One of the men on the Second World War Memorial which I am researching was killed in an accident (caused by mechanical failure) whilst flying in a Stirling which had taken off from the HCU at RAF Winthorpe. I have read recently that, as early as 1942, it was recognised that the rate of loss of this type of aircraft from Bomber Command was so great that the use and production of the Stirling should decline. Given this, why were men being trained to use this aircraft as late as June 1944? Were uses other than bombing being found for the aircraft? Any clarification appreciated.
Given this, why were men being trained to use this aircraft as late as June 1944? Were uses other than bombing being found for the aircraft? The last operational sortie by a stirling in Bomber Command was on 8th Sep 1944. it was also used for minelaying, transport and glider towing. The Stirling MKV was designed from the onset to be a paurely transport/glider tug. :ph34r: :ph34r:
Originally posted by Simon Bull@Sep 28 2004, 02:33 PM One of the men on the Second World War Memorial which I am researching was killed in an accident (caused by mechanical failure) whilst flying in a Stirling which had taken off from the HCU at RAF Winthorpe. I have read recently that, as early as 1942, it was recognised that the rate of loss of this type of aircraft from Bomber Command was so great that the use and production of the Stirling should decline. Given this, why were men being trained to use this aircraft as late as June 1944? Were uses other than bombing being found for the aircraft? Any clarification appreciated. [post=28444]Quoted post[/post] The reasons it was withdrawn from production as a bomber and its subsequent relegation to secondary duties was its loss rate and its obsolesce. Both were products of the design limitations put on the competing firms back at the time of its specification. The biggest limitation and the one most commented on was the requirement that it fit within existing RAF hangers for servicing. This meant a wing span less than 100 ft (though the width of the standard C Type hanger door was actually 125 ft!). The effect was to limit the aircraft's service ceiling, speed and bomb capacity but not its load. The original bomb cell design meant it could not accommodate greater than 2,000 lb - that came in only an amour piercing version and not much chop in Bomber Command's campaign - though it could lift a maximum of 14,000 lb for up to 3,000 miles. So it was fairly slow, lower flying beast than the Halifax and Lancaster but could heft a good load. Hence it was relegated to glider tug (specialised in twin tows of Horsa or a single Hamilcar), parachuting (with a large number of the parachutist’s containers in the bomb cells), minelaying (lower flying and in areas less frequented by flak or night fighters) or for training of crews on multi-engine aircraft prior to posting to an OCU and their aircraft type (i.e. Lancaster, Halifax or their derivatives). I think the HCU aircraft were also used prior to posting to the Costal Command OCUs (Sunderland, etc). Cheers Edward
Given this, why were men being trained to use this aircraft as late as June 1944? in his despatch on war operations, Sir Arthur Harris mentioned that Stirlings were used on HCUs in order to free up all available lancasters. That is why Crews were still being trained on them. In addition, there is no mention of any beinbg used by Coastal command as conversion Trainers. Stirlings were also used by the Special Duties sqn at Templesford, and by 100 for Radio Counter measures. What must be remembered was that the aircraft was designed to a 1936 spec which did not envisage the type of aircraft that would be best suited to WW2. The limitation on wing span produced a low aspect ratio. The bombay was designed to hold the weapons of the day not the ones which came into operational use during the war. However, the long slim bombay was well suited to mines.
