Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, part five

 

On 9th March 1937 the Whitley Mk.I entered service with the No.10 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) replacing the outdated Handley Page Heyford biplane. Later, in January 1938, the Mk.II entered squadron service for the first time with No.58 Squadron and, shortly later, in August, the Mk.III was supplied to the No.51 Squadron. In May 1939 the Mk.IV served for the first time with the No.10 Squadron and later, in August the Mk.IVA entered operational service with the No.78 Squadron. At the beginning of the World War II a total of seven Whitley squadrons were operational, most of them equipped with the Mk.III or Mk.IV, while just a very few Mk.Vs were introduced, a total of 196 Whitleys of every type were serving with the RAF.

At the beginning of the war, the No.4 squadron, equipped with the Whitley, was the only trained night-bomber unit in the world. Together with the Handley Page Hampden and the Vickers Wellington, the Whitley bore the burden of the early fighting and saw action during the first night of the war, when they dropped leaflets over Germany. This action made the Whitley the first RAF Bomber Command's aircraft to fly into German territory. Further propaganda flights were made to places as far as Prague and Warsaw. On the night between the 19th and the 20th March 1940, together with some Hampdens, the Whitley made the first bombing raid into Germany, attacking the Hörnum seaplane base, located at the island of Sylt, in Schleswig-Holstein. After that raid, the Whitley routinely patrolled the Frisian islands targeting shipping and seaplane activity.

On the night between  11th and 12th of June 1940 the Whitley performed Operation Haddock, the first RAF bombing raid on Italy, just some hours after Italy waged war on both France and the British Empire. The Whitleys bombed Turin and Genoa, reaching northern Italy via a refuelling stop in the Channel Islands. Many of the leading RAF's bomber pilots of the war flew the Whitleys at some point in their careers. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_Whitley#Operational_history

2. https://www.valka.cz/Armstrong-Whitworth-A-W-38-Whitley-t15610

3. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 21 - Armstrong Whitworth Whitley