1.
Boeing 737
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The Boeing 737 is an American short- to medium-range twinjet narrow-body airliner. The 737 is Boeings only narrow-body airliner in production, with the 737 Next Generation variants currently being built, production has also begun on the re-engined and redesigned 737 MAX, which is set to enter service in 2017. Originally envisioned in 1964, the initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967, Next, the lengthened 737-200 entered service in April 1968. In the 1980s Boeing launched the -300, -400, and -500 models, the 737 Classics added capacity and incorporated CFM56 turbofan engines along with wing improvements. In the 1990s, Boeing introduced the 737 Next Generation, with changes including a redesigned, increased span laminar flow wing, upgraded glass cockpit. The 737 Next Generation comprises the four -600, -700, -800, Boeing Business Jet versions of the 737 Next Generation are also produced. The 737 series is the best-selling jet commercial airliner in history, the 737 has been continuously manufactured by Boeing since 1967 with 9,401 aircraft delivered and 4,423 orders yet to be fulfilled as of February 2017. Assembly of the 737 is performed at the Boeing Renton Factory in Renton, Washington, many 737s serve markets previously filled by 707,727,757, DC-9, and MD-80/MD-90 airliners, and the aircraft currently competes primarily with the Airbus A320 family. As of 2006, there were an average of 1,250 Boeing 737s airborne at any given time, Boeing had been studying short-haul jet aircraft designs and wanted to produce another aircraft to supplement the 727 on short and thin routes. Preliminary design work began on May 11,1964, and Boeings intense market research yielded plans for a 50- to 60-passenger airliner for routes 50 to 1,000 mi long, consultation with Lufthansa over the previous winter resulted in an increase in capacity to 100 seats. On April 5,1965, Boeing announced an order by United Airlines for 40 737s, United wanted a slightly larger airplane than the original 737. So Boeing stretched the fuselage 91 centimeters ahead of, and 102 cm behind the wing, the longer version was designated 737-200, with the original short-body aircraft becoming the 737-100. Detailed design work continued on both variants at the same time, Boeing was far behind its competitors when the 737 was launched, as rival aircraft BAC-111, Douglas DC-9, and Fokker F28 were already into flight certification. To expedite development, Boeing used 60% of the structure and systems of the existing 727 and this fuselage permitted six-abreast seating compared to the rival BAC-111 and DC-9s five-abreast layout. Design engineers decided to mount the nacelles directly to the underside of the wings to reduce the landing gear length and kept the low to the ground for easy ramp inspection. Originally, the arrangement of the airfoil sections of the 737 wing was planned to be very similar to that of the 707 and 727. However, an improvement in drag at high Mach numbers was achieved by altering these sections near the nacelle. The engine chosen was the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-1 low-bypass ratio turbofan engine, with the wing-mounted engines, Boeing decided to mount the horizontal stabilizer on the fuselage rather than the T-tail style of the Boeing 727
2.
Aircraft
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An aircraft is a machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the lift of an airfoil. The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation, crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot, but unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Aircraft may be classified by different criteria, such as type, aircraft propulsion, usage. Each of the two World Wars led to technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras, Pioneers of flight, first World War,1914 to 1918. Aviation between the World Wars,1918 to 1939, Second World War,1939 to 1945. Postwar era, also called the jet age,1945 to the present day, aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low-density gas such as helium, hydrogen, or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, a balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs – usually fixed-wing. In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to ships of the air, in the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as ships of the air or flying-ships. – though none had yet been built, the advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by an outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a balloon is an aerostat and an airship is a powered one. A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible, sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship. Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back and these soon became known as blimps. During the Second World War, this shape was adopted for tethered balloons, in windy weather
3.
