228-530: The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War . It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war (the earlier Handley Page V/1500 being a WWI design that served during the 1920s). The Stirling was designed during the late 1930s by Short Brothers to conform with
456-531: A 12.7 mm Browning machine gun in the rear escape hatch (behind a perspex shield) to ward off German night fighters using the Schräge Musik system. Later Stirlings were fitted with an improved, low-drag remotely-controlled FN.64 ventral turret or a H2S radar. Mk.III Stirlings also were fitted with electronic countermeasure systems such as ventral antennas for the Mandrel jamming system as well as
684-563: A northwest passage to Asia via the North Atlantic. Cabot sailed in 1497, five years after the first voyage of Christopher Columbus , and made landfall on the coast of Newfoundland . He believed he had reached Asia, and there was no attempt to found a colony. Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but did not return; it is unknown what happened to his ships. No further attempts to establish English colonies in
912-426: A 500 ft (150 m) runway and be able to clear 50 ft (15 m) trees at the end, a specification with which most small aircraft would have a problem today. Aviation author Geoffrey Norris observed that the stringent requirements given in the specification for the prospective aircraft to be able to make use of existing infrastructure, specifically the specified maximum wingspan of 100 feet, adversely affected
1140-473: A cabin just forward of the leading edge of the wing, and directly forward of them was the navigator's station. The two pilots were contained within a fully glazed flight deck positioned level with the forward end of the bomb cells; the provision of a separate flight engineer's station led to the cockpit having a relatively simple appearance in comparison with the majority of the RAF's bombers. The cockpit containing
1368-586: A change in the aircraft's centre of gravity. From late 1944, 160 of the special transport variant Stirling Mk V were built, which had the tail turret removed and a new nose opening added; most of these were completed after the war. By 1946, the Stirlings of Transport Command were being phased out and replaced by the Avro York , which was a transport derivative of the Lancaster that had previously replaced
1596-471: A contest of ideologies between the two nations. It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was at risk: Napoleon threatened to invade Britain itself, just as his armies had overrun many countries of continental Europe . The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy , which won
1824-629: A decisive victory over a French Imperial Navy - Spanish Navy fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of the Netherlands, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. France was finally defeated by a coalition of European armies in 1815. Britain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: France ceded the Ionian Islands , Malta (which it had occupied in 1798), Mauritius , St Lucia ,
2052-719: A dependency of the New South Wales colony. From 16 June 1840 New South Wales laws applied in New Zealand. This transitional arrangement ended with the Charter for Erecting the Colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1840. The Charter stated that New Zealand would be established as a separate Crown colony on 3 May 1841 with Hobson as its governor. During the 19th century, Britain and the Russian Empire vied to fill
2280-590: A few landed safely at RAF bases in Cyprus and some in Turkey, where they were interned. Only 33 were undamaged. Damage to the refineries was soon repaired and oil production actually increased. By October 1942, a new Ford Motor Company plant at Willow Run Michigan was assembling Liberators. Production reached a rate of over one an hour in 1944 helping the B-24 to become the most produced US aircraft of all time. It became
2508-623: A form that attempted to be more inclusive by showcasing the empire as a family of newly birthed nations with common roots. The last decades of the 19th century saw concerted political campaigns for Irish home rule . Ireland had been united with Britain into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with the Act of Union 1800 after the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , and had suffered a severe famine between 1845 and 1852. Home rule
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#17327718028822736-479: A further 119 were written off. By December 1943, Stirlings were being withdrawn from frontline service as bombers. The aircraft remained in service for minelaying operations in the vicinity of German ports ("Gardening"), electronic countermeasures , dropping spies deep behind enemy lines at night and towing gliders. During 1943, it had been recognised that there would be a requirement for a force of powerful aircraft capable of towing heavy transport gliders , such as
2964-633: A handful on takeoff and landing, more so for relatively young and inexperienced new pilots who formed the vast majority of the expanding Commonwealth and American air forces. Later heavy bomber designs such as the Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Boeing B-29 Superfortress used a nose-wheel (tricycle) configuration as did most successful four engined commercial aircraft in the post-war years. Tricycle geared aircraft are typically easier to control on takeoff, landing and during taxiing, and also make for easier cargo loading and servicing as
3192-529: A larger decolonisation movement, in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The Suez Crisis of 1956 confirmed Britain's decline as a global power, and the handover of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997 symbolised for many the end of the British Empire, though fourteen overseas territories that are remnants of the empire remain under British sovereignty . After independence, many former British colonies, along with most of
3420-633: A lot to Sikorsky's ideas; of similar size, it used just two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines and could carry up to 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs. The O/100 was designed at the beginning of the war for the Royal Navy specifically to sink the German High Seas Fleet in Kiel: the Navy called for “a bloody paralyser of an aircraft” Entering service in late 1916 and based near Dunkirk in France, it
3648-843: A major power in the Indian subcontinent after the East India Company 's conquest of Mughal Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The American War of Independence resulted in Britain losing some of its oldest and most populous colonies in North America by 1783. While retaining control of British North America (now Canada ) and territories in and near the Caribbean in the British West Indies , British colonial expansion turned towards Asia, Africa , and
3876-588: A minor settlement, and other treaty ports including Shanghai . During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British Crown began to assume an increasingly large role in the affairs of the company. A series of Acts of Parliament were passed, including the Regulating Act of 1773 , Pitt's India Act of 1784 and the Charter Act of 1813 which regulated the company's affairs and established
4104-476: A number of air raids on Israeli targets in the 1948 war, one of their number being lost either as a result of an accident or sabotage. The remaining five appear to have been scrapped or retired by 1951. Heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs ) and longest range ( takeoff to landing ) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among
4332-467: A pair of prototype S.29s was ordered. However, prior to this, Shorts had decided to undertake a successful practice, which had been performed with the earlier Empire flying boat, in producing a half-scale version of the aircraft, known as the S.31 (also known internally as the M4 – as per the title on the tailfin), to prove the aerodynamic characteristics of the design. The S.31, which was largely composed of wood,
4560-514: A patent to Humphrey Gilbert for discovery and overseas exploration. That year, Gilbert sailed for the Caribbean with the intention of engaging in piracy and establishing a colony in North America, but the expedition was aborted before it had crossed the Atlantic. In 1583, he embarked on a second attempt. On this occasion, he formally claimed the harbour of the island of Newfoundland, although no settlers were left behind. Gilbert did not survive
4788-558: A perceived violation of the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen . The American Revolution began with a rejection of Parliamentary authority and moves towards self-government. In response, Britain sent troops to reimpose direct rule, leading to the outbreak of war in 1775. The following year, in 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence proclaiming the colonies' sovereignty from
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#17327718028825016-553: A primary school, and injured 432 in East London. Initially, defence against air attack was poor, but by May 19, 1918, when 38 Gothas attacked London, six were shot down and another crashed on landing. German aircraft companies also built a number of giant bombers, collectively known as the Riesenflugzeug . Most were produced in very small numbers from 1917 onwards and several never entered service. The most numerous were
5244-472: A rapid escalation in the number of slaves transported. British ships carried a third of all slaves shipped across the Atlantic—approximately 3.5 million Africans —until the abolition of the trade by Parliament in 1807 (see § Abolition of slavery ). To facilitate the shipment of slaves, forts were established on the coast of West Africa, such as James Island , Accra and Bunce Island . In
5472-481: A security threat to Great Britain or mark the beginning of the break-up of the empire. A second Home Rule bill was defeated for similar reasons. A third bill was passed by Parliament in 1914, but not implemented because of the outbreak of the First World War leading to the 1916 Easter Rising . By the turn of the 20th century, fears had begun to grow in Britain that it would no longer be able to defend
5700-848: A series of Anglo-Mysore wars in Southern India with the Sultanate of Mysore under Hyder Ali and then Tipu Sultan . Defeats in the First Anglo-Mysore war and stalemate in the Second were followed by victories in the Third and the Fourth . Following Tipu Sultan's death in the fourth war in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) , the kingdom became a protectorate of the company. The East India Company fought three Anglo-Maratha Wars with
5928-440: A single retractable ventral ("dustbin") turret located just behind the bomb-bay. This proved almost useless due to cramped conditions, with the added distraction that the turret tended to drop and hit the ground when taxiing over bumps. The retractable turret was removed almost from the start and temporarily replaced by beam hatches mounting pairs of machine guns, until a twin-gun dorsal turret could be provided. This turret designated
6156-515: A squadron of 10 was bombing German positions on the Eastern Front and by summer 1916 there were twenty. It was well-armed with nine machine guns, including a tail gun and initially was immune to German and Austro-Hungarian air attack. The Sikorsky bomber had a wingspan just a few feet shorter than that of a World War II Avro Lancaster , while being able to carry a bomb load of only 3% of the later aircraft. The Handley Page Type O /100 owed
6384-538: A time. Stirlings were amongst the RAF bombers used during the first 1,000 bomber raid against Cologne . Norris observed that, by 1942, the type had "given plenty of punishment to the Germans and was also proving that it could itself take punishment to an incredible extent". There were several incidents in which damaged aircraft, such as one Stirling which suffered a head-on collision with a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter over Hamburg , were able to return to base. Despite
6612-438: A two- spar structure covered by aluminium alloy sheeting that was flush- rivetted to the internal spars and ribs , was one instance of design similarity. The wing housed three large self-sealing fuel tanks within the spar truss, along with a fourth non-self-sealing fuel tank within the leading edge of the wing root , which provided for a combined tankage of 2,254 gallons. Up to six ferry tanks could also be installed within
