14 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS
1918 2018AVRO
VICKERS VIRGINIA
Top right
The airman standing
in front of Aldershot
J6944 provides scale
to the bomber’s 15ft 3in
height and 68ft span.
This aircraft joined 99
Squadron at Bircham
Newton in August 1924
and was retired to the
‘bone yard’ at Henlow
in April 1926. KECALDERSHOTALDERSHOT
1924 TO 1926
Type: Three-seat day heavy bomber
First fl ight: October 1921, entered service June 1924
Powerplant: One 650hp (484kW) Rolls-Royce Condor III V
Dimensions: Span 68ft 0in (20.7m), Length 45ft 0in (13.7m)
Weights: Empty 6,310lb (2,862kg), All-up 10,950lb (4,966kg)
Max speed: 110mph (177km/h) at sea level
Range: Endurance 6 hours
Armament: One machine gun in nose position, another in dorsal position and
another in ventral position. Up to 2,200lb (997kg) of bombs
Replaced: Vickers Vimy from 1924
Taken on charge: 15
Replaced by: Handley Page Hyderabad from 1926AVRO ALDERSHOT
A
s flight evolved from tenuous
adventures by pioneers into a
fully fledged form of transport
and warfare, an argument raged that
was unresolved for decades: one or
more engines? Those that thought a
solitary powerplant was unsafe were
countered by those who believed that
two meant there was twice as much to
go wrong and any more represented
worrisome complexity.
With this and budgetary constraints
in mind, the Air Ministry issued
Specification 2/20 for a single-
engined, long-range bomber. Avro
won the day with the huge Aldershot
biplane, the first bomber designed
for the RAF since the end of the
Great War.
The prototype was first flown at
Hamble in October 1921, powered
by a 650hp (484kW) Rolls-Royce
Condor III. As the type was
developed, a thundering 16-cylinder
X-format 1,000hp Napier Cub was
fitted, necessitating a four-wheel
undercarriage. The more modest
Condor was chosen for production
examples.
The Aldershot had a metal-framed
fuselage and conventional wooden
wings. The 68-foot span was made
more manageable in the small hangars
of the day as the wings folded to lie
alongside the fuselage.
Comparison with other types help
put the Aldershot into context and
show how little technology advanced
at the time. The Aldershot replaced
the Vickers Vimy biplane, poweredby a pair of 360hp Rolls-Royce Eagle
VIIIs. With a 68ft 1in span and a
wing area of 1,330sq ft (123.5m2) the
Vimy could carry a 2,500lb (1,134kg)
bomb load at 100mph for 900 miles
(1,448km).
On 650hp, the 68ft span and
1,064sq ft wing area Aldershot took
2,200lb at 110mph for 625 miles.
The Aldershot was supplanted by
the Handley Page Hyderabad which
shaped up as follows: two 450hp
Napier Lion IIs, 75ft span, 1,471sq
ft wing area, 109mph, 1,100lb of
bombs and 500 miles range. Such was
progress!SPREADING THE WORK
Reflecting the small size of the RAF- around 48 home-based fighter
and bomber squadrons – and the
nation’s parlous financial state, just 15
Aldershots were acquired. All but one
served with 99 Squadron at Bircham
Newton between July 1924 and April- Then, the fleet was retired to
the Home Aircraft Depot at Henlow
for spares recovery and scrapping.
Throughout the inter-war years
the Air Ministry seldom ordered
aircraft in large numbers, keeping to
modest batches. As well as keeping
the Treasury happy, there was a
determination to spread the work
around the manufacturers, thereby
keeping them in business – but
only just.
There are several instances of a single
unit operating a ‘unique’ type within
this journal: for example, the Fairey
Fox with 12 Squadron and
the Boulton Paul Sidestrand with
101 Squadron.
For the industry, the development
costs of such basic types were relatively
modest and there was always the
hope that other variants, or exports,
would help boost the balance sheets.
To this end, Avro mated the wings,
undercarriage, forward fuselage and
‘tail feathers’ of the Aldershot to a new
fuselage to create the Andover general
purpose transport and ambulance in - The Air Ministry bought four,
none of which entered operational
service.