Cargo
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Multi-modal container units, designed as reusable carriers to facilitate unit load handling of the goods contained, are also referred to as cargo, specially by shipping lines and logistics operators. Similarly, aircraft ULD boxes are also documented as cargo, with associated packing list of the contained within. When empty containers are shipped each unit is documented as a cargo and when goods are stored within, seaport terminals handle a wide range of maritime cargo. Automobiles are handled at many ports and are carried on specialized roll-on/roll-off ships. Break bulk cargo is typically stacked on pallets and lifted into. The volume of bulk cargo has declined dramatically worldwide as containerization has grown. One way to secure break bulk and freight in intermodal containers is by using Dunnage Bags, bulk cargo, such as salt, oil, tallow, and scrap metal, is usually defined as commodities that are neither on pallets nor in containers. Bulk cargoes are not handled as individual pieces, the way heavy-lift, alumina, grain, gypsum, logs, and wood chips, for instance, are bulk cargoes. Neo-bulk cargo comprises individual units that are counted as they are loaded and unloaded, in contrast to bulk cargo that is not counted, containers are the largest and fastest growing cargo category at most ports worldwide. Containerized cargo includes everything from auto parts, machinery and manufacturing components to shoes and toys to frozen meat, air cargo, commonly known as air freight, is collected by firms from shippers and delivered to customers. Aircraft were first used for carrying mail as cargo in 1911, eventually manufacturers started designing aircraft for other types of freight as well. There are many commercial aircraft suitable for carrying cargo such as the Boeing 747 and the bigger An‑124, such large aircraft employ quick-loading containers known as unit load devices, much like containerized cargo ships. The ULDs are located in the front section of the aircraft, most nations own and utilize large numbers of military cargo aircraft such as the C‑17 Globemaster III for logistical needs. Popular commercial aircraft transformed to an aircraft such as Saab 340A is designed for high revenue. Trains are capable of transporting a number of containers that come from shipping ports. Trains are also used for the transportation of water, cement, grain, steel, wood and they are used because they can carry a large amount and generally have a direct route to the destination. Under the right circumstances, freight transport by rail is more economic and energy efficient than by road, the main disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility. For this reason, rail has lost much of the business to road transport
4.
Amphibious aircraft
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This article discusses fixed-wing amphibious aircraft. For rotary-wing amphibious aircraft, see Amphibious helicopter, an amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft that can take off and land on both land and water. Some amphibians are fitted with reinforced keels which act as skis, many amphibian aircraft are of the flying boat type. While these impose weight and drag, amphibious aircraft also face the possibility of getting hit when operating from a runway. A common solution is to make them retractable as those found on the Consolidated Catalina however these are heavier than fixed floats. Some aircraft may have the tip floats removed for extended use from land and these are not built to take the impact of the aircraft landing on them. An occasional problem with amphibians is with ensuring the wheels are in the position for landing. In normal operation, the uses a checklist, verifying each item. Since amphibians can land with them up or down though, the pilot must take care to ensure they are correct for the chosen landing place. Landing wheels up on land may damage the keel, while landing wheels down on water will almost always flip the aircraft upside down, Amphibious aircraft are heavier and slower, more complex and more expensive to purchase and operate than comparable landplanes but are also more versatile. Even if they cannot hover or land vertically, for jobs they compete favorably with helicopters. This makes an amphibious aircraft, such as the Grumman Albatross, the most notable being the Short Sunderland which carried out many anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic on sorties of 8 –12 hours duration. The Grumman Corporation, late-comers to the game, introduced a pair of light utility amphibious aircraft - the Goose, however, their military potential could not be ignored, and many were ordered by the US Armed forces and their allies during World War II. Not coincidentally, the Consolidated Catalina was redeveloped from being a flying boat into an amphibian during the war. Development of amphibians continues in Russia with the jet engined Beriev Be-200, italy, bordering the Mediterranean and Adriatic has had a long history of waterborne aircraft going back to the first Italian aircraft to fly. While most were not amphibians, quite a few were, including the Savoia-Marchetti S. 56A, although successful, flying boat amphibians like it ultimately proved less versatile than floatplane amphibians and are no longer as common as they once were. Many today are homebuilts, by necessity as the demand is too small to justify the costs of development, Amphibious helicopter Amphibious vehicle List of seaplanes and amphibious aircraft Floatplane Flying boat Seaplane Tigerfish Aviation Unmanned aerial vehicle
5.