6840-552: A ventral "window" chaff chute to jam Freya and Würzburg radars. Mk.III Stirlings were also fitted with a ventral antenna for the Blind Approach Beacon System which was a blind-landing aid and a Monica rear warning radar in the tail turret. The construction of the Stirling shares considerable similarity to the earlier Short Empire flying boats . The cantilever mid-mounted wing, which employed
7068-466: A war. This was certainly vindicated by the firebombing of Japanese cities and the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, as Japan's fragile housing and cottage industry made themselves easily vulnerable to attack, thus completely destroying Japanese industrial production (see Air Raids on Japan ). It was less evident that it held true for the bombing of Germany. During
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7296-675: A way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the East Indies . Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large Afrikaner (or Boer ) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands during the Flanders Campaign . British immigration to the Cape Colony began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of Boers , resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived— independent republics , during
7524-462: A wing span of 135 ft 9 in (41.38 m), four Bristol Centaurus radials and a maximum takeoff weight of 104,000 pounds (47,000 kg). The projected performance estimates included a speed of 300 mph (480 km/h) and a 4,000-mile (6,400 km) range, along with a weapons load of 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) over 2,300 miles (3,700 km), or 23,500 pounds (10,700 kg) over 1,000 miles (1,600 km). The defensive armament of
7752-505: Is seen by some historians as the event defining the transition between the first and second empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith 's Wealth of Nations , published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to
7980-725: The Acts of Union 1707 . The 18th century saw the newly united Great Britain rise to be the world's dominant colonial power, with France becoming its main rival on the imperial stage. Great Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire continued the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted until 1714 and was concluded by the Treaty of Utrecht . Philip V of Spain renounced his and his descendants' claim to
8208-665: The Allies on August 15, and the Japanese government subsequently signed the official instrument of surrender on September 2, 1945. After World War II, the name strategic bomber came into use, for aircraft that could carry aircraft ordnances over long distances behind enemy lines. They were supplemented by smaller fighter-bombers with less range and lighter bomb load, for tactical strikes. Later these were called strike fighters , attack aircraft and multirole combat aircraft . When North Korea attacked South Korea in 1950
8436-671: The American War of Independence towards the end of the 18th century, has been referred to by some historians as the "First British Empire". England's early efforts at colonisation in the Americas met with mixed success. An attempt to establish a colony in Guiana in 1604 lasted only two years and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits. Colonies on the Caribbean islands of St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) rapidly folded. The first permanent English settlement in
8664-653: The Armistice with Germany). The Vimy's intended use was to bomb industrial and railway targets in western Germany, which it could reach with its range of 900 miles (1,400 km) and a bomb load of just over a ton. The Vickers Vimy is best known as the aircraft that made the first Atlantic crossing from St John's Newfoundland to Clifden in Ireland piloted by the Englishman John Alcock and navigated by Scot Arthur Whitten Brown on June 14, 1919. Between
8892-708: The B-1 , B-52 and B-2 have been retained for the role of carpet bombing in several conflicts. The most prolific example (in terms of total bomb tonnage) is the U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress during the 1960s–early 1970s Vietnam War era, in Operation Menu , Operation Freedom Deal , and Operation Linebacker II . In 1987 the Soviet Tu-160 —the heaviest supersonic bomber/aircraft currently in active service—entered service; it can carry twelve long-range cruise missiles. The 2010 New START agreement between
9120-701: The B-29 (1944) delivered payloads in excess of 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) and had a range of 3,250 miles (5,230 km). By the late 1950s, the jet -powered Boeing B-52 Stratofortress , travelling at speeds of up to 650 miles per hour (1,050 km/h) (more than double that of a Lancaster), could deliver a payload of 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg), over a combat radius of 4,480 miles (7,210 km). During World War II, mass production techniques made available large, long-range heavy bombers in such quantities as to allow strategic bombing campaigns to be developed and employed. This culminated in August 1945, when B-29s of
9348-669: The Battle of Normandy and Operation Market Garden . On 6 June 1944, several Stirlings were also used in Operation Glimmer for the precision-laying of patterns of "Window" to produce radar images of a decoy invasion fleet. In May 1944, No. 138 (Special Duties) Squadron acquired 22 Stirlings to support resistance groups organised by the Special Operations Executive in Europe. Standard "C" Type containers for weapons and other stores could be loaded into
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9576-707: The British economy . Added to this was the cost of suppressing regular slave rebellions . With support from the British abolitionist movement, Parliament enacted the Slave Trade Act in 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the empire. In 1808, Sierra Leone Colony was designated an official British colony for freed slaves. Parliamentary reform in 1832 saw the influence of the West India Committee decline. The Slavery Abolition Act , passed
9804-809: The First Anglo-Afghan War was a disaster for Britain. When Russia invaded the Ottoman Balkans in 1853, fears of Russian dominance in the Mediterranean and the Middle East led Britain and France to enter the war in support of the Ottoman Empire and invade the Crimean Peninsula to destroy Russian naval capabilities. The ensuing Crimean War (1854–1856), which involved new techniques of modern warfare ,
10032-545: The General Aircraft Hamilcar and Airspeed Horsa , it was found that the Stirling would fit this role admirably. During late 1943, 143 Mk.III bombers were converted as the Stirling Mk.IV , with no nose or dorsal turrets, which was used for towing gliders and dropping paratroops, in addition to 461 Mk.IVs that were manufactured. These aircraft were used for the deployment of Allied ground forces during
10260-683: The Government of India Act 1858 , establishing the British Raj , where an appointed governor-general administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the Empress of India . India became the empire's most valuable possession, "the Jewel in the Crown", and was the most important source of Britain's strength. A series of serious crop failures in the late 19th century led to widespread famines on
10488-458: The Great Trek of the late 1830s and early 1840s. In the process the Voortrekkers clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and to the various native African polities, including those of the Sotho people and the Zulu Kingdom . Eventually, the Boers established two republics that had a longer lifespan: the South African Republic or Transvaal Republic (1852–1877; 1881–1902) and
10716-464: The Handley Page Halifax and the Avro Lancaster but they were both originally designed to have twin engines. Under typical operations, most variants of the Stirling were flown with a crew of seven, performing several different roles. It was flown by a pair of pilots, who were supported by a navigator / bomb aimer , a front gunner / wireless operator, two further gunners, and a flight engineer . The flight engineer and wireless operator were housed in
10944-614: The Heinkel He 177 which saw only limited use against the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom ) was published. After Wever's death, Ernst Udet , development director at the Air Ministry steered the Luftwaffe towards dive bombers instead. When Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939, the RAF had no heavy bomber yet in service; heavy bomber designs had started in 1936 and ordered in 1938. The Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster both originated as twin-engine "medium" bombers, but were rapidly redesigned for four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and rushed into service once
11172-480: The Junkers Ju 88 . Heavy bombers still needed defensive armament for protection, even at night. The Stirling's low operational ceiling of just 12,000 ft (3,700 m)—also caused by the thick wing—meant that it was usually picked on by night fighters; within five months, 67 of the 84 aircraft in service had been lost. The bomb bay layout limited the size and types of bombs carried and it was relegated to secondary duties such as tug and paratrooper transport. Due to
11400-422: The Khedivate of Egypt into the 20th century, it was officially a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire and not part of the British Empire. The French were still majority shareholders and attempted to weaken the British position, but a compromise was reached with the 1888 Convention of Constantinople , which made the Canal officially neutral territory. With competitive French, Belgian and Portuguese activity in
11628-414: The Mahdist Army in 1896 and rebuffed an attempted French invasion at Fashoda in 1898. Sudan was nominally made an Anglo-Egyptian condominium , but a British colony in reality. British gains in Southern and East Africa prompted Cecil Rhodes , pioneer of British expansion in Southern Africa , to urge a " Cape to Cairo " railway linking the strategically important Suez Canal to the mineral-rich south of
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#173277180288211856-447: The Maratha Confederacy . The First Anglo-Maratha War ended in 1782 with a restoration of the pre-war status quo . The Second and Third Anglo-Maratha wars resulted in British victories. After the surrender of Peshwa Bajirao II on 1818, the East India Company acquired control of a large majority of the Indian subcontinent. Britain was challenged again by France under Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented
12084-426: The Munster Plantations , in 16th century Ireland by settling it with English and Welsh Protestant settlers. England had already colonised part of the country following the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. Several people who helped establish the Munster plantations later played a part in the early colonisation of North America, particularly a group known as the West Country Men . In 1578, Elizabeth I granted
12312-430: The Netherlands , all but two bombers were deployed during the mission, which was considered to have run smoothly. By the end of 1941, more than 150 Stirlings had been completed and three RAF squadrons had been equipped with it. Stirlings flew on day and night bombing operations and had been found to be most capable of standing up to enemy interceptor aircraft by using a sweeping combination of fighters and bombers, in what
12540-409: The Orange Free State (1854–1902). In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two Boer Republics following the Second Boer War (1899–1902). In 1869 the Suez Canal opened under Napoleon III , linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean . Initially the Canal was opposed by the British; but once opened, its strategic value was quickly recognised and became
12768-419: The Pacific . After the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century and expanded its imperial holdings. It pursued trade concessions in China and Japan, and territory in Southeast Asia . The " Great Game " and " Scramble for Africa " also ensued. The period of relative peace (1815–1914) during which the British Empire became
12996-411: The Royal African Company was granted a monopoly on the supply of slaves to the British colonies in the Caribbean. The company would transport more slaves across the Atlantic than any other, and significantly grew England's share of the trade, from 33 per cent in 1673 to 74 per cent in 1683. The removal of this monopoly between 1688 and 1712 allowed independent British slave traders to thrive, leading to
