Page 323 - (DK) Smithsinian - Military History: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Objects of Warfare

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Four Browning machine-
guns in rear turret
Nose turret housed
two Browning TRANSPOR
machine-guns

,
▲ SHORT S.25 SUNDERLAND Developed from the successful Empire T
Two 13mm Underwing racks could Launched 1938 Origin UK airliner, the Sunderland was the British
machine-guns accommodate bombs, depth- Royal Air Force’s principal patrol/
charges, or torpedoes Wingspan 112¾ft (34.4m) reconnaissance bomber flying boat for
Length 85 ⁄3ft (26m) 21 years. It was unusual in having “bomb
1
Top Speed 210mph (335kph) rooms” where selected ordnance could
be loaded on racks, which were then
Engine Four 1,065hp (794kW) Bristol
Pegasus XVII radials winched out under the wings and RECONNAISSANCE,
opened to unload the bombs.

Wings and fuselage of
fabric-on-wood construction

Remote-controlled
20mm cannon
Glider pilots were also
combat soldiers
▲ AIRSPEED HORSA GLIDER The Luftwaffe used gliders during the
Launched 1941 Origin UK invasion of Belgium and France in AND LIAISON
1940, and the British soon followed.
Wingspan 88ft (26.8m) The Horsa was larger than the German
Length 67ft (20.4m) DFS 30, and could carry 25 troops.
Top speed 100mph (160kph) Some 4,000 were built, over 1,200
▼ DOUGLAS C-47 SKYTRAIN Introduced as a commercial airliner Engine None of which were expended in Operation
Launched 1936 Origin US by American Airlines, the DC-3 soon Market Garden (see pp.372–73).
entered military service as the C-47.
1
Wingspan 95 ⁄4ft (29m)
Over 10,000 were built for this purpose
3
Length 64 ⁄4ft (19.7m) by 1945; some 400 were still in use at the
Top speed 230mph (370kph) end of the 20th century. A C-47 originally Crew of two AIRCRAFT
cost just under US $80,000 to build.
Engine Two 1,100hp (820kW)
Wright R-1820 Cyclone radials

Three-bladed propeller
driven by radial engine

Cabin could accommodate
32 paratroopers Four 18ft (5.5m)
rotor blades

Tail rotor counteracted turning
movement of main rotor
▶ SIKORSKY R-4 HOVERFLY Developed from the experimental
Launched 1943 Origin US VS-300 for liaison and rescue work,
the Hoverfly was the US Army
3
Rotor diameter 37 ⁄4ft (11.5m)
Air Forces and the British Royal Air
Length 33 ⁄2ft (10.2m) Force’s first operational rotary-wing
1
Top speed 75mph (120kph) aircraft. A total of 131 were built
up to 1944, when the type was
Engine 200hp (149kW)
Warner R-550 radial superseded by the R-5.