Hardpoint
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A hardpoint is a location on an airframe designed to carry an external or internal load. In aeronautics, the station is used to refer to a point of carriage on the frame of an aircraft. A station is rated to carry a certain amount of payload. It is a number which already has taken the rated g-forces of the frame into account. Multiplied by the load factor which the aircraft will sustain when these items are carried. In civilian aviation a station is used to carry an external engine or a fuel tank. As engines are usually a fixed installation, operators usually refer to them with the designation of the engine, therefore, the term is mostly being used for load points meant for non-fixed installation. In the military, a station can also be called weapons station, most stations on a military aircraft serve to carry pods or weapons. A minor number of stations can serve to carry external fuel tanks. These stations are called wet, a general term referring to usage of fuel like wet thrust. The term wet is also carried over to the adapters, such as a pylon, wing stations require pylons to carry objects. The F-111s outermost pair of hardpoints do not swivel, and can only be used while the wing is fully extended and this restricts the aircraft to subsonic flight only while these pylons are fitted, usually fitted with fuel tanks during ferry flights. The pylons are automatically jettisoned if the wing sweep moves past 26 degrees, stations may be numbered for reference or not at all. The numbering is not necessarily consistent and may originate from elsewhere like station 559 on the B-52, there is not necessarily an order in which numbers are assigned. The order can be for example from left to right or vice versa, or mirrored, the often unique centerline station is no exception. A pylon serves to connect the frame of an aircraft to an item or object that is being carried, hence, the use of a pylon is necessary to clear the carriage item of control surfaces as well as prevent undesired disturbance of the flow of air toward the wing. Pylons are usually designed to be aerodynamic to reduce air resistance, there are many different forms, sizes and designs of pylons distinctly termed accordingly like a wedge adaptor or stub wing pylon. Stealth aircraft like the F-22 or F-35 can use jettisonable pylons to retain stealth, while most pylons are part of a modular system which is compatible with numerous stores, certain weapons and aircraft can require special pylons or adapters to carry a specific load
6.
Piper PA-18 Super Cub
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The Piper PA-18 Super Cub is a two-seat, single-engine monoplane. Introduced in 1949 by Piper Aircraft, it was developed from the Piper PA-11, in close to 40 years of production, over 9,000 were built. Super Cubs are commonly found in such as bush flying. While based on the design of the earlier Cubs, the addition of a system, flaps. The high-lift wing and powerful engine made the Super Cub a prime candidate for conversion to either floatplane or skiplane, in addition, the PA-18A was produced for applying either dry chemical or liquid spray. The Super Cub retained the basic rag and tube structure of the earlier J-3 Cub, the first true Super Cubs had flaps, dual fuel tanks, and an O-235 Lycoming engine producing about 108 hp. However, a 90 hp Continental variant without flaps and a second wing tank was available. Their empty weight was, on the average, 800–1000 pounds with a weight of 1,500 lb. These Cubs would take off in about 400 feet and land in about 300 feet, the Super Cub is renowned for its ability to take off and land in very short distances. The O-290 Lycoming powered Cubs followed and would take off in about 200 feet, the landing distance remained the same at about 400 feet, or 300 feet using flaps. With the use of the Lycoming O-320 at 150–160 hp, the Cubs allowable gross weight increased to 1,750 lb while retaining the capability of a mere 200 feet required for takeoff. Modifications include extended baggage compartments, external luggage pods, fuel pods, PA-18 Super Cub Prototype and production variant powered by a 95 hp Continental C-90-8F piston engine, sometimes known as the PA-18-95. PA-18-105 Super Cub Production variant fitted with a 105 hp Lycoming O-235-C1 piston engine, pA-18-105 Special Special variant built in 1952 and 1953 for the Civil Air Patrol as a trainer with horn-balanced elevators and provision for seat parachutes. PA-18-125 Super Cub Variant to replace the PA-18-95 with flaps and horn-balanced elevators, pA-18-135 Super Cub Variant with a 135 hp Lycoming O-290-D piston engine and fitted with two wing tanks as standard. PA-18-150 Super Cub 1954 variant with a 150 hp Lycoming O-320, pA-18-180 Super Cub Experimental variant with a 180 hp Lycoming O-360 engine, one built in 1980 by Piper. Other aircraft have been re-engined under a Supplemental Type Certificate, pA-18S Designation for production aircraft fitted with floats. PA-18AS Designation of a number of agricultural aircraft fitted with floats. PA-19 Super Cub Original designation of the variant of the PA-18
7.