13224-500: The Saint John and Saint Croix river valleys, then part of Nova Scotia , felt too far removed from the provincial government in Halifax , so London split off New Brunswick as a separate colony in 1784. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created the provinces of Upper Canada (mainly English speaking ) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking ) to defuse tensions between the French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Britain, with
13452-443: The Seychelles , and Tobago ; Spain ceded Trinidad ; the Netherlands ceded Guiana , Ceylon and the Cape Colony , while the Danish ceded Heligoland . Britain returned Guadeloupe , Martinique , French Guiana , and Réunion to France; Menorca to Spain; Danish West Indies to Denmark and Java and Suriname to the Netherlands. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution , goods produced by slavery became less important to
13680-407: The Supermarine Spitfire had very limited endurance. An early raid on Rouen-Sotteville rail yards in Brittany on August 17, 1942, required four Spitfire squadrons outbound and five more for the return trip. The USAAF chose to attack aircraft factories and component plants. On August 17, 1943, 230 Fortresses attacked a ball-bearing plant in Schweinfurt and again two months later, with 291 bombers, in
13908-441: The Treaty of Paris of 1763 had important consequences for the future of the British Empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power effectively ended with the recognition of British claims to Rupert's Land, and the ceding of New France to Britain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under British control) and Louisiana to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain. Along with its victory over France in India,
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#173277180288214136-597: The United States Army Air Forces dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The arrival of nuclear weapons and guided missiles permanently changed the nature of military aviation and strategy . After the 1950s intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines began to supersede heavy bombers in the strategic nuclear role. Along with the emergence of more accurate precision-guided munitions ("smart bombs") and nuclear -armed missiles , which could be carried and delivered by smaller aircraft, these technological advancements eclipsed
14364-417: The Victorian gold rush , making its capital Melbourne for a time the richest city in the world. The British also expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area, culminating in the Nootka Crisis in 1789. Both sides mobilised for war, but when France refused to support Spain it was forced to back down, leading to the Nootka Convention . The outcome
14592-454: The War of 1812 , and invaded Canadian territory. In response, Britain invaded the US, but the pre-war boundaries were reaffirmed by the 1814 Treaty of Ghent , ensuring Canada's future would be separate from that of the United States. Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various offences in Britain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year. Forced to find an alternative location after
14820-402: The Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI of which 13 saw service, bombing Russia and London: four were shot down and six lost on landing. The R.VIs were larger than the standard Luftwaffe bombers of World War II. The Vickers Vimy , a long-range heavy bomber powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, was delivered to the newly formed Royal Air Force too late to see action (only one was in France at time of
15048-513: The aftermath of the Second World War , the type was rapidly withdrawn from RAF service, having been replaced in the transport role by the Avro York , a derivative of the Lancaster that had previously displaced it from the bomber role. Several ex-military Stirlings were rebuilt for the civilian market. In the 1930s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was interested primarily in twin-engined bombers . These designs put limited demands on engine production and maintenance, both of which were already stretched with
15276-545: The metropole and the entirety of the empire while at the same time maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation". Germany was rapidly rising as a military and industrial power and was now seen as the most likely opponent in any future war. Recognising that it was overstretched in the Pacific and threatened at home by the Imperial German Navy , Britain formed an alliance with Japan in 1902 and with its old enemies France and Russia in 1904 and 1907, respectively. Britain's fears of war with Germany were realised in 1914 with
15504-440: The protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783 seemed to confirm Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success. The war to the south influenced British policy in Canada, where between 40,000 and 100,000 defeated Loyalists had migrated from the new United States following independence. The 14,000 Loyalists who went to
15732-472: The second raid on Schweinfurt . The works was severely damaged but at a huge cost: 36 aircraft lost in the first raid, 77 in the second. Altogether 850 airmen were killed or captured; only 33 Fortresses returned from the October raid undamaged With the arrival of North American P-51 Mustangs and the fitting of drop tanks to increase the range of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt for the Big Week offensive, between February 20–25, 1944, bombers were escorted all
15960-399: The spice trade of the East Indies archipelago to the Netherlands and the textiles industry of India to England, but textiles soon overtook spices in terms of profitability. Peace between England and the Netherlands in 1688 meant the two countries entered the Nine Years' War as allies, but the conflict—waged in Europe and overseas between France, Spain and the Anglo-Dutch alliance—left
16188-475: The "Sugar Revolution" transformed the Caribbean economy in the mid-17th century. Large sugarcane plantations were first established in the 1640s on Barbados, with assistance from Dutch merchants and Sephardic Jews fleeing Portuguese Brazil . At first, sugar was grown primarily using white indentured labour , but rising costs soon led English traders to embrace the use of imported African slaves. The enormous wealth generated by slave-produced sugar made Barbados
16416-526: The "disappointing performance" at maximum altitude, Stirling pilots were delighted to discover that, due to the thick wing, they could out-turn the Junkers Ju 88 and Messerschmitt Bf 110 nightfighters they faced. Its handling was much better than that of the Halifax and some preferred it to the Lancaster. Based on its flight characteristics, Flt Lt Murray Peden ( RCAF ) of No. 214 Squadron RAF described
16644-708: The "jugular vein of the Empire". In 1875, the Conservative government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler Isma'il Pasha 's 44 per cent shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4 million (equivalent to £480 million in 2023). Although this did not grant outright control of the strategic waterway, it did give Britain leverage. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882. Although Britain controlled
16872-512: The 10-ton Grand Slam could be carried. Barnes Wallis , deputy chief aircraft designer at Vickers , spent much time thinking about weapons that might shorten the war. He conceived his “Spherical Bomb, Surface Torpedo” after watching his daughter flip pebbles over water. Two versions of the ' bouncing bomb ' were developed: the smaller Highball was to be used against ships and attracted essential British Admiralty funding for his project. A 1,280 lb (580 kg) flying torpedo, of which half
17100-547: The 1730s. This trade, illegal since it was outlawed by China in 1729, helped reverse the trade imbalances resulting from the British imports of tea, which saw large outflows of silver from Britain to China. In 1839, the confiscation by the Chinese authorities at Canton of 20,000 chests of opium led Britain to attack China in the First Opium War , and resulted in the seizure by Britain of Hong Kong Island , at that time
17328-518: The 1920s. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britain's economic lead. Military, economic and colonial tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War , during which Britain relied heavily on its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on its military, financial, and manpower resources. Although the empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after
17556-437: The 212-foot wingspan, 79-ton Douglas XB-19 ) and nearly as large as contemporary Soviet experimental heavy bomber designs, the Stirling had considerably more power and far better payload/range than anything then flying from any British-based aviation firm. The massive 14,000 lb (6.25 long tons, 6,340 kg) bomb load put it in a class of its own, double that of any other bomber. It was longer and taller than its replacements
17784-566: The Air Ministry about the ability of Supermarine to deliver. Two prototypes were ordered from Shorts. The S.29 used the Sunderland's 114 ft (35 m) wing and it had to be reduced to less than 100 ft (30 m) To get the needed lift from a shorter span and excess weight, the redesigned wing was thickened and reshaped. The wingspan was often said to be limited to 100 ft so the aircraft would fit into existing hangars, but
18012-530: The Air Ministry had decided to order the S.29 into production "off the drawing board" in response to reports of further increases in strength on the part of the German Luftwaffe . On 14 May 1939, the first S.29, which had by this point received the service name "Stirling" after the Scottish city , performed its first flight, but on landing, one of the brakes locked, causing the aircraft to slew off
18240-592: The Air Ministry suggested modifications to the design, including considering the use of the Bristol Hercules radial engine as an alternative to the Napier Dagger inline, increasing service ceiling to 28,000 ft (carrying a 2000 lb of bombs) and reducing the wingspan. Shorts accepted this large amount of redesign work. The project had added importance due to the death of Supermarine's designer, Reginald Mitchell , which had generated doubt within
18468-630: The Air Ministry was not interested. In 1941, it was decided that the Stirling would be manufactured in Canada and an initial contract for 140 aircraft was placed. Designated as the Stirling Mk.II, the Hercules engines were to be replaced by 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) Wright GR-2600-A5B Twin Cyclone engines; a pair of prototypes was converted from Mk.I aircraft. However, it was decided to cancel
18696-713: The Americas was founded in 1607 in Jamestown by Captain John Smith , and managed by the Virginia Company ; the Crown took direct control of the venture in 1624, thereby founding the Colony of Virginia . Bermuda was settled and claimed by England as a result of the 1609 shipwreck of the Virginia Company's flagship , while attempts to settle Newfoundland were largely unsuccessful. In 1620, Plymouth
18924-568: The Americas were made until well into the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , during the last decades of the 16th century. In the meantime, Henry VIII 's 1533 Statute in Restraint of Appeals had declared "that this realm of England is an Empire". The Protestant Reformation turned England and Catholic Spain into implacable enemies. In 1562, Elizabeth I encouraged the privateers John Hawkins and Francis Drake to engage in slave-raiding attacks against Spanish and Portuguese ships off
19152-542: The B-17G model. In order to assemble combat boxes of several aircraft, and later combat wings formed of a number of boxes, assembly ships were used to speed up formation. Even this extra firepower, which increased empty weight by 20% and required more powerful versions of the Wright Cyclone engine, was insufficient to prevent serious losses in daylight. Escort fighters were needed but the RAF interceptors such as
19380-669: The British Caribbean, the percentage of the population of African descent rose from 25 per cent in 1650 to around 80 per cent in 1780, and in the Thirteen Colonies from 10 per cent to 40 per cent over the same period (the majority in the southern colonies). The transatlantic slave trade played a pervasive role in British economic life, and became a major economic mainstay for western port cities. Ships registered in Bristol , Liverpool and London were responsible for
