The Short Stirling
I found this photograph in my Dad's stuff when he died. I thought originally it was Dad's Stirling and crew - there was no inscription on it - but it turns out it is Short Stirling III EE884 HA-B of 218 Squadron. He told me the only member of his crew to survive the war was Allwynne Powell, and this is the aircraft in which his war ended with his capture when it was shot down by nightfighters. He managed to get 40 miles before being caught. Visit the link in this paragraph for the whole sorry story.
Sadly Dad gave virtually everything RAF related away, including his flying log book to a collector, which I am very interested in recovering. So if anyone out there has the flying logbook of 656156 M.H.C. Dyer please get in touch.
Another piccie I found, inscribed on the back:
"Burnaston, Derby '41?
E.F.T.S. on Magisters. Self 4th from left, top row. My instructor, F/O Wilson AFC, 5th from right front row"
The Stirling was the first British four engined bomber to enter wide scale service with the RAF. Unfortunately the Air Ministry insisted the wingspan be limited to 100 ft, even though they had started building hangers which could have accomodated a greter span. This inadequate wingspan had to be compensated for by extremely tall undercarriage to increase the angle of attack and supposedly aid take-off. The crews were told to bomb from 15,000 ft or some other fanciful figure but with a full load on board they could rarely exceed 10,000ft. Towards the end of their operational life the crews of the Lancaster and Halifax squadrons would cheer if they knew Stirlings were on the same raid, as, flying so low, the Stirlings would be picking up the searchlights and flak.
Remarkably my Dad never saw a nightfighter, never had a serious equipment failure - the Stirling was a mass of electric motors and fuel tanks, and the undercarriage was excessively tall and spindly. He had only on close call with flak, when a shell burst directly under the plane and sent it lurching upwards. After an incident like that, standard procedure was to call up the crew on the intercom. There was no reply from the rear turret, so Dad sent someone back to investigate. The rear gunner was in agony, clasping a leg wound. His leg was bandaged and he was laid out on the "bed" in the Stirling. Back in England it was discovered he wasn't wounded at all - he'd just knocked his thigh when the plane lurched upwards, and the "blood" was from an orange he's had in his pocket! Remember this all took place in the dark over Germany, with many people trying to shoot them out of the sky, with all the noise, confusion and horror of a battle going on all around.
The fact is the Stirling was the least successful of the three British heavy bombers. It was crippled by the short wing span which restricted altitude, the weak undercarriage, and a bomb bay that could not accommodate the 4,000 lb "cookie" bombs that the RAF standardised on. The Halifax and Lancaster could. On the other hand it was fast and highly manoeuvrable, and was very sturdily built.
Crew : Seven or eight
Span : 99'-1" (30.20 m)
Length : 87'-3" (26.59 m)
Weight : 22'-9" (6.93 m )
Empty Weight : 46,900 lbs. (21,274 kg)
Loaded Weight : 70,000 lbs. (31,752 kg) Maximum Speed : 270 mph at 14,500 ft. (4,420 m)
Ceiling : 17,000 ft. (5,182 m)
Range : 590 miles (949 km) with 14,000 lbs. (6,350 kg) of bombs.
2,000 miles (3,219 km) with 3,500 lbs. (1,588 kg) of bombs.
Armament:
Two 0.303" machine guns mounted in both the front and dorsal turrets. Four 0.303" machine guns in the rear turret. Maximum bomb load 14,000 lbs. (6,350 kg)
Bomber Command Squadrons equipped with the Stirling:
7, 15, 75, 90, 149, 171, 196, 199, 214, 218, 513, 620, 622, 623