English Electric Canberra

ENGLISH ELECTRIC CANBERRA

English Electric Canberra, Duxford 2007 ©Nigel Key

ROLE
Bomber / Reconnaissance.

FIRST FLIGHT
13 May 1949.

Originally known as the English Electric A.1 the Canberra was renamed by the Company's chairman, Sir George Nelson, as Australia was the first export customer for the aircraft.

The Canberra is modelled on the same design brief as the de Havilland Mosquito i.e. to provide maximum bomb load, fitting of two very powerful engines and with the most effective aerodynamic package possible.

The Canberra is mainly a metal aircraft with only the forward portion of the fin being of wooden construction. The fuselage is a semi-monocoque design with a pressurised nose compartment with the crew each having a Martin-Baker ejector seat.

There are two bomb bays in the fuselage protected by conventional bomb bay doors. The wings are of a single spar construction, which pass straight through the fuselage from one side to the other with control surfaces operated by conventional means.

The Canberra is powered by two Rolls Royce Avon turbojets producing 7,400 lbf of thrust each.

Early Canberra’s had a glazed nose to carry a bomb aimer due to delays in the intended radar bombsight.

The undercarriage of the Canberra is manufactured from a new alloy (DTD683) which was prone to stress corrosion causing them to decay in a few years. To avoid the hazard of undercarriage failure regular inspections were carried out initially using Radiographic techniques and then later a more reliable Ultrasound inspection.

PRODUCTION
The English Electric Canberra was produced from 1951, with 900 built.

ENGINES
2 x Rolls Royce Avon 109’s, producing 7400 lb st.

ARMAMENT
3,000 lb (1,362 kg) Bomb/Flares in bomb bay
2,000 lb (908 kg) Bombs/Rockets on pylons

The Canberra B2 entered service with RAF No.101 Squadron in January of 1951 and No.9 Squadron by the end of that year.

As a result of the Korean War manufacture of the Canberra was stepped up and further Squadrons were issued with the aircraft by the end of 1952.

Bomber Command retired the last Canberra on the 11th of September 1961; however, overseas Squadrons in Germany, Cyprus and Singapore continued to use the aircraft in the nuclear strike role.

The Cyprus based Squadrons were made un-operational in 1969 with the Singapore based Squadrons following suit in 1970. The last of the German based Squadrons disbanded in 1972 and were the last Canberra bombers in RAF service.

The RAF continued with the Canberra in service after 1972 in a reconnaissance role with many variants being produced during this time. The PR9 remained in service with RAF No.39 Squadron until July of 2006 in the reconnaissance and photographic mapping role.

The last sortie of a Canberra took place on the 28th of July 2006 to commemorate the standing down of RAF No.39 Squadron at RAF Marham by a flypast.