Truss
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In engineering, a truss is a structure that consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assemblage as a whole behaves as a single object. A two-force member is a component where force is applied to only two points. In this typical context, external forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in forces in the members that are either tensile or compressive. For straight members, moments are explicitly excluded because, and only because, all the joints in a truss are treated as revolutes, as is necessary for the links to be two-force members. A planar truss is one all members and nodes lie within a two dimensional plane, while a space truss has members and nodes that extend into three dimensions. The top beams in a truss are called top chords and are typically in compression, the beams are called bottom chords. The interior beams are called webs, and the areas inside the webs are called panels, Truss derives from the Old French word trousse, from around 1200, which means collection of things bound together. The term truss has often used to describe any assembly of members such as a cruck frame or a couple of rafters. One engineering definition is, A truss is a single plane framework of individual structural member connected at their ends of forms a series of triangle to span a large distance, a truss consists of typically straight members connected at joints, traditionally termed panel points. Trusses are typically composed of triangles because of the stability of that shape. A triangle is the simplest geometric figure that will not change shape when the lengths of the sides are fixed, in comparison, both the angles and the lengths of a four-sided figure must be fixed for it to retain its shape. The joint at which a truss is designed to be supported is commonly referred to as the Munter Point, the simplest form of a truss is one single triangle. This type of truss is seen in a roof consisting of rafters and a ceiling joist. Because of the stability of this shape and the methods of used to calculate the forces within it. The traditional diamond-shape bicycle frame, which utilizes two conjoined triangles, is an example of a simple truss, a planar truss lies in a single plane. Planar trusses are used in parallel to form roofs and bridges. The depth of a truss, or the height between the upper and lower chords, is what makes it an efficient structural form, a solid girder or beam of equal strength would have substantial weight and material cost as compared to a truss. For a given span, a deeper truss will require less material in the chords, an optimum depth of the truss will maximize the efficiency
8.
Welding
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In addition to melting the base metal, a filler material is typically added to the joint to form a pool of molten material that cools to form a joint that is usually stronger than the base material. Pressure may also be used in conjunction with heat, or by itself, although less common, there are also solid state welding processes such as friction welding or shielded active gas welding in which metal does not melt. Some of the best known welding methods include, Oxy-fuel welding - also known as oxyacetylene welding or oxy welding, uses fuel gases and oxygen to weld and cut metals. Shielded metal arc welding – also known as stick welding or electric welding, the electrode holder holds the electrode as it slowly melts away. Slag protects the weld puddle from atmospheric contamination, gas tungsten arc welding – also known as TIG, uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. The weld area is protected from contamination by an inert shielding gas such as argon or helium. Flux-cored arc welding – almost identical to MIG welding except it uses a special tubular wire filled with flux, it can be used with or without shielding gas, submerged arc welding – uses an automatically fed consumable electrode and a blanket of granular fusible flux. The molten weld and the arc zone are protected from contamination by being submerged under the flux blanket. Electroslag welding – a highly productive, single pass welding process for thicker materials between 1 inch and 12 inches in a vertical or close to vertical position. Electric resistance welding - a welding process that produces coalescence of laying surfaces where heat to form the weld is generated by the resistance of the material. In general, an efficient method, but limited to relatively thin material, many different energy sources can be used for welding, including a gas flame, an electric arc, a laser, an electron beam, friction, and ultrasound. While often a process, welding may be performed in many different environments, including in open air, under water. Welding is an undertaking and precautions are required to avoid burns, electric shock, vision damage, inhalation of poisonous gases and fumes. Until the end of the 19th century, the welding process was forge welding. Arc welding and oxyfuel welding were among the first processes to develop late in the century, Welding technology advanced quickly during the early 20th century as the world wars drove the demand for reliable and inexpensive joining methods. Developments continued with the invention of laser welding, electron beam welding, magnetic pulse welding. Today, the continues to advance. Robot welding is commonplace in industrial settings, and researchers continue to develop new welding methods, the history of joining metals goes back several millennia
9.
