Airfix’s New 1/72 Vickers Wellington Mk.1a

by Huw Morgan

A

casual examination of

the activities of the RAF

Bomber Command during

World War II might suggest that

the mainstays of that effort were

the big four-engined Lancasters,

Stirlings, and Halifaxes. In reality,

the big hitters didn’t appear in

significant numbers until mid-

1942, and prior to that, it was the

twin-engine medium and light

bombers that carried the burden

of daylight and night bombing.

In among the Whitleys,

Blenheims, and Hampdens, one

particular design, the Vickers

Wellington, was built in greater

numbers than any other RAF

bomber during those early

years and went on to remain in

front-line operational service

throughout the war. Intended

primarily as a medium bomber, its

role was extended significantly,

particularly into anti-submarine

warfare, and the aircraft

served on all major fronts.

The structure of the airframe

was distinctly unconventional,

being the brainchild of eccentric

engineer Barnes Wallis, and was

made up of a basket weave of

duralumin profiles into a geodesic

(sometimes called geodetic)

structure of crossed members.

The characteristic diamond-

patterned structure was rather

anachronistically clad in fabric,

leading to one of the Wellington’s

nicknames of Cloth Bomber,

another being Wimpy after a

well-known wartime figure from

the Popeye series of cartoons.

Invented initially for

lightweight airship shells and

later applied to aircraft in the

Vickers Wellesley single-engined

bomber, this structure was easy

to manufacture and immensely

tolerant of battle damage, and it

seems surprising that the technique

didn’t see more widespread use.

BOMBER

Cloth

6 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

WELLINGTON MK.1A

BY HUW MORGAN

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