19608-551: The British Empire as the new United States of America . The entry of French and Spanish forces into the war tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at Yorktown in 1781, Britain began negotiating peace terms. American independence was acknowledged at the Peace of Paris in 1783. The loss of such a large portion of British America , at the time Britain's most populous overseas possession,
19836-608: The British defeated the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, left the British East India Company in control of Bengal and as a major military and political power in India. France was left control of its enclaves but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British client states , ending French hopes of controlling India. In the following decades the British East India Company gradually increased
20064-501: The Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional , legal , linguistic , and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as " the empire on which the sun never sets ", as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories. During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of
20292-609: The English a stronger colonial power than the Dutch, who were forced to devote a larger proportion of their military budget to the costly land war in Europe. The death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and his bequeathal of Spain and its colonial empire to Philip V of Spain , a grandson of the King of France , raised the prospect of the unification of France, Spain and their respective colonies, an unacceptable state of affairs for England and
20520-677: The FN.7A also had problems; it had a metal back fitted with an escape hatch which turned out to be almost impossible to use. The Stirling Mk.III, introduced in 1943, was similar to the Mk.I with the exception of the improved 1,635 hp (1,219 kW) Hercules VI or XVI engines, which improved maximum speed from 255 to 270 mph (410 to 435 km/h). The Mk.III used a fully glazed dorsal turret (the same FN.50 as in Lancaster) that had more room and an improved view. Early Mk.III Stirlings were fitted with
20748-650: The First World War, Britain was no longer the world's preeminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War , Britain's colonies in East Asia and Southeast Asia were occupied by the Empire of Japan . Despite the final victory of Britain and its allies , the damage to British prestige and the British economy helped accelerate the decline of the empire. India , Britain's most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence in 1947 as part of
20976-696: The French throne, and Spain lost its empire in Europe. The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, Britain gained Newfoundland and Acadia , and from Spain, Gibraltar and Menorca . Gibraltar became a critical naval base and allowed Britain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the Mediterranean . Spain ceded the rights to the lucrative asiento (permission to sell African slaves in Spanish America ) to Britain. With
21204-744: The Longbridge production line eventually produced nearly 150 Stirlings. From this point on, the Belfast factory became increasingly important, as it was thought to be well beyond the range of German bombers. However, Belfast and the aircraft factory were subjected to bombing by German aircraft during the Easter week of 1941. To meet the increased requirement for its aircraft during the war, satellite factories near Belfast were operated at Aldergrove and Maghaberry, producing 232 Stirlings between them. In 1940, bombing damaged Supermarine's factory at Woolston and
21432-564: The Luftwaffe. The area, which included a number of major aviation firms, was heavily bombed in the opening days of the Battle of Britain, including one famous low-level raid by a group of Dornier Do 17s . A number of completed Stirlings were destroyed on the ground and the factories were heavily damaged, setting back production by almost a year. Some production was moved to Austin's Longbridge factory at Cofton Hackett just south of Birmingham ,
21660-559: The Māori population. The UK government finally decided to act, dispatching Captain William Hobson with instructions to take formal possession after obtaining native consent. There was no central Māori authority able to represent all New Zealand so, on 6 February 1840, Hobson and many Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands; most other chiefs signing in stages over
21888-661: The Netherlands as a colonial power, in the short term the Netherlands' more advanced financial system and the three Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century left it with a stronger position in Asia. Hostilities ceased after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when the Dutch William of Orange ascended the English throne, bringing peace between the Dutch Republic and England. A deal between the two nations left
22116-468: The Pacific between 1769 and 1777, James Cook visited New Zealand . He was followed by an assortment of Europeans and Americans which including whalers, sealers, escaped convicts from New South Wales, missionaries and adventurers. Initially, contact with the indigenous Māori people was limited to the trading of goods, although interaction increased during the early decades of the 19th century with many trading and missionary stations being set up, especially in
22344-675: The Pacific for the extension of the North American fur trade . Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company led the first, starting out in 1792, and a year later he became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the Rio Grande , reaching the ocean near present-day Bella Coola . This preceded the Lewis and Clark Expedition by twelve years. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay , founded
22572-574: The RAF started using the 4,000-pound (1,800 kg) " cookies " and even larger "specials", the Stirling became less useful. The Handley-Page Halifax and especially the Avro Lancaster offered better performance and when these aircraft became available in greater numbers from 1943, the Stirlings were relegated to secondary tasks. During the type's service with Bomber Command, Stirlings flew a total of 14,500 sorties, during which 27,000 tons of bombs were dropped; 582 aircraft were lost in action while
22800-475: The Royal Air Force implemented a special training and certification programme for all prospective Stirling pilots. Proper takeoff technique involved feeding in right engine throttle during the initial 20 seconds of the takeoff run until the rudder became effective for control. If all four throttles were advanced simultaneously, the aircraft would swing to the right, become uncontrollable and often collapse
23028-566: The Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War, and the two continued to co-operate in arenas outside India: the eviction of the French from Egypt (1799), the capture of Java from the Netherlands (1811), the acquisition of Penang Island (1786), Singapore (1819) and Malacca (1824), and the defeat of Burma (1826). From its base in India, the company had been engaged in an increasingly profitable opium export trade to Qing China since
23256-493: The S.31 to RAF Martlesham Heath , Suffolk , where it was evaluated by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment and received mostly favourable reviews. There was one notable criticism amongst the feedback from pilots, being that the length of the takeoff run was considered to be excessive and that improvements would be desirable. Fixing this required that the angle of the wing to be increased for takeoff; however, if
23484-416: The S.36 was to be an assortment of 10 .50 BMG machine guns that were set into three turrets. The S.36 was initially accepted for testing under Specification B.8/41, which had been specifically written to cover the type, and an order for a pair of prototypes was placed. However, Arthur Harris , as commander of Bomber Command , felt that achieving bulk production of the type would take too much time and that
23712-505: The Seven Years' War therefore left Britain as the world's most powerful maritime power . During the 1760s and early 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent. This was summarised at the time by the colonists' slogan " No taxation without representation ",
23940-762: The Spanish, and in 1666 succeeded in colonising the Bahamas . In 1670, Charles II incorporated by royal charter the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), granting it a monopoly on the fur trade in the area known as Rupert's Land , which would later form a large proportion of the Dominion of Canada . Forts and trading posts established by the HBC were frequently the subject of attacks by the French, who had established their own fur trading colony in adjacent New France . Two years later,
24168-506: The Stirling as "one of the finest aircraft ever built". A consequence of the thick wing was a low ceiling; many missions were flown as low as 12,000 ft (3,700 m). This was a disadvantage if crews were attacking Italy and had to fly through (rather than "over") the Alps . When Stirlings were on operations with other RAF bombers which could fly higher, the Luftwaffe concentrated on
24396-617: The Stirling in the bomber role. While many aircraft were scrapped, 12 Stirlings were modified to conform with S.37 standards and sold to Belgian charter operator Trans-Air in May 1947. In recognition of their deeds of valour, two Stirling pilots were posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). Both pilots held the rank of Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) and both were involved in bombing raids against Turin . Flt Sgt Rawdon Hume Middleton ( RAAF ) received his VC while serving as
24624-512: The Stirling was negatively impacted by a decision by Lord Beaverbrook , the MAP, which had ordered a change in priority from four-engined bombers towards fighters and twin-engined aircraft to replace those lost during the Battle of Britain . In August 1940, series production of the Stirling commenced at the Rochester factory. Production of the Stirling was delayed by the ongoing bombing campaign of
24852-407: The Stirling's performance, such as its relatively low ceiling and its inability to carry anything larger than 500 lb bombs. In mid-1936, Specification B.12/36 was sent out to Supermarine , Boulton Paul , Handley Page , and Armstrong Whitworth . In August, the specification was issued to the rest of British industry. Left out of those asked to tender designs, Shorts were later included because
25080-465: The Stirling, Shorts and MAP operated a travelling team of 600 production engineers and draughtsmen who routinely travelled throughout the United Kingdom to the manufacturing facilities involved. On 7 May 1940, the first production Stirling conducted its first flight. According to Norris, initial rates of production were disappointing, and were in part due to delays in the delivery of machine tools and forgings . It has also been alleged that production of
25308-400: The Stirlings. Within five months of being introduced, 67 out of 84 aircraft had been lost to enemy action or written off after crashes. The Stirling's maximum bomb load could be carried for only around 590 miles (950 km). On typical missions deep into Germany or Italy, a smaller 3,500-pound (1,600 kg) load was carried, consisting of seven 500-pound (230 kg) GP bombs; this payload
25536-670: The Tirpitz on November 12, 1944. Upkeep, the larger version of the bouncing bomb , was used to destroy the Mohne and Eder dams by Lancasters from the specially recruited and trained No. 617 Squadron RAF , often known as "the Dam Busters", under Wing Commander Guy Gibson . In March and April 1945, as the war in Europe was ending, Lancasters dropped Grand Slams and Tallboys on U-boat pens and railway viaducts across north Germany. At Bielefeld more than 100 yards (91 m) of railway viaduct
25764-678: The USAF responded with daylight bomber raids on supply lines through North Korea. B-29 Superfortresses flew from Japan on behalf of the United Nations , but the supply line for North Korea's army from the Soviet Union was physically and politically out of reach: North Korea for the most part lacked worthwhile strategic targets of its own. The Soviet-backed Northern forces easily routed the South Korean army. The distance to North Korea
25992-648: The United States of America and the Russian Federation defined a "heavy bomber" by two characteristics: Some notable heavy bombers are listed below British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions , colonies , protectorates , mandates , and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in