Steel
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties
10.
Airframe
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The airframe of an aircraft is its mechanical structure. It is typically considered to include fuselage, wings and undercarriage, airframe design is a field of aerospace engineering that combines aerodynamics, materials technology and manufacturing methods to achieve balances of performance, reliability and cost. Modern airframe history began in the United States when a 1903 wood biplane made by Orville, in 1912 the Deperdussin Monocoque pioneered the light, strong and streamlined monocoque fuselage formed of thin plywood layers over a circular frame, achieving 210 km/h. Many early developments were spurred by military needs during World War I and these used hybrid wood and metal structures. In 1916 the German Albatros D. German engineer Hugo Junkers first flew all-metal airframes in 1915 with the all-metal, cantilever-wing, commercial aircraft development during the 1920s and 1930s focused on monoplane designs using Radial engines. Some were produced as single copies or in small quantity such as the Spirit of St. Louis flown across the Atlantic by Charles Lindbergh in 1927, william Stout designed the all-metal Ford Trimotors in 1926. They were among the most successful designs to emerge from the era through the use of all-metal airframes, during World War II, military needs again dominated airframe designs. The first jets were produced during the war but not made in large quantity, postwar commercial airframe design focused on airliners, on turboprop engines, and then on Jet engines, turbojets and later turbofans. The generally higher speeds and tensile stresses of turboprops and jets were major challenges, Airbus and Boeing are the dominant assemblers of large jet airliners while ATR, Bombardier and Embraer lead the regional airliner market, many manufacturers produce airframe components. It has a carbon fiber fuselage, said to replace 1,200 sheets of aluminum and 40,000 rivets. In February 2017, Airbus installed a 3D printing machine for titanium aircraft structural parts using electron beam additive manufacturing from Sciaky, airframe production has become an exacting process. Manufacturers operate under strict quality control and government regulations, departures from established standards become objects of major concern. A landmark in aeronautical design, the worlds first jet airliner, early models suffered from catastrophic airframe metal fatigue, causing a series of widely publicised accidents. The Royal Aircraft Establishment investigation at Farnborough Airport founded the science of aircraft crash reconstruction, after 3000 pressurisation cycles in a specially constructed pressure chamber, airframe failure was found to be due to stress concentration, a consequence of the square shaped windows. The windows had been engineered to be glued and riveted, but had been punch riveted only, unlike drill riveting, the imperfect nature of the hole created by punch riveting may cause the start of fatigue cracks around the rivet. The Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop, first flown in 1957 became a lesson in controlling oscillation. Its 1959 crash of Braniff Flight 542 showed the difficulties that the airframe industry, the A300 had experienced other structural problems but none of this magnitude. Longeron Former Chord Aircraft fairing Vertical stabilizer
11.
Barnes Wallis
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Sir Barnes Neville Wallis CBE FRS RDI FRAeS, was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II. The raid was the subject of the 1955 film The Dam Busters, among his other inventions were the geodetic airframe and the earthquake bomb. He subsequently changed his apprenticeship to J. Samuel Whites, the shipbuilders based at Cowes on the Isle of Wight and he originally trained as a marine engineer and in 1922 he took a degree in engineering via the University of London External Programme. He left J. Samuel Whites in 1913 when an opportunity arose for him to work on airship design and he worked for Vickers - later part of Vickers-Armstrongs and latterly part of the British Aircraft Corporation until his retirement in 1971. His many achievements include the first use of design in engineering and in the gasbag wiring of Vickers R100 in 1930. He also pioneered, along with John Edwin Temple, the use of light alloy, nevil Shute Norway was the chief calculator for the project, responsible for calculating the stresses on the frame. Despite a better-than-expected performance and a return flight to Canada in 1930, the R100 was broken up following the crash in northern France of its sister ship. The later destruction of the Hindenburg led to the abandonment of airships as a mode of mass transport, by the time of the R101 crash, Wallis had moved to the Vickers aircraft factory at the Brooklands motor circuit and aerodrome between Byfleet and Weybridge in Surrey. The pre-war aircraft designs of Rex Pierson, the Wellesley, the Wellington, the latter was one of the