From Tony Butler’s ‘British Secret Projects, Fighters and Bombers 1935-1950’
In May 1937 George Volkert, chief designer at Handley Page, completed a twenty-page document called ‘A Memorandum on Bombing Policy and its Influence on design’. This was prepared, possibly in response to an approach from the Air Ministry’s Research & Development department, with a view to assessing the ‘benefits’ to a bomber if it did not have to carry defensive armament and crew, a subject about which Volkert felt most strongly.
Does anyone know if that document still exists?
He presented an unarmed bomber project as a comparison to the existing P.13/36 medium bomber – this possessed a near perfect aerodynamic fuselage with a pointed nose and tail, BSP gives this:
Wingspan 88.6ft
Length 74.6ft
Wing Area 988 sqft
With two Vultures top speed was 380mph and cruise was 300mph with 3,000lb bombs (max bomb load being 7,000lb)
This is quite a large aircraft, does anyone know how the 7,000lb max bomb load affected the size of the bomb bay and therefore the aircraft, what if it was designed for say 4 x 1,000lb bombs as the Hawker P.1005 was (span 70.0ft, length 54.0ft, WA 677sqft, 400mph with two Sabres) or kept as was but with 4 Merlins?
In May 1937 George Volkert, chief designer at Handley Page, completed a twenty-page document called ‘A Memorandum on Bombing Policy and its Influence on design’. This was prepared, possibly in response to an approach from the Air Ministry’s Research & Development department, with a view to assessing the ‘benefits’ to a bomber if it did not have to carry defensive armament and crew, a subject about which Volkert felt most strongly.
Does anyone know if that document still exists?
He presented an unarmed bomber project as a comparison to the existing P.13/36 medium bomber – this possessed a near perfect aerodynamic fuselage with a pointed nose and tail, BSP gives this:
Wingspan 88.6ft
Length 74.6ft
Wing Area 988 sqft
With two Vultures top speed was 380mph and cruise was 300mph with 3,000lb bombs (max bomb load being 7,000lb)
This is quite a large aircraft, does anyone know how the 7,000lb max bomb load affected the size of the bomb bay and therefore the aircraft, what if it was designed for say 4 x 1,000lb bombs as the Hawker P.1005 was (span 70.0ft, length 54.0ft, WA 677sqft, 400mph with two Sabres) or kept as was but with 4 Merlins?