26220-401: The absence of British heavy bombers, 20 United States Army Air Corps Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses were lent to the RAF, which during July 1941 commenced daylight attacks on warships and docks at Wilhelmshaven and Brest. These raids were complete failures. After eight aircraft were lost due to combat or breakdown and with many engine failures, the RAF stopped daylight bombing by September. It
26448-443: The aircraft to be unreliable, under-powered and hastened its withdrawal from service. Reaching squadrons early in 1942, the redesigned bomber with four Merlin engines and longer wings was renamed Avro Lancaster ; it could deliver a 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) load of bombs or up to 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) with special modifications. The Lancaster's bomb bay was undivided, so that bombs of extraordinary size and weight such as
26676-527: The aircraft's safe landing. The Stirling is listed in the appendix to the novel KG 200 as one flown by the German secret operations unit Kampfgeschwader 200 (KG 200), which tested, evaluated, and sometimes clandestinely operated captured enemy aircraft. Six Stirlings were purchased by the Egyptian Air Force for use in the 1948 Arab Israeli War , forming the 8th Bomber Squadron. These flew
26904-432: The altitude ceiling was often a subject of criticism. The Stirling had a relatively brief operational career as a bomber before being relegated to second-line duties from late 1943, due to the increasing availability of the more capable Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster , which took over the strategic bombing of Germany. Decisions by the Air Ministry on certain performance requirements (most significantly to restrict
27132-645: The annexation of the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1664, following the capture of New Amsterdam , which was renamed New York . Although less financially successful than colonies in the Caribbean, these territories had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far greater numbers of English emigrants, who preferred their temperate climates. The British West Indies initially provided England's most important and lucrative colonies. Settlements were successfully established in St. Kitts (1624), Barbados (1627) and Nevis (1628), but struggled until
27360-561: The apprenticeship system was abolished in 1838. The British government compensated slave-owners. Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians, around 10 million sq mi (26 million km ) of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire. Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than Russia in Central Asia . Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted
27588-592: The armies of the Dominions , as well as many thousands of volunteers from the Crown colonies. The contributions of Australian and New Zealand troops during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign against the Ottoman Empire had a great impact on the national consciousness at home and marked a watershed in the transition of Australia and New Zealand from colonies to nations in their own right. The countries continue to commemorate this occasion on Anzac Day . Canadians viewed
27816-404: The auto-pilot were provided; directly above this position was the front turret position of the bomber. Just aft of the wireless operator's position, the centre section of the wing cut across the fuselage; the space above this was used for storing oxygen tanks while the space below was used as a rest bunk . Behind the rest area, the uninterrupted deck ran across the full length of the bomb cells to
28044-437: The bomb bay and dropped like a payload of bombs. The Stirling could carry 18 of these; a particularly large load. Smaller panniers or packages could be carried in the Stirling's roomy rear fuselage and manually dropped through a hole in the floor by a despatcher. Experiments with a roller-based conveyor to drop these packages faster than a dispatcher were delayed until the end of the war by concerns that this would involve too rapid
28272-419: The bombardier's clear nose glazing as "cheek" positions, or midway along the rear fuselage sides as "waist" positions. U.S. bombers carried .50 caliber machine gun , and dorsal (spine/top of aircraft) and ventral (belly/bottom of aircraft) guns with powered turrets . All of these machine guns could defend against attack when beyond the range of fighter escort; eventually, a total of 13 machine guns were fitted in
28500-659: The bombers were restricted to night interdiction and concentrated on destroying supply routes, including the bridges over the Yalu river into China. By the 1960s, manned heavy bombers could not match the intercontinental ballistic missile in the strategic nuclear role. More accurate precision-guided munitions ("smart bombs"), nuclear -armed missiles or bombs were able to be carried by smaller aircraft such as fighter-bombers and multirole fighters . Despite these technological innovations and new capabilities of other contemporary military aircraft , large strategic bombers such as
28728-494: The bombers were then switched to low-level, nighttime incendiary attacks for which they had not originally been designed (one variant, the B-29B was specially modified for low altitude night missions by removal of armament and other equipment). Japan burned furiously from the B-29 incendiary raids. On August 6, 1945, B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, B-29 Bockscar dropped another on Nagasaki. The war ended when Japan announced its surrender to
28956-399: The bulk of British slave trading. For the transported, harsh and unhygienic conditions on the slaving ships and poor diets meant that the average mortality rate during the Middle Passage was one in seven. At the end of the 16th century, England and the Dutch Empire began to challenge the Portuguese Empire 's monopoly of trade with Asia, forming private joint-stock companies to finance
29184-408: The business of establishing its own overseas colonies. The British Empire began to take shape during the early 17th century, with the English settlement of North America and the smaller islands of the Caribbean, and the establishment of joint-stock companies , most notably the East India Company , to administer colonies and overseas trade. This period, until the loss of the Thirteen Colonies after
29412-449: The cabin, engines and other systems are closer to the ground. The long undercarriage of the Stirling was a result of a request by the RAF who sought to increase the wing incidence . The Short Stirling had particularly challenging flying characteristics on takeoff and landing, even in comparison with other tail-wheeled contemporaries. After a series of serious accidents and total aircraft losses involving uncontrolled ground loops on takeoff,
29640-417: The captain of a Stirling from No. 149 Squadron RAF , during a raid in November 1942. Middleton was severely wounded and knocked unconscious by a direct hit from an AA shell. Upon regaining consciousness, Middleton insisted that Flt Sgt Leslie Hyder, the co-pilot, should dress his own wounds, while Middleton flew the badly damaged bomber. After it became clear that a crash was inevitable, Middleton ordered
29868-447: The coast of West Africa with the aim of establishing an Atlantic slave trade . This effort was rebuffed and later, as the Anglo-Spanish Wars intensified, Elizabeth I gave her blessing to further privateering raids against Spanish ports in the Americas and shipping that was returning across the Atlantic, laden with treasure from the New World . At the same time, influential writers such as Richard Hakluyt and John Dee (who
30096-416: The colony was abandoned two years later. The Darien scheme was a financial disaster for Scotland: a quarter of Scottish capital was lost in the enterprise. The episode had major political consequences, helping to persuade the government of the Kingdom of Scotland of the merits of turning the personal union with England into a political and economic one under the Kingdom of Great Britain established by
30324-407: The company already had similar designs in hand while possessing ample design staff and production facilities to fulfil production commitments. Shorts were producing several four-engined flying boat designs of the required size and created their S.29 proposal by removing the lower deck and boat hull of the S.25 Sunderland . The new S.29 design was similar to the Sunderland; the wings and controls were
30552-457: The continent. During the 1880s and 1890s, Rhodes, with his privately owned British South Africa Company , occupied and annexed territories named after him, Rhodesia . The path to independence for the white colonies of the British Empire began with the 1839 Durham Report , which proposed unification and self-government for Upper and Lower Canada, as a solution to political unrest which had erupted in armed rebellions in 1837. This began with
30780-408: The contract in favour of manufacturing other aircraft; thus, no production Mk.IIs was ever completed. Shorts also pursued the development of the Stirling for potential use on the civilian market. Designated S.37, it was a full-furnished transport aircraft that was capable of seating 30 passengers and was constructed to conform with civilian standards. A single prototype, known as the Silver Stirling ,
31008-486: The dominions, joined the Commonwealth of Nations , a free association of independent states. Fifteen of these, including the United Kingdom, retain the same person as monarch , currently King Charles III . The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England , following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, commissioned John Cabot to lead an expedition to discover
31236-427: The effort would be better expended on outfitting the existing design with improved Hercules engines with the aim of providing a higher operational altitude ceiling. While the Air Staff having initially found the proposal to have some attraction, it was eventually decided to favour increased production rates of the rival Avro Lancaster, instead. In May 1942, Shorts were informed that the Air Ministry would not be continuing
31464-517: The exception of international relations . Australia and New Zealand achieved similar levels of self-government after 1900, with the Australian colonies federating in 1901 . The term "dominion status" was officially introduced at the 1907 Imperial Conference . As the dominions gained greater autonomy, they would come to be recognized as distinct realms of the empire with unique customs and symbols of their own. Imperial identity, through imagery such as patriotic artworks and banners, began developing into
31692-439: The first permanent European settlement in British Columbia , Fort St. John . The North West Company sought further exploration and backed expeditions by David Thompson , starting in 1797, and later by Simon Fraser . These pushed into the wilderness territories of the Rocky Mountains and Interior Plateau to the Strait of Georgia on the Pacific Coast, expanding British North America westward. The East India Company fought
31920-474: The first production Stirling departed Rochester; in August 1940, it was delivered to No. 7 Squadron at RAF Leeming , North Yorkshire . Following a four-month working-up period in which crews adapted to operating the type, the Stirling attained operational status in January 1941. On the night of 10/11 February 1941, the first operational combat mission was performed, flown by the first three Stirlings, against fuel storage tanks at Vlaardingen near Rotterdam , in
32148-418: The flying officers was provided with numerous controls and features; to the left of the first pilot were the controls for the auto-pilot and a P.4 compass ; the pilot was also provided with a beam approach indicator (to aid nighttime landings) and DF visual loop indicator in addition to the standard flight controls. Switches for the flaps and position indicators were located on a central panel set between
32376-404: The following months. William Hobson declared British sovereignty over all New Zealand on 21 May 1840, over the North Island by cession and over the South Islnd by discovery (the island was sparsely populated and deemed terra nullius ). Hobson became Lieutenant-Governor, subject to Governor Sir George Gipps in Sydney, with British possession of New Zealand initially administered from Australia as
32604-419: The following year, abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834, finally bringing the empire into line with the law in the UK (with the exception of the territories administered by the East India Company and Ceylon, where slavery was ended in 1844). Under the Act, slaves were granted full emancipation after a period of four to six years of "apprenticeship". Facing further opposition from abolitionists,
