English Electric Canberra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Canberra

The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation jet-powered medium
bomber that was manufactured during the 1950s. It was developed by English
Electric during the mid-to-late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry
requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilland Mosquito fast-bomber.
Amongst the performance requirements for the type was the demand for an
outstanding high altitude bombing capability in addition to flying at high
speeds. These were partly accomplished by making use of newly developed jet
propulsion technology. When the Canberra was introduced to service with the
Royal Air Force (RAF), the type's first operator, in May 1951, it became the
service's first jet-powered bomber aircraft.

Throughout the majority of the 1950s, the Canberra could fly at a higher
altitude than any other bomber or even any other aircraft in the world. In 1957,
one Canberra established a world altitude record of 70,310 ft (21,430 m). In
February 1951, another Canberra set another world record when it became the
first jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight. Due to its ability
to evade the early jet interceptor aircraft and its significant performance
advancement over contemporary piston-engined bombers, the Canberra became a
popular aircraft on the export market, being procured for service in the air
forces of many nations both inside and outside of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The type was also licence produced in Australia and the United States of
America, the latter building it as the Martin B-57 Canberra.

In addition to being a tactical nuclear strike aircraft, the Canberra proved to
be highly adaptable, serving in varied roles such as tactical bombing and
photographic and electronic reconnaissance. Canberras served in the Suez Crisis,
the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Indo-Pakistani wars, and numerous
African conflicts. In several wars, each of the opposing sides had Canberras in
their air forces. The Canberra had a lengthy service life, serving for more than
50 years with some operators. In June 2006, the RAF retired the last of its
Canberras, 57 years after its first flight. Three of the Martin B-57 variant
remain in service, performing meteorological work for NASA, as well as providing
electronic communication (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node or BACN)
testing for deployment to Afghanistan.

The Canberra could deploy many conventional weapons, typical weapons used were
250-pound, 500-pound, and 1000-pound bombs, the total bomb load could weigh up
to 10,000 pounds (4.5 t). Two bomb-bays are housed within the fuselage, these
are normally enclosed by conventional clam-shell doors; a rotating door was
substituted for these on the Martin-built B-57 Canberras. Additional stores up
to a total of 2,000 pounds (0.91 t) could be carried upon underwing pylons.
Operators often developed and installed their own munitions, such as Rhodesia's
anti-personnel bomblets, the Alpha bomb, a varied range of munitions were
employed on Canberra fleets around the world. Anti-personnel flechette bombs
were tested successfully from the Canberra by Rhodesia, but not used
operationally due to international agreements.

In part due to its range limitation of just 2,000 miles (3,200 km), and its
inability to carry the early, bulky nuclear bombs, the Canberra was typically
employed in the role of a tactical bomber as opposed to that of a strategic one.
In British service, many of the Canberras that were stationed at remote overseas
locations did not undertake modifications to become nuclear-capable until as
late as 1957.


Role
Bomber/Reconnaissance

National origin
United Kingdom

Manufacturer
English Electric

First flight
13 May 1949

Introduction
25 May 1951

Retired
23 June 2006 (RAF)

Status
Retired from service

Primary users
Royal Air Force

Indian Air Force
Peruvian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force


Number built

900 (UK)
49 (Australia)

403 (USA)


Developed into
Martin B-57 Canberra

The Canberra replaced Mosquitos, Lincolns and Washingtons as front line bombers,
showing a drastically improved performance, and proving to be effectively immune
from interception during air defence exercises until the arrival of the Hawker
Hunter. The Canberra also replaced the RAF's Mosquitos in the reconnaissance
role, with the Canberra PR3 entering service in December 1952. The improved
Canberra B6, with more powerful engines and a greater fuel capacity, started to
supplement the B2s in the UK based squadrons of Bomber Command from June 1954,
when they replaced 101 Squadrons B2s. This freed up older B2s to allow Canberra
squadrons to form overseas, with bomber and reconnaissance Canberra wings
forming in RAF Germany and on Cyprus, with squadrons also being deployed to the
Far East.

The RAF continued to operate the Canberra after 1972, employing it for
reconnaissance (with Squadrons equipped with PR7s and PR9s being based at RAF
Wyton in the UK and RAF Luqa in Malta). The PR9s were fitted with special LOROP
(Long-Range Optical Photography) cameras, reportedly based on those used by the
Lockheed U-2, to allow high-altitude of targets deep into Eastern Europe while
flying along the inner German border, as well as infrared linescan cameras for
low level night reconnaissance. The RAF used Canberras to search for hidden arms
dumps using false-colour photography during Operation Motorman in July 1972,
when the British Army re-took Irish republican held "no go areas" in Belfast and
Derry. Canberras were used for reconnaissance during the Bosnian War during the
1990s, where they were used to locate mass graves and during the Kosovo War in
1999. They were also operated from Uganda during the First Congo War, where they
were used to search for refugees. Small numbers of specially equipped Canberras
were also used for signals intelligence, being operated by 192 Squadron and then
51 Squadron from 1953 to 1976.

Specifications (Canberra B(I)6)

General characteristics
Crew: 3
Length: 65 ft 6 in (19.96 m)
Wingspan: 64 ft 0 in (19.51 m)
Height: 15 ft 8 in (4.77 m)
Wing area: 960 ft² (89.19 m²)
Empty weight: 21,650 lb (9,820 kg)
Loaded weight: 46,000 lb (20,865 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 55,000 lb (24,948 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Avon R.A.7 Mk.109 turbojets, 7,400 lbf (36 kN) each

Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 0.88 (580 mph, 933 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12,192 m)
Combat radius: 810 mi (700 nm, 1,300 km)
Ferry range: 3,380 mi (2,940 nm, 5,440 km)
Service ceiling: 48,000 ft (15,000 m)
Rate of climb: 3,400 ft/min (17 m/s)
Wing loading: 48 lb/ft² (234 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.37

Armament

Guns: 4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.V cannon mounted in rear bomb bay (500 rounds/gun),
or 2 x 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun pods
Rockets: 2 x unguided rocket pods with 37 2-inch (51 mm) rockets, or 2 x Matra
rocket pods with 18 SNEB 68 mm rockets each
Missiles: A variety of missiles can be carried according to mission
requirements, e.g: 2 x AS-30L air-to-surface missiles
Bombs: Total of 8,000 lb (3,628 kg) of payload can be mounted inside the
internal bomb bay and on two underwing hardpoints, with the ability to carry a
variety of bombs.
Typically, the internal bomb bay can hold up to 9 x 500 lb (227 kg) bombs, or 6
x 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs, or 1 x 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) bomb; while the pylons can
hold 4 x 500 lb (227 kg) bombs, or 2 x 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs.
Nuclear weapons: in addition to conventional ordnance, the Canberra was also
type-approved for tactical nuclear weapon delivery, including the Mk 7, B28 (Mod
2, 70 kiloton yield), B57 and B43 (as part of a joint program with the United
States) plus the Red Beard and WE.177A (Mod A, 10 kiloton yield) nuclear bombs.
All nuclear weapons were carried internally.






*