most robust airframes ever developed, and pictures of its skeleton largely shot away, but still sound enough to bring its crew home safely, are still impressive. The geodetic construction offered a light and strong airframe, with clearly defined space within for fuel tanks, payload, however the technique was not easily transferred to other aircraft manufacturers, nor was Vickers able to build other designs in factories tooled for geodetic work. Referring to the power supplies, he wrote, If their destruction or paralysis can be accomplished they offer a means of rendering the enemy utterly incapable of continuing to prosecute the war. As a means to do this, he proposed huge bombs that could concentrate their force, Walliss first super-large bomb design came out at some ten tonnes, far more than any current bomber could carry. Rather than drop the idea, this led him to suggest a plane that could carry it - the Victory Bomber, early in 1942, Wallis began experimenting with skipping marbles over water tanks in his garden, leading to his April 1942 paper Spherical Bomb — Surface Torpedo. After some initial scepticism, the Air Force accepted Walliss bouncing bomb for attacks on the Möhne, Eder, the raid on these dams in May 1943 was immortalised in Paul Brickhills 1951 book The Dam Busters and the 1955 film of the same name. The Möhne and Eder dams were breached, causing damage to German factories. After the success of the bomb, Wallis was able to return to his huge bombs, producing first the Tallboy. These were not the same as the 5-tonne blockbuster bomb, which was a conventional blast bomb and they were the forerunners of modern bunker-busting bombs
12.
Vickers Warwick
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The Vickers Warwick was a multi-purpose British aircraft used during the Second World War. Designed and manufactured by Vickers-Armstrongs, it was intended to serve as a counterpart to their Wellington bomber, sharing similar construction. Due to a development, the Warwick was made effectively redundant by rapid aircraft development by rival firms. It was put into use by the Royal Air Force as a transport, air-sea rescue. The British Overseas Airways Corporation also operated the Warwick in a civil capacity, as with other RAF heavy bombers of the time it was named after a British city or town, in this case Warwick. The Warwick was designed to meet Air Ministry specification B. 1/35 for a heavy bomber. It was designed in parallel with the smaller Wellington, both being derived from the Vickers Type 271 design to Specification B. 9/32, B. 3/34 specification which would be met by the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. By the end of July, the Air Ministry was able to consider eight designs, the Vickers 284 with Bristol Hercules engines was placed first and a prototype ordered along with prototypes of the designs by Armstrong Whitworth and Handley Page. Before the last two had been built they were cancelled - both Handley Page and Armstrong Whitworth preferring to work on the new specifications for medium and heavy bombers. Vickers chose to continue but construction was slowed by work on the Wellington, lack of engines, the specification was modified in 1936 for greater fuel and bombload and in 1937 Rolls-Royce Vulture liquid-cooled X engines were named as alternative powerplant and adopted in late 1938. In February 1939 it was decided to not proceed beyond the prototypes because of the work required for the Vulture, the first, powered by the Vultures flew from Brooklands on 13 August 1939. The Vulture engine, needed for the Avro Manchester, was unlikely to be available in sufficient numbers for the Warwick. While the Centaurus-powered prototype was promising, the development of the Centaurus was at an early stage. Use of the American Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial was proposed, the second prototype was converted to use the R-2800-S14A4-G engines and first flew in this form in July 1941. The Double Wasp installation was inferior to the Centaurus but the aircraft was ordered with the Pratt & Whitney engine, the Warwick used Barnes Wallis geodesic airframe construction pioneered in the Wellesley and Wellington. In this system, a network of intersecting structural members made from duralumin were covered by wired-on fabric, the load was distributed amongst the structure, providing great redundancy in the event of damage, at the expense of complexity of construction. An initial production order for 250 Warwicks, consisting of 150 Double Wasp-powered Mk Is and 100 Centaurus-powered Mk IIs was placed on 28 December 1940, a total of 219 Warwick Mark Is were built, the last 95 with 2,000 horsepower R-2800-47 engines. The first production Warwick B Mk I was delivered to the RAF for testing at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, only 16 aircraft were delivered as bombers, as by this time more capable four-engined heavy bombers such as the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax were in service
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