32832-469: The fuselage, two of the three turrets could be disabled and the recuperators were moved in later models of the Stirling to reduce their vulnerability. The first production model of the Stirling was powered by the Bristol Hercules II radial engine , which were housed in fully monocoque nacelles . Upon the availability of the improved Hercules XI engine, new welded steel-tube framework engine mountings were incorporated, further changes were implemented to
33060-545: The global hegemon was later described as Pax Britannica (Latin for "British Peace"). Alongside the formal control that Britain exerted over its colonies, its dominance of much of world trade, and of its oceans, meant that it effectively controlled the economies of, and readily enforced its interests in, many regions , such as Asia and Latin America . It also came to dominate the Middle East . Increasing degrees of autonomy were granted to its white settler colonies , some of which were formally reclassified as Dominions by
33288-410: The globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France , and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia . A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left Britain the dominant colonial power in North America . Britain became
33516-679: The government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement , and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Unusually, Australia was claimed through proclamation. Indigenous Australians were considered too uncivilised to require treaties, and colonisation brought disease and violence that together with the deliberate dispossession of land and culture were devastating to these peoples. Britain continued to transport convicts to New South Wales until 1840, to Tasmania until 1853 and to Western Australia until 1868. The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold, mainly because of
33744-434: The heavy bomber's once-central role in strategic warfare by the late 20th century. Heavy bombers have, nevertheless, been used to deliver conventional weapons in several regional conflicts since World War II (for example, B-52s in the Vietnam War ). Heavy bombers are now operated only by the air forces of the United States, Russia and China. They serve in both strategic and tactical bombing roles. The first heavy bomber
33972-399: The incomplete Type 316 prototypes. In November 1940, development of the 316 was formally cancelled, leaving the Stirling as the only B.12/36 design. The first few Stirling Mk.Is were furnished with Bristol Hercules II engines, but most were built with more powerful 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) Hercules XI engines, instead. Even before the Stirling went into production, Short had improved on
34200-426: The increasingly healthy profits of colonial trade remained in English hands, Parliament decreed in 1651 that only English ships would be able to ply their trade in English colonies. This led to hostilities with the United Dutch Provinces —a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars —which would eventually strengthen England's position in the Americas at the expense of the Dutch. In 1655, England annexed the island of Jamaica from
34428-400: The initial design suitable for bombing and it was first used on a variety of VIP transport and maritime patrol missions. Its long range, however, persuaded the USAAF to send 177 Liberators from Benghazi in Libya to bomb the Romanian oilfields on August 1, 1943, in Operation Tidal Wave . Due to navigational errors and alerted German flak batteries and fighters, only half returned to base although
34656-406: The initial design with the S.34 in an effort to meet specification B.1/39. It would have been powered by four Bristol Hercules 17 SM engines, optimised for high-altitude flight. The new design featured longer-span wings and a revised fuselage able to carry dorsal and ventral power-operated turrets each fitted with four 20 mm Hispano cannons; despite the obvious gains in performance and capability,
34884-409: The installation of the power units were subsequently made by Bristol. Hydraulic control of the throttle was a source of slow responsiveness and irritation and often proved dangerous during take-offs. Pilot accounts generally report that, once airborne, the Short Stirling was a delight to fly, surprisingly manoeuvrable for such a large aircraft and without any vices. According to Norris, the Stirling
35112-424: The intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution. Tensions between Britain and the United States escalated again during the Napoleonic Wars , as Britain tried to cut off American trade with France and boarded American ships to impress men into the Royal Navy . The United States Congress declared war,
35340-415: The introduction of so many new types into service. Power limitations were so serious that the British invested in the development of huge engines in the 2,000- horsepower (1,500 kW) class to improve performance. During the late 1930s, none of these were ready for production. The United States and the Soviet Union were pursuing the development of bombers powered by arrangements of four smaller engines;
35568-481: The landing gear which could be disastrous if the aircraft was loaded with bombs and fuel. On flare-out for landing, the Short Stirling exhibited a tendency to suddenly stall and "drop like a stone" to the runway. With such a heavy aircraft, a "dropped" landing could cause serious structural damage. During its service life, it was not unknown for "dropped" landings to render Stirlings or other large four-engined bombers write-offs and suitable only for parts. In July 1940,
35796-436: The larger trade, by 1720, in terms of sales, the British company had overtaken the Dutch. During the middle decades of the 18th century, there were several outbreaks of military conflict on the Indian subcontinent , as the English East India Company and its French counterpart , struggled alongside local rulers to fill the vacuum that had been left by the decline of the Mughal Empire . The Battle of Plassey in 1757, in which
36024-487: The largest and most powerful military aircraft at any point in time. In the second half of the 20th century, heavy bombers were largely superseded by strategic bombers , which were often even larger in size, had much longer ranges and were capable of delivering nuclear bombs . Because of advances in aircraft design and engineering — especially in powerplants and aerodynamics — the size of payloads carried by heavy bombers has increased at rates greater than increases in
36252-415: The late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 percent of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35.5 million km (13.7 million sq mi), 24 per cent of
36480-402: The lengthened undercarriage to test this; subsequent trials found no need for further modification in this respect. Other modifications made included the adoption of a larger tailplane with conventional elevators to improve aft controllability. The sole S.31 was scrapped after a takeoff accident at RAF Stradishall , Suffolk, in February 1944. Meanwhile, before either of the prototypes had flown,
36708-420: The location in which the retractable ventral turret was installed upon early production aircraft; the internal area aft of this position were used to store flame floats and reconnaissance flares , as well as an escape hatch, lavatory , rear turret position, and the crew entry door on the port side. The Stirling was armed with nose and tail turrets (the latter was notable for the wide angles of fire) along with
36936-445: The logistics (including transport of fuel for the B-29 fleet over the Himalayan range ) of flying from these remote, primitive airfields were complicated and costly. The island of Saipan in the Marianas was assaulted to provide Pacific air bases from which to bomb Japanese cities . Initial high-level, daylight bombing raids using high-explosive bombs on Japanese cities with their wood and paper houses produced disappointing results;
37164-455: The loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783, the British government looked for an alternative, eventually turning to Australia . On his first of three voyages commissioned by the government, James Cook reached New Zealand in October 1769. He was the first European to circumnavigate and map the country. From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries , traders and adventurers but no attempt
37392-509: The lower Congo River region undermining orderly colonisation of tropical Africa, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 was held to regulate the competition between the European powers in what was called the " Scramble for Africa " by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims. The scramble continued into the 1890s, and caused Britain to reconsider its decision in 1885 to withdraw from Sudan . A joint force of British and Egyptian troops defeated
37620-440: The maximum hangar opening was 112 ft (34 m) and the specification required outdoor servicing. The wingspan limit was a method of stopping aircraft from being too large. In June 1937, the S.29 was accepted as the second string for the Supermarine Type 317 and formally ordered in October; Shorts and Supermarine were issued with instructions to proceed. The Air Ministry issued Shorts with contract number 672299/37, under which
37848-433: The most successful colony in the Americas, and one of the most densely populated places in the world. This boom led to the spread of sugar cultivation across the Caribbean, financed the development of non-plantation colonies in North America, and accelerated the growth of the Atlantic slave trade , particularly the triangular trade of slaves, sugar and provisions between Africa, the West Indies and Europe. To ensure that
38076-428: The north. The first of several Church of England missionaries arrived in 1814 and as well as their missionary role, they soon become the only form of European authority in a land that was not subject to British jurisdiction: the closest authority being the New South Wales governor in Sydney. The sale of weapons to Māori resulted from 1818 on in the intertribal warfare of the Musket Wars , with devastating consequences for
38304-554: The nose, amidships, and rear positions) for defence. The aircraft should also be able to be used as a troop transport for 24 soldiers and be able to use catapult assistance for takeoff when heavily laden. The concept was that the aircraft would fly troops to far corners of the British Empire and then support them with bombing. To help with this task, as well as ease production, it needed to be able to be broken down into parts, for transport by train. Since it could be operating from limited "back country" airfields, it needed to lift off from
38532-454: The other powers of Europe. In 1701, England, Portugal and the Netherlands sided with the Holy Roman Empire against Spain and France in the War of the Spanish Succession , which lasted for thirteen years. In 1695, the Parliament of Scotland granted a charter to the Company of Scotland , which established a settlement in 1698 on the Isthmus of Panama . Besieged by neighbouring Spanish colonists of New Granada , and affected by malaria ,
38760-495: The outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739, Spanish privateers attacked British merchant shipping along the Triangle Trade routes. In 1746, the Spanish and British began peace talks, with the King of Spain agreeing to stop all attacks on British shipping; however, in the 1750 Treaty of Madrid Britain lost its slave-trading rights in Latin America . In the East Indies, British and Dutch merchants continued to compete in spices and textiles. With textiles becoming
38988-421: The outbreak of the First World War. Britain quickly invaded and occupied most of Germany's overseas colonies in Africa. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand occupied German New Guinea and German Samoa respectively. Plans for a post-war division of the Ottoman Empire, which had joined the war on Germany's side, were secretly drawn up by Britain and France under the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement . This agreement
39216-434: The passing of the Act of Union in 1840, which created the Province of Canada . Responsible government was first granted to Nova Scotia in 1848, and was soon extended to the other British North American colonies. With the passage of the British North America Act, 1867 by the British Parliament , the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were formed into Canada, a confederation enjoying full self-government with
