Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, part six

 

The Whitley, unlike the Handley Page Hampden or the Vickers Wellington, was always intended to be a night bomber and, therefore, the model escaped from the heavy losses that the other two mentioned types suffered during the initial day-time raids over German shipping. Considering that it was the oldest of the three models, it was effectively obsolete at the beginning of the war, yet more than 1.000 more aircraft were produced before a suitable replacement was found. The Mk.VII had a particular problem with its drag-producing antennas; it couldn't keep altitude on one engine. The Whitleys of the Bomber Command flew a total of 8.996 operations, dropped 9.845 tons of bombs and a total of 269 of them were lost in action.

The last operational mission by a Whitley-equipped bomber squadron took place on the night of 29/30th April 1942, when Whitleys bombed the port of Ostend, in Belgium. In late 1942 the Whitley was retired as a frontline aircraft for bomber squadrons and was assigned to other roles. The type kept on service delivering agents and supplies with special service squadrons (Nos. 138 and 161) until December 1942. as well as serving as a transport of paratroopers, freight and a tow for aircraft gliders. In 1940 the Whitley was selected as the standard paratroop transport. In this role, the ventral turret's hole was modified to allow paratroopers jump through it. No.100 Group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) used Whitleys as an airborne platform to perform airborne radar sweeps and electronic counter-measures. In February 1942, Whitleys were used to carry the paratroopers who took part in the Bruneval raid, in Northern France, where German radar technology was captured. This raid received the codename of Operation Biting.

The Mk.VII Whitleys were among the last ones to remain in service with the Long-Range RAF Coastal Command, as by early 1943 they were still active. The first U-Boat kill attributed to the Whitley Mk.VII was the sinking of the U-751 on 17th July 1942, which was achieved in collaboration with an Avro Lancaster. After evaluating the Whitley in 1942, the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) used some modified ex-RAF Mk.VIIs from 1944 to 1946 to train aircrews in Merlin engine management and fuel transfer procedures.

In April/May 1942 the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) had in inventory 15 Whitley Mk.V aircraft which had been converted into freighters. This conversion involved the removal of all defensive armament, with the turret recesses being faired over, the installation of additional fuel tanks in the bomb bay and the adaptation of the interior fuselage for freight stowage and one aircraft was fitted with a larger cargo door. This type was routinely used for night supply flights from Gibraltar to Malta, route which took seven hours and often it required to land during Axis attacks on the island of Malta. These freighters also flew the dangerous route between Leuchars Station, in Scotland and Stockholm, in Sweden. The Whitley consumed a disproportionately huge amount of fuel to carry relatively small payload so, together with some other reasons which rendered the type as 'less than ideal', in August 1942 the type was replaced by the Lockheed Hudson and the 14 survivors were returned to the RAF.

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