This is a partial list of the British Air Ministry specifications for aircraft. A specification started from an Operational Requirement, abbreviated "OR", describing what the aircraft would be used for - this in turn led to a specification eg a two engined fighter with 4 machine guns. So for example, OR.40 for a heavy bomber led to Specification B.12/36. Aircraft manufacturers would design and build aircraft which the Ministry then bought for evaluation by the RAF. On very rare occasions, a manufacturer would design and build an aircraft using their own money as a "Private Venture". This would then be offered to the Ministry for evaluation. If the aircraft generated interest in the Ministry or RAF due to performance or some other combination of features then the Ministry might well bring out a specification based on the Private Venture aircraft. The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the United Kingdom Government, established in 1918 with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the (then newly formed) Royal Air Force. ...

Specification designations

Each specification name usually followed a pattern. A leading letter was usually present to identify the aircraft purpose. The codes used included B for "heavy bomber", P for "medium bomber", F for "fighter" and A for "army co-operation". The second part was a number identifying it in sequence and then after the slash, the year it was formulated. Specifications were not always issued in sequence. A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ...

Examples of specifications

General History The Bristol Bulldog was a Royal Air Force (RAF) single-seat biplane fighter designed during the 1920s by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, with over three hundred Bulldogs produced, that arguably became the most famous aircraft during the RAFs inter-war period. ... The Bristol Bombay was a medium bomber and troop transport aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. ... The Vickers Wellington was a twin-engine, medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs Chief Designer, R.K. Pierson. ... The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force that was one of the main front-line bombers at the start of World War II. Along with the Whitley and Wellington bombers, the Hampden bore the brunt of the early bombing war... This article describes the World War II fighter aircraft. ... The Hawker Hurricane is a fighter design from the 1930s which was used extensively by the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. ... The design of the Oerlikon 20mm cannon, by Reinhold Becker dates back to 1914, and is still in use today, after having been used extensively during the Second World War. ... The Vickers Warwick was a transport, anti-submarine patrol and air-sea rescue aircraft of the RAF during World War II. Vickers Warwick The Warwick was designed in response to Air Ministry specification B.1/35 for a two-engined heavy (by the standards of the day) bomber to replace... The Saunders-Roe (Saro) A36 Lerwick was a Second World War reconnaissance monoplane flying-boat of the RAF, replacing the biplane Londons. ... The Stirling was a World War II heavy bomber design built by Short Brothers. ... The Avro Manchester was a twin-engined heavy bomber developed during World War II by the Avro aircraft company in the UK. The Manchester was a failure, being severely under-powered, but it was the forerunner to the famous Avro Lancaster bomber, one of the most successful bombers of the... The Vickers Warwick was a transport, anti-submarine patrol and air-sea rescue aircraft of the RAF during World War II. Vickers Warwick The Warwick was designed in response to Air Ministry specification B.1/35 for a two-engined heavy (by the standards of the day) bomber to replace... The Rolls-Royce Vulture (and the related Peregrine) were aircraft engines, and probably the least successful power units ever produced by Rolls-Royce. ... The Miles M.14 Magister was a British 2-seat monoplane basic trainer aircraft built by the Miles Aircraft for the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. ... The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo- and dive-bomber used during World War II, the first of its type to be fabricated entirely from metal. ... Halifax W1057 ZA-X of No. ... The correct title of this article is de Havilland Mosquito. ...

Further Reading

• K.J. Meekcoms & E.B. Morgan, The British Aircraft Specifications File (Air Britain, 1994) ISBN 0-85130-220-3
• Colin Sinnott, The RAF and Aircraft Design, 1923-1939: Air Staff Operational Requirements (Frank Cass, 2001) ISBN 0-7146-5158-3
• Tony Buttler, British Secret Projects - Fighters and Bombers 1935-1950 (Midland Publishing, 2004) ISBN 1-85780-179-2