39444-454: The period to see service that had been designed from the start with four engines - the Avro Lancaster was a re-engined, stretched-wingspan Avro Manchester while the Halifax was planned to be powered by twin Rolls-Royce Vulture engines but was similarly re-designed to use an arrangement of four Merlin engines in 1937. Although smaller than both of the pre-war American "XBLR"-designation designs (the 149-foot wingspan, 35-ton Boeing XB-15 and
39672-448: The power vacuums that had been left by the declining Ottoman Empire , Qajar dynasty and Qing dynasty . This rivalry in Central Asia came to be known as the "Great Game". As far as Britain was concerned, defeats inflicted by Russia on Persia and Turkey demonstrated its imperial ambitions and capabilities and stoked fears in Britain of an overland invasion of India. In 1839, Britain moved to pre-empt this by invading Afghanistan , but
39900-462: The powerplant seriously delayed the B-29's operational service debut. The aircraft had four remotely operated twin-gun turrets on its fuselage , controlled through an analog computer sighting system; the operator could use any of a trio of Perspex ball stations. Only the tail gunner manually controlled his gun turret station in the rear of the airplane. B-29s were initially deployed to bases in India and China, from which they could reach Japan; but
40128-436: The production of 100 aircraft; however, as a result of Munich, the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) enacted 'Plan L', under which Stirling orders were rapidly increased to 1,500 aircraft. In addition to contracts extending the projected work at Rochester and Belfast ; some of the additional contracts were placed with Austin Motors to be produced at their Longbridge facility and with Rootes , which were to manufacture
40356-421: The project; in August 1942, Shorts decided to terminate all work. The Short Stirling was a four-engined monoplane heavy bomber designed to provide a previously unmatched level of strategic bombing capability to the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was powered by four Bristol Hercules radial engines which were spaced across its mid-mounted wing. The Stirling has the distinction of being the only British bomber of
40584-405: The region in 1878 and on all outstanding matters in 1907 with the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente . The destruction of the Imperial Russian Navy by the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 limited its threat to the British. The Dutch East India Company had founded the Dutch Cape Colony on the southern tip of Africa in 1652 as
40812-405: The requirements laid out in Air Ministry Specification B.12/36 . Prior to this, the RAF had been primarily interested in developing increasingly capable twin-engined bombers, but had been persuaded to investigate a prospective four-engined bomber as a result of promising foreign developments in the field. Out of the submissions made to the specification, Supermarine proposed the Type 317 , which
41040-493: The rest of the crew to abandon the Stirling, while he maintained control. He was killed, along with the last two crew members to bail out. Acting Flt Sgt Arthur Louis Aaron , was awarded his VC as the captain of a No. 218 Squadron Stirling in a raid on Turin in August 1943. Aaron was badly wounded while piloting the aircraft and refused to rest, directing the flight engineer, who was acting as co-pilot, to fly to Rabah Bitat Airport (Bone Airfield), Algeria ; he died following
41268-423: The results of these projects proved to possess favourable characteristics such as excellent range and fair lifting capacity, and in 1936, the RAF also decided to investigate the feasibility of the four-engined bomber. The Air Ministry published Specification B.12/36 , for a high-speed, long-range, four-engined strategic bomber aircraft that would be capable of being designed and constructed at speed. The bomb load
41496-563: The return journey to England and was succeeded by his half-brother, Walter Raleigh , who was granted his own patent by Elizabeth in 1584. Later that year, Raleigh founded the Roanoke Colony on the coast of present-day North Carolina , but lack of supplies caused the colony to fail. In 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended (as James I) to the English throne and in 1604 negotiated the Treaty of London , ending hostilities with Spain. Now at peace with its main rival, English attention shifted from preying on other nations' colonial infrastructures to
41724-450: The role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica , and a foreign policy of " splendid isolation ". Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and Siam , which has been described by some historians as an " Informal Empire ". British imperial strength
41952-417: The runway and the landing gear to collapse. The resulting damage caused the first prototype to be written off. A resulting redesign of the undercarriage led to substantially stronger and heavier struts being installed upon the second prototype. On 3 December 1939, the second prototype made its maiden flight. Prior to the Munich Agreement of 1938, Shorts had received a pair of orders for the Stirling, each for
42180-445: The same, construction was identical, and it even retained the slight upward bend at the rear of the fuselage, which had originally been intended to keep the Sunderland's tail clear of sea spray. As originally designed, the S.29 was considered to be capable of favourable high-altitude performance. Following a Tender Design Conference in October 1936, the S.29 was low down on the short list of designs considered. Vickers Type 293 submission
42408-423: The size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or via local rulers under the threat of force from the Presidency Armies , the vast majority of which was composed of Indian sepoys , led by British officers. The British and French struggles in India became but one theatre of the global Seven Years' War (1756–1763) involving France, Britain, and the other major European powers. The signing of
42636-437: The size of their airframes. The largest bombers of World War I , the Zeppelin-Staaken Riesenflugzeuge of Germany, could carry a payload of up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg) of bombs; by the latter half of World War II , the Avro Lancaster (introduced in 1942) routinely delivered payloads of 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) (and sometimes up to 22,000 lb (10,000 kg)) and had a range of 2,530 miles (4,070 km), while
42864-450: The sovereignty of the Crown over the territories that it had acquired. The company's eventual end was precipitated by the Indian Rebellion in 1857, a conflict that had begun with the mutiny of sepoys, Indian troops under British officers and discipline. The rebellion took six months to suppress, with heavy loss of life on both sides. The following year the British government dissolved the company and assumed direct control over India through
43092-400: The standard heavy bomber in the Pacific and the only one used by the RAAF. The SAAF used Liberators to drop weapons and ammunition during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The Avro Manchester was a twin-engine bomber powered by the ambitious 24-cylinder Rolls-Royce Vulture , but was rapidly redesigned for four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines due to technical problems with the Vulture which caused
43320-542: The stringers at every frame as per established practice at Shorts. The four sections were joined using tension bolts through the webs of the end frames. The lower sides of the centre-section spar booms aligned with the main deck of the aircraft, which was supported upon the three longitudinal girders which formed the three parallel bomb cells. The bomb cells were sub-divided into 19-foot compartments sufficient to accommodate conventional 500 lb bombs or 2,000 lb armour-piercing bombs but nothing bigger. Hydraulic power
43548-419: The subcontinent in which it is estimated that over 15 million people died. The East India Company had failed to implement any coordinated policy to deal with the famines during its period of rule. Later, under direct British rule, commissions were set up after each famine to investigate the causes and implement new policies, which took until the early 1900s to have an effect. On each of his three voyages to
43776-426: The technical problems of the larger Rolls-Royce Vulture emerged in the Avro Manchester . The Halifax joined squadrons in November 1940 and flew its first raid against Le Havre on the night of 11–12 March 1941. British heavy bomber designs often had three gun turrets with a total of 8 machine guns . In January 1941, the Short Stirling reached operational status and first combat missions were flown in February. It
44004-447: The two pilots, while the master fuel cocks were set above these on the roof; throttle and mixture controls were also normally positioned between the pilots. Only limited engine instrumentation was provisioned for, such as engine speed indicators and boost gauges. The navigator/bomb-aimer would perform the latter of these roles in a prone position within the aircraft's nose. For bomb-aiming, a drift sight, camera, and steering control over
44232-421: The type at their new shadow factory in Stoke-on-Trent . At its height, manufacturing activity on the Stirling was being performed at a total of 20 factories. According to Norris, while the aircraft's design had incorporated an inherent ability for production of the Stirling to be broken down, in practice, strict supervision of the work remained necessary. To coordinate the dispersed production approach adopted for
44460-440: The voyages—the English, later British, East India Company and the Dutch East India Company , chartered in 1600 and 1602 respectively. The primary aim of these companies was to tap into the lucrative spice trade , an effort focused mainly on two regions: the East Indies archipelago , and an important hub in the trade network, India. There, they competed for trade supremacy with Portugal and with each other. Although England eclipsed
44688-414: The war, German industrial production actually increased , despite a sustained Allied bombing campaign. As the German Luftwaffe 's main task was to support the army, it never developed a successful heavy bomber. The prime proponent of strategic bombing, Luftwaffe Chief of Staff General Walther Wever , died in an air crash in 1936 on the very day that the specification for the Ural bomber (later won by
44916-469: The war, bombers continually managed to strike their targets, but suffered unacceptable losses in the absence of careful planning and escort fighters . Only the later de Havilland Mosquito light bomber was fast enough to evade fighters. Heavy bombers needed defensive armament for protection, which reduced their effective bomb payload. The second tenet was that strategic bombing of industrial capacity, power generation, oil refineries, and coal mines could win
45144-512: The wars, aviation opinion fixed on two tenets. The first was that “ the bomber will always get through .” The speed advantage of biplane fighters over bombers was insignificant, and it was believed that they would never catch them. Furthermore, there was no effective method of detecting incoming bombers at sufficiently long range to scramble fighters on an interception course. In practice, a combination of new radar technology and advances in monoplane fighter design eroded this disadvantage. Throughout
45372-490: The way to the target and back. Losses were reduced to 247 out of 3,500 sorties, still devastating but accepted at the time. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator and later version of the Fortress carried even more extensive defensive armament fitted into Sperry ball turrets . This was a superb defensive weapon that rotated a full 360 degrees horizontally with a 90-degree elevation. Its twin M2 Browning machine guns had an effective range of 1,000 yards (910 m). The Liberator
45600-498: The wing bomb cells to add another 220 gallons. Significant attention was paid to reducing drag – all rivets were flush headed and panels joggled to avoid edges – but camouflage paint probably negated the benefit. The wing was fitted with Gouge flaps similar to those of the flying boats. The fuselage of the Stirling was distinct from Short's flying boat lineage, being constructed in four sections and employing continuous stringers throughout each section, as opposed to interruptions of
