The Mosquito MK 1
In 1938 the De Havilland Aircraft Company began working on a recon bomber that
could outrun anything that the Luftwaffe could send up against them. When then
RAF accepted the project the Mosquito made its first flight on November 25,
1940. The Mosquito was powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, it had a maximum
speed of 380 mph (611 km) and had a range of 2,180 miles (3,500 km). It was
40 ft 6 in (12.34 m) long with a wingspan of 54 ft 2 in (16.51 m). During its
first flight over France the Mosquito was challenged by 3 Messerschmitt Bf109
but instead of getting shot down the Mosquito easily outran the Bf109 and quickly
won the favor of the RAF. Other versions included the Mosquito Mk IV bomber
and the Mosquito Mk II night fighter, that both appeared in the summer of 1942.
The Mosquito Mk IX bomber entered service in the spring of 1943. The Mosquito
Mk XVI which went into action in late 1943 and had a pressurized cabin so it
could reach an altitude of 40,000 ft (12,191 m).
The Vickers Wellington
The Wellington Mk I bomber was produced by Vickers-Armstrong in 1937. Powered
by two Bristol Pegasus engines, it had a maximum speed of 235 mph (378 km) and
had a range of 2,200 miles (3,540 km). Armed with six machine-guns it could
carry 4,500 lb (2,000 kg) of bombs. It was 64 ft 7 in (19.68 m) long with a
wingspan of 86 ft 2 in (26.26 m) and carried a crew of six. A total of 11,461
Vickers Wellington's were built over the next 8 years. The first bombing missions
of the RAF in 1939 were performed by the Wellington. Eventually it was replaced
by the Handly Page Halifax as a front-line bomber and it became a recon and
troop transport.
The Avro Lancaster
In September of 1936 the Air Ministry announced that it was looking for a twin-engine bomber that was powered by Rolls Royce engines. In 1940 A. V. Roe and Company designed the new aircraft called the Avro Lancaster. The Lancaster made its first flight on January 9th, 1941. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, it had a maximum speed of 287 mph (462 km) and had a range of 1,660 miles (2,670 km). Armed with ten machine-guns it could carry 22,000 lb (9,980 kg) of bombs. It was 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) long with a wingspan of 102 ft (31.09 m). Soon the Lancaster became the most successful bomber that the RAF had. So great was the demand that Austin Motors, Vickers-Armstrong and Armstrong-Whitworth also began producing the plane. A total of 7,377 aircraft were built over the next five years. The A. V. Roe Company, in 1943, came out with the Lancaster MkII. The new version used Bristol Hercules Engines and was slower than its brother but it did have that advantage of a range of 2,250 miles. During the war Lancasters carried out a total of 156,000 missions and dropped 608,612 tons of bombs. This was double what the Handley Page Halifax, the other major bomber used by the Royal Air Force achieved. In the four years of combat service 3,249 Lancasters were lost in action and another 487 were destroyed or damaged while on the ground. Only 24 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful missions.
