Short Stirling
| Short Stirling | |
|---|---|
 Three Stirling bombers on a training flight near Cambridge |
|
| Type: | Heavy bomber |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
May 14, 1939 |
| Commissioning: |
1941 |
| Production time: |
1939 to 1945 |
| Number of pieces: |
2383 |
The Short Stirling was a British four-engine bomber of World War II and was used by the RAF Bomber Command from February 1941 .
Developed by the aircraft manufacturer Short Brothers , 2383 machines were produced in different versions from 1939 to 1945. The Stirling was next to the Avro Lancaster (7377 machines) and the Handley Page Halifax (6178 machines) the third four-engine heavy bomber of the Royal Air Force . The type was the first British bomber to receive the Oboe bomb sight for blind bombing .
Models
For test purposes, a flightable wooden model on a scale of 1: 2 was built in 1938 . The first L 7600 prototype flew on May 14, 1939. It had an accident on landing, but the second L 7605 prototype flew on December 3, 1939. The first production aircraft, the Stirling Mk I, made its maiden flight in May 1940. Deliveries began in August 1940 to Squadron 7. The first order of 100 Stirlings was soon increased; at the time of the Munich Agreement in 1938, 1,500 Stirling were ordered. The 1375 hp Bristol Hercules II prototypes were replaced by 1595 hp Hercules XI engines.
Two aircraft were converted into prototypes for a version with 1,600 horsepower Wright R-2600 A5B engines. However, this variant never went into production. The most common version was the Mk III, which, in addition to Hercules XVI, also had a newer hull back tower. In 1943, two Mk IIIs became prototypes for the Mk IV version.
This variant was built for paratroopers and as a tow plane. The Mk IV was similar to the Mk III, but it lacked some armaments and the paratrooper version had a jump door behind the bomb bay. The last variant Mk V was an unarmed passenger or cargo aircraft with a rear loading door and a laterally pivoting nose to create a further loading option. Short Brothers built 532 Mk I, 618 Mk III, 450 Mk IV and 160 Mk V. In addition, Austin Motor Company built 191 Mk I and 429 Mk II.
The weaknesses of the Stirling were based on the specification (B. 12/36) of the British Department of Aviation . In order to fit into the existing hangars , the wingspan was limited to 100 feet (30.5 m), which meant that the peak height remained very modest. Furthermore, the Stirling was able to carry a considerable total bomb load (of 6350 kg), but due to the two-part bomb bay it was not possible to carry larger bombs . Only bombs up to a single weight of 907 kg could be accommodated.
technical features
The Short Stirling was initially not very popular with her crews. This was due to various peculiarities that were common in the flying boat industry or in-house developments by the Short Brothers company. The main reason for the harsh criticism of the flight crew about their aircraft was probably that most of them had not flown a four-engine bomber before; they simply lacked a comparison with what was technically achievable at all. One of the points of criticism was that the Stirling could only be steered with great effort; in the event of an engine failure, a continued flight was only possible if the bomb load was dropped immediately.
For aerodynamic and static reasons, Short, unlike the Avro Lancaster and the Handley Page Halifax , did without a double tail unit. Instead, an in-house development was used: In order to be able to regulate the speed of the four motors more easily for the lateral trimming , a special hydraulic "differential thrust controller" was used to control the motors. Problems caused by broken cables should be avoided in this way: if the performance of an engine drops, the thrust regulator, which can be operated with one hand, should enable the power to be redistributed quickly.
The pilot should be able to control the machine more precisely with one hand on the control column and one hand on the differential throttle. However, the delay caused by the engines or their carburettors was disturbing , which made it difficult for the pilot to see whether the setting on the throttle was sufficient or whether he was already "at the stop". It took a lot of experience to be able to deal with it well.
Another problem arose from the conception as a shoulder wing : A shoulder wing has great structural advantages, but the retractable landing gear attached to the inner engine pods must be made very long and therefore one-piece main landing gear legs cannot be used. Short Brothers developed foldable landing gear legs with a special three-part cover of the landing gear bay, which was partly attached to the landing gear itself. When the oil pressure is low (due to damage from fire, etc.), the main landing gear legs no longer extend completely against the airstream due to their high weight. The wheels were not fully retracted into the landing gear bays in the engine nacelles, but aerodynamic tests had shown that this was acceptable.
use
The first war operation of the Stirlings took place on February 10, 1941 during an attack on an oil storage facility near Rotterdam . In the air raid on Lübeck on March 29, 1942 , in addition to the twin-engined Vickers-Wellington , the much larger Stirling bombers were used. Short Stirlings were also involved in the first “ Thousand Bomber Attack ” ( Operation Millennium ) at the end of May 1942 against Cologne. Before they were used for civil transport purposes, the Stirlings were still used to lay sea mines towards the end of the war .
Production numbers
The Stirling was built in Great Britain by Short in Rochester and Swindon, by Short Harland and by Austin Motors.
| version | Short / Rochester | Short / Swindon | Short Harland | Austin | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mk I | 39 | 218 | 260 | 191 | 708 |
| Mk II | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Mk III | 117 | 150 | 343 | 429 | 1039 |
| Mk IV | 9 | 448 | 457 | ||
| Mk V | 1 | 123 | 124 | ||
| total | 158 | 379 | 1174 | 620 | 2331 |
| year | bomber | Transporter | number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 15th | 15th | |
| 1941 | 153 | 153 | |
| 1942 | 462 | 462 | |
| 1943 | 880 | 12 | 892 |
| 1944 | 240 | 408 | 648 |
| until July 31, 1945 | 161 | 616 | |
| total | 1750 | 581 | 2331 |
After July 1945, Short Harland delivered around 40–50 Mk Vs.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data of the Short Stirling Mk.I |
|---|---|
| Working time | 1940 to 1945 |
| crew | 7 or 8 |
| length | 26.32 m |
| span | 30.22 m |
| height | 6.93 m |
| Empty mass | 20,000 kg (I and II) 21,200 kg (III) |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 26,900 kg (I and II) 31,790 kg (III) |
| Top speed | 419 km / h (I) 443 km / h at 4,420 m (14,500 feet) altitude (III) |
| Service ceiling | 6,250 m |
| Range | 3,755 km (I) 3,240 km with 1.6 t bomb load (III) 4,830 km (V) |
| Engines | four 1,590 hp Bristol Hercules XI double radial engines |
| Armament | eight 7.7 mm Browning machine guns, up to 6,350 kg bombs |