45828-464: The wing itself were modified, the aircraft would fly with a nose-down attitude while cruising (as in the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley ); making this change was also complicated by the fact that work on the production line had already reached an advanced stage. Thus, Shorts lengthened the undercarriage struts to tilt the nose up on take-off, leading to its spindly gear, which, in turn, contributed to many takeoff and landing accidents. The S.31 also received
46056-441: The wingspan of the aircraft to 100 feet [30 m]) had played a role in limiting the Stirling's performance; the 100 ft limit also affected earlier models of the Halifax (MkI and MkII) though the Lancaster never adhered to it. During its later service, the Stirling was used for mining German ports; new and converted aircraft also flew as glider tugs and supply aircraft during the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944–1945. In
46284-400: Was Torpex torpedo explosive, it was developed specifically to sink the Tirpitz which was moored in Trondheim fjord behind torpedo nets. Development delays in the 'bouncing bomb' meant that another Barnes Wallis invention, the 5-ton Tallboy was deployed instead; two Tallboys dropped by Avro Lancasters from 25,000 ft (7,600 m) altitude hit at near- supersonic speed and capsized
46512-477: Was "more manoeuvreable and responsive than any other aircraft in its class". The shortcomings of the aircraft in terms of lower ceiling and limited range are largely forgiven in pilot autobiographies. The Stirling did, however, exhibit some vicious flying characteristics during takeoff and landings. As a class, the large and heavy four-engined tail-wheeled bombers such as the Stirling, Handley Page Halifax , Avro Lancaster and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress could be
46740-405: Was a humiliation for Spain, which practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast. This opened the way to British expansion in the area, and a number of expeditions took place; firstly a naval expedition led by George Vancouver which explored the inlets around the Pacific North West, particularly around Vancouver Island . On land, expeditions sought to discover a river route to
46968-425: Was based on the successful Short Sunderland flying boat and shared its Bristol Hercules radial engines, wing, and cockpit with a new fuselage. It carried up to 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) of bombs—almost twice the load of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress —but over just a 300-mile (480 km) radius. Due to its thick, short wing it was able to out-turn the main German night fighters, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and
47196-642: Was clear that the B-17C model was not combat ready and that its five machine guns provided inadequate protection. Combat feedback enabled Boeing engineers to improve the aircraft; when the first model B-17E began operating from English airfields in July 1942, it had many more defensive gun positions including a vitally important tail gunner. Eventually, U.S. heavy bomber designs, optimized for formation flying, had 10 or more machine guns and/or cannons in both powered turrets and manually operated flexible mounts to deliver protective arcs of fire. These guns were located in tail turrets , side gun ports either just behind
47424-406: Was converted from a Mk.V aircraft; however, partially due to greater levels of interest being expressed for a more promising civilian version of the Handley-Page Halifax, the proposal met with little official interest. In 1941, Short proposed the development of a new variant of the Stirling, the S.36, which was nicknamed the "Super Stirling" in a company publication. This aircraft would have featured
47652-431: Was designed as an airliner . Igor Sikorsky , an engineer educated in St Petersburg, but born in Kiev of Polish-Russian ancestry designed the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets to fly between his birthplace and his new home. It did so briefly until August 1914, when the Russo-Balt wagon factory converted to a bomber version, with British Sunbeam Crusader V8 engines in place of the German ones in the passenger plane. By December 1914
47880-447: Was destroyed by Grand Slams creating an earthquake effect, which shook the foundations. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a development of the Fortress, but a larger design with four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone engines of much greater power, enabling it to fly higher, faster, further and with a bigger bomb load. The mammoth new Wright radial engines were susceptible to overheating if anything malfunctioned, and technical problems with
48108-465: Was first followed by the Boulton Paul P.90, Armstrong Whitworth's AW.42, the Supermarine Type 316, and then the Short S.29. The Supermarine was ordered in prototype (two aircraft) form as the revised Supermarine Type 317 in January 1937. An alternative design to the Supermarine was needed for insurance, and Shorts should build it, as they had experience with four-engined aircraft. The original design had been criticised when considered, and in February 1937,
48336-481: Was founded as a haven by Puritan religious separatists, later known as the Pilgrims . Fleeing from religious persecution would become the motive for many English would-be colonists to risk the arduous trans-Atlantic voyage : Maryland was established by English Roman Catholics (1634), Rhode Island (1636) as a colony tolerant of all religions and Connecticut (1639) for Congregationalists . England's North American holdings were further expanded by
48564-429: Was in the range of that which was already being carried by the RAF's medium bombers , such as the Vickers Wellington and by 1944, the de Havilland Mosquito . Perhaps the biggest weakness present in the design was that, although the bomb bay was large at 40 ft long (12 m), it had a pair of structural dividers that ran down the middle, limiting the bay to nothing larger than the 2,000-pound (910 kg) bomb. As
48792-401: Was known as "Circus" operations . From late 1941, the Stirling played a pioneering role in the formation of the RAF's Pathfinder squadrons, specialist navigation and target-finding squadrons to assist Main Force squadrons. From the spring of 1942, the number of Stirlings in service began to increase. From May 1943, raids on Germany were often conducted using over a hundred Stirling bombers at
49020-404: Was made to settle the country or establish possession. The coast of Australia had been discovered for Europeans by the Dutch in 1606 , but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770, after leaving New Zealand, James Cook charted the eastern coast, claimed the continent for Britain, and named it New South Wales . In 1778, Joseph Banks , Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to
49248-429: Was not divulged to the Sharif of Mecca , who the British had been encouraging to launch an Arab revolt against their Ottoman rulers, giving the impression that Britain was supporting the creation of an independent Arab state. The British declaration of war on Germany and its allies committed the colonies and Dominions, which provided invaluable military, financial and material support. Over 2.5 million men served in
49476-448: Was powered by an arrangement of four Pobjoy Niagara engines and featured a retractable undercarriage, operable bomb-bay doors, and other measures to realistically represent the larger production aircraft. It was constructed at Short's Rochester facility. On 19 September 1938, the S.31 conducted its maiden flight , piloted by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot J. Lankester Parker . Impressed with its performance, on 21 October 1938, Parker flew
49704-427: Was supported by the British prime minister , William Gladstone , who hoped that Ireland might follow in Canada's footsteps as a Dominion within the empire, but his 1886 Home Rule bill was defeated in Parliament. Although the bill, if passed, would have granted Ireland less autonomy within the UK than the Canadian provinces had within their own federation, many MPs feared that a partially independent Ireland might pose
49932-585: Was the first to use the term "British Empire") were beginning to press for the establishment of England's own empire. By this time, Spain had become the dominant power in the Americas and was exploring the Pacific Ocean, Portugal had established trading posts and forts from the coasts of Africa and Brazil to China , and France had begun to settle the Saint Lawrence River area, later to become New France . Although England tended to trail behind Portugal, Spain, and France in establishing overseas colonies, it carried out its first modern colonisation, referred to as
50160-481: Was the only global war fought between Britain and another imperial power during the Pax Britannica and was a resounding defeat for Russia. The situation remained unresolved in Central Asia for two more decades, with Britain annexing Baluchistan in 1876 and Russia annexing Kirghizia , Kazakhstan , and Turkmenistan . For a while, it appeared that another war would be inevitable, but the two countries reached an agreement on their respective spheres of influence in
50388-400: Was the result of a proposal to assemble Fortresses in Consolidated plants, with the company returning with its own design of a longer-range, faster and higher-flying aircraft that could carry an extra ton of bombs. Early orders were for France (delivered to the RAF after the fall of France) and Britain, already at war, with just a batch of 36 for the USAAF. Neither the USAAF nor the RAF judged
50616-546: Was to be a maximum of 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) carried to a range of 2,000 miles (3,200 km) or a lesser payload of 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) to 3,000 miles (4,800 km) (very demanding for the era). It was to have a crew of six and was to have a normal all-up weight of 48,000 lb, while a maximum overload weight of 65,000 lb was also envisioned. The aircraft would have to be capable of cruising at speeds of 230 mph or greater while flying at 15,000 ft (4,600 m), carrying three gun turrets (located in
50844-437: Was too great for fighter escorts based in Japan, so the B-29s flew alone. In November, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s flown by Soviet pilots started to intercept the US bombers over North Korea. The MiG-15 was specifically designed to destroy US heavy bombers; it could out-perform any fighter deployed by United Nations air forces until the capable F-86 Sabre was produced in greater numbers and brought to Korea. After 28 B-29s were lost,
51072-401: Was underpinned by the steamship and the telegraph , new technologies invented in the second half of the 19th century, allowing it to control and defend the empire. By 1902, the British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph cables, called the All Red Line . The East India Company drove the expansion of the British Empire in Asia. The company's army had first joined forces with
51300-405: Was used for daylight raids on naval targets, damaging a German destroyer. But after one was lost, the O/100 switched to night attacks. The uprated Handley Page Type O /400 could carry a 1,650 lb (750 kg) bomb, and wings of up to 40 were used by the newly formed, independent Royal Air Force from April 1918 to make strategic raids on German railway and industrial targets. A single O/400
51528-410: Was used for various purposes throughout the Stirling. The nose and dorsal turrets were powered by a duplex pump driven by the inner port engine, while the dorsal turret was powered by a single pump driven by the inner starboard engine. Pulsations in the hydraulic lines were smoothed out by a series of recuperators; German fighter pilots soon learned that by shooting at the area around roundels painted on
51756-447: Was used to support T. E. Lawrence 's Sinai and Palestine Campaign . The Imperial German Air Service operated the Gotha bomber, which developed a series of marques. The Gotha G.IV operated from occupied Belgium from the Spring of 1917. It mounted several raids on London beginning in May 1917. Some reached no further than Folkestone or Sheerness on the Kent Coast. But on June 13, Gothas killed 162 civilians, including 18 children in
51984-440: Was viewed as the favourite, whereas Short's submission, named the S.29, was selected as an alternative. When the preferred Type 317 had to be abandoned, the S.29, which later received the name Stirling, proceeded to production. In early 1941, the Stirling entered squadron service. During its use as a bomber, pilots praised the type for its ability to out-turn enemy night fighters and its favourable handling characteristics, whereas
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