http://www.jaapteeuwen.com/ww2aircraft/html%20pages/VICKERS%20WINDSOR.htm Short overview of the Windsor]