Fly Past

32 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS

BRISTOL

Above right

The prototype Bombay

(K3583) differed from

production variants

by having smaller

engines and spatted

undercarriage. ANDY

HAY/WWW.FLYINGART.CO.UK

Below right

Bombay production

variants were built

by Short & Harland in

Belfast. The fi rst to

roll off the production

line was L5808, here

awaiting delivery in

March 1939. Compared

to the prototype the

service examples had a

revised fi n shape

and more powerful

engines, with

three-bladed variable

pitch propellers.

BOMBAY

1939 TO 1944

BOMBAY

Type: Three-crew bomber/transport aircraft

First fl ight: June 23, 1935, entered service November 1939

Powerplant: Two 1,010hp (753kN) Bristol Pegasus XXII radials

Dimensions: Span 95ft 9in (29.19m), length 69ft 3in (21.11m)

Weights: Empty 13,800lb (6,260kg), all-up 20,000lb (9,072kg)

Max speed: 192mph (309km/h) at 6,500ft (1,981m)

Range: 2,230 miles (3,589km)

Armament: Two .303 Vickers K guns in nose and tail turrets. Bomb load: 2,000lb

(907kg) or 24 troops.

Replaced: Vickers Valentia

Taken on charge: 51

Replaced by: Douglas Dakota

BRISTOL BOMBAY

1918 2018

T

he late 1930s marked the

beginning of the end for the

biplane in RAF service. Fighter

and bomber designs migrated

towards the latest monoplane

configurations, and soon transport

aircraft manufacturers began to

follow suit.

Bristol’s Bombay was built to Air

Ministry Specification C.26/31,

which called for a monoplane

bomber-transport aircraft to replace

Vickers Valentia biplanes primarily in

service in the Middle East and India.

The requirement demanded an

aircraft that could carry 24 troops

or an equivalent load of cargo, while

carrying bombs and defensive guns

for use as a bomber if required.

Whitworth’s A.W.23 and the

Handley Page HP.52 (the latter

eventually becoming the Harrow)

were the Bombay’s rivals in the

competition. The prototype Bristol

Type 130 (K3583) performed its

maiden flight on June 23, 1935 and

appeared at the Hendon Air Pageant

later that year. It would be named

Bombay in April 1937.

It was not Bristol’s first attempt at

a monoplane transport; the 1927

Bristol Bagshot had suffered from a

lack of wing rigidity and the project

was cancelled before it entered

production. Therefore, the Bombay

was subject to extensive research, and

benefited from a strengthened multi-

spar wing of steel strip construction.

Apart from the wing, the Bombay

was of conventional format with a

fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Its crew

of three sat in an enclosed cockpit

and the radio operator could double

as nose gunner if needed. Eight 250lb

(113kg) bombs could be carried on

racks under the fuselage.

Although the prototype was

powered by 750hp (560 kW) Bristol

Pegasus III radial engines, driving

two-bladed propellers, production

variants had 1,010hp (753kW)

Pegasus XXIIs with three-bladed

Rotol variable-pitch propellers.

An order for 80 airframes was

placed (although the final 30 were

subsequently cancelled) but as

Bristol’s Filton factory was busy

building the more urgent Blenheim

bomber, production aircraft were

built by Short & Harland of Belfast.

FAR FLUNG SERVICE

The first production Bombay

flew in March 1939, and the type

entered service with 216 Squadron

at Heliopolis in Egypt in November

that year. Initially the aircraft served

alongside Vickers Valentia biplanes

and the unit did not become an

exclusive Bombay operator until as

late as September 1941.

The squadron retired its final

example in May 1943 when Douglas

Dakotas assumed their role in Egypt.

Throughout that period some 30

Bombays flew with 216 Squadron

and, in addition to flying cargo and

passengers, the type served as a night