Written by
Jonathan Charles

Operation Biting: On the night of February 27, 1942, Whitleys of No. 51 Squadron RAF drop sticks of parachutists near the German radar site at Bruneval on the French coast. The Whitley did much to assist the early development of British airborne forces, taking part in a few notable actions before replacement by purpose-built transports.

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Overview

When Britain began rearming in the mid thirties, a high priority was given to replacing the RAF’s fleet of obsolescent biplane bombers. In 1934, with the political situation in Europe worsening and the newly ordered Wellington and Hampden bombers still years away from production. Therefore it was decided to order lower performance night bomber as a stopgap. As with many previous RAF bombers the new aircraft was also required to be a transport, able to fly troops to trouble spots in the Empire and then support them from the air.

Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. was chosen to build the new aircraft to specification B.3 / 34. By adapting their existing A.W. 23 bomber / transport design, they were able to get their prototype A.W 38 flying in only 18 months. Named Whitley after the district in which it was built, the new bomber was an 84 ft (25.6 m) span monoplane with retracting undercarriage and powered by two 795 hp (593 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IX 14 cylinder radials driving three bladed variable pitch propellers. Hand traversed turrets, each with a single drum-fed Vickers .303 in (7.7 mm) machine gun were provided front and rear and 3,365 lb (1,526 kg) of bombs could be accommodated in two fuselage and fourteen small bomb bays in the wings.

The speed of the aircraft’s construction had led to some compromises in its design. Although the fuselage was a modern aluminum monocoque design, the wing wasn’t. It was built in three pieces around a huge box spar; with structures formed from aluminum sections attached front and rear, which were then clad in a mixture of non-structural aluminum sheets and fabric. This was a heavier arrangement than the more modern, but less understood stressed skin construction. The wing was also set at a huge incidence angle of 8.5 degrees to reduce the aircraft’s angle of attack while landing. The late addition of hydraulic landing flaps had made this unnecessary, but it was by then too late to change. In level flight this high wing incidence caused the fuselage to fly several degrees nose down, thereby increasing drag.

Other than excessive directional stability the Whitley was considered easy to fly, if a little vague on the controls. It was therefore rushed into service largely unchanged. No. 10 Squadron RAF received their first Mk.Is in March 1937, only a year after the prototype’s first flight and well over a year before the Wellington and Hampden became operational. Even in 1937 the Whitley’s slow top speed of only 192 mph (309 km / h) and poor defensive armament made it too vulnerable to operate by day. As a night bomber however it was considered adequate and its performance was far better than the aircraft it was replacing, the biplane Heyford.

Late production Mk.Is featured increased dihedral, while further development of the Whitley centered on improving its engines and defensive firepower. The Mk.II’s 845 hp (630 kW) Tiger engines incorporated two speed superchargers, boosting top speed to 215 mph (346 km / h). The Mk.III added hydraulically powered turrets to the nose and belly, the latter a retractable “dustbin” type with two .303 in (7.7 mm) belt-fed Browning machine guns.

The first major upgrade of the Whitley was the Mk.IV, which entered service in May 1939. New 1,030 hp (768 kW) Rolls Royce Merlin inline engines and constant speed propellers increased its top speed to 245 mph (394 km / h). The new engines also caused a vicious swing to port on takeoff and made the aircraft directionally unstable in some conditions. The ineffective dustbin turret was removed, but a new hydraulically powered rear turret armed with four Browning .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns more than made up for this. These features were carried over to the Mk.IVA and then the Mk.V, which was to become the major production variant. The Mk.V featured an increased fuel capacity as well as de-icing equipment. Despite 1,075 hp (802 kW) Merlin X engines, increased weight reduced its top speed to 230 mph (370 km / h). These successive increases in power allowed the later marks of Whitley to carry ever-increasing bomb loads. The Mk.V could carry up to 7,373 lb (3,344 kg) of ordnance over short ranges, more than double the load of the Mk.I.

When war was declared on 3rd September 1939 the RAF initially employed their Whitleys dropping propaganda leaflets over Germany by night. Terrified of Luftwaffe reprisals, Allied governments had forbidden bombing the German mainland. These restrictions weren’t lifted until March 1940, when two squadrons of Whitleys opened the bombing campaign against Germany, targeting a seaplane base at Hornum. The Whitley was also the first aircraft to bomb Italy on June 11 / 12, the night after they entered the war. Over the next two years the Whitley saw extensive use in the night offensive against German cities, although the lack of any sort of electronic bombing aids meant the bombing was often highly inaccurate. As Germany introduced radar guided nightfighters and searchlights, losses on these missions mounted. So in May 1942 as the new better performing four engine “heavies” arrived, the RAF withdrew the Whitley from bombing operations.

Since 1939 Whitley squadrons had been transferred both temporarily and permanently to Coastal Command to help in the fight against the U Boat. Like most of Coastal Command, they initially had little success in this role. Even when they could find a U Boat, their anti-submarine bombs were inaccurate and ineffective. Modified naval depth charges replaced these from late 1940 and proved a far more effective weapon. Then in late 1941 the Mk.VII Whitley was introduced specifically for the maritime patrol role, equipped with long-range internal tanks and A.S.V. Mk.II radar. It was a Mk.VII Whitley that scored the first radar assisted kill of a U Boat on November 30, 1941, U 206 being the victim. Although the Whitley served in Coastal Command until early 1943, this was to be its only U Boat kill.

The Whitley also saw extensive use in the paratrooper schools from 1940, training the newly formed parachute brigades. The ten paratroopers would each sit on the edge of a hole under the rear fuselage originally used for the underside turret and drop through, five from ahead of the hole and five from behind. Dropping from a Whitley could be hazardous though. The five men dropping from the rear tended to tumble, since they hit the slipstream facing forward. This tumbling could cause a chute not to deploy properly, with fatal results for the paratrooper.

Nevertheless Whitleys were employed on two of Britain’s first paratrooper raids. On Feb. 10, 1941 eight Whitleys of 78 Squadron took off from Malta on Operation Colossus. They were carrying 38 men from No. 11 SAS Battalion, who were successfully dropped by night near their target, the Tragino Aqueduct in Italy. All the SAS men were later captured, but not before they had blown up the aqueduct with explosives.

The second raid, Operation Biting, took place on the night of February 27, 1942. Twelve Whitleys of No 51 Squadron dropped 120 men from the 2^nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment onto the Bruneval radar site near the French city of Le Havre. After a brief but heavy firefight that left three raiders dead, the station was captured and the Wurzburg radar stripped of top-secret equipment. The raiders and their plunder were then picked up by Royal Navy landing craft and returned safely to Britain.

Production of the Whitley ended in July 1943 by which time 1,814 had been made. They served on for a while as crew trainers, transport aircraft and glider tugs, until replaced by more modern aircraft such as the C47 Dakota.

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Variants

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Specifications

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