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Blenheim
207 archive reports

Bristol Blenheim IV

The Blenheim IV was the long-nosed version of the Bristol Blenheim. It was the RAF's main light bomber in the first two years of the Second World War, and the type 13 OTU was training crews to fly.

Origins

The Blenheim grew out of the Bristol Type 142, "Britain First", a fast private aircraft ordered by newspaper owner Lord Rothermere in 1935. It was faster than the RAF's fighters of the day, so the Air Ministry ordered a bomber version, the Blenheim Mk I. That design had a short, cramped nose, which left the navigator little space for charts and bomb-aiming.

The Mk IV fixed this with a lengthened nose. The upper left side of the nose was scalloped so the pilot could still see forward and down. The Mk IV also had more powerful engines and much larger fuel tanks, which roughly doubled the range. It entered service in 1939, and well over 3,000 were built in Britain. Canada built a version under licence as the Bolingbroke.

Crew: Three - pilot, observer (navigator and bomb aimer) and wireless operator/air gunner.

Engines: Two Bristol Mercury XV radials of about 900 hp each

Top speed: About 265 mph

Range: About 1,450 miles

Bomb load: Normally 1,000 lb, up to about 1,300 lb with overload

Armament: A forward-firing .303 machine gun in the wing and a powered dorsal turret, later fitted with twin guns. Many aircraft also had a rear-facing gun under the nose.

Wingspan: About 56 ft

Service

On 3rd September 1939, the day war was declared, a Blenheim IV of 139 Squadron flew the RAF's first sortie of the war over Germany, photographing the German fleet. The next day Blenheims attacked warships at Wilhelmshaven.

Through 1940 and 1941, No. 2 Group flew the type on daylight raids against targets in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, including the invasion barges in the Channel ports and low-level attacks on shipping. Losses were very heavy. By 1940 the Blenheim was too slow and too lightly armed to survive against Bf 109s without a fighter escort.

It also served with Coastal Command and in the Middle East, Greece and the Far East. The Mk IVF was a long-range fighter version with a pack of extra guns under the fuselage. From 1942 the Blenheim was withdrawn from front-line bomber work and replaced by the Boston, Ventura and Mosquito. It carried on in training and second-line roles.

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