Britain's Most Mass-Produced Bomber | Vickers Wellington (Part 1)

Video from the channel Rex's Hangar about Vickers, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 53:05. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

First part of a documentary about the Vickers Wellington, the British bomber produced in the greatest numbers during the Second World War and nicknamed "Wimpy" by its crews. It covers the development of the prototype, the Mk I, IA, IC, II, III and X versions, and its wartime service up to 1945; special variants and post-war use are left for a second part.

Its origin lies in Air Ministry Specification B.9/32, which limited empty weight to 6,300 lb. Vickers responded with the Type 271, designed by Rex Pierson's team using the geodetic construction of Barnes Wallis, already proven on the Wellesley: a crossed lattice of duralumin, light and very strong, covered in fabric. As the restrictions eased and in response to German rearmament, the design grew and the Goshawk engine was replaced by the Bristol Pegasus. The prototype flew at Brooklands on 15 June 1936 with Mutt Summers at the controls; it was first named Crecy and became Wellington on 8 September 1936; it was lost at Martlesham Heath on 19 April 1937. The first production Mk I reached No. 99 Squadron on 10 October 1938.

The daylight raids of December 1939 on Heligoland and Wilhelmshaven, which cost half the formation, exposed the lack of armour and self-sealing fuel tanks and led to the Mk IC, with beam machine-gun positions replacing the ventral turret. Between 1940 and 1942 the Wellington carried almost the whole of Bomber Command's offensive alone and operated over Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East and Burma.

More than 11,000 were built, around 9,000 of them outside the parent Weybridge factory thanks to tooling and documentation that Vickers supplied to other manufacturers; 2,685 Mk ICs and more than 3,800 Mk Xs were produced. A modified Wellington was the first to drop the 4,000 lb bomb, over Emden on 1 April 1941. The Mk III, with Hercules engines, exceeded 1,500 units and could tow gliders such as the Horsa. Sergeant James Ward, of No. 75 Squadron, received the Victoria Cross for climbing out onto the wing in flight to smother an engine fire on the night of 7 July 1941. No. 69 Squadron operated the Wellington until 7 May 1945.