Short Stirling I
Description
Role	Heavy Bomber
Crew	7
First Flight	May 14, 1939
Entered Service
Manufacturer	Short Brothers
Dimensions (Mk.I)
Length	87 ft 3 in	26.6 m
Wingspan	99 ft 1 in	30.2 m
Height	28 ft 10 in	8.8 m
Wing Area	1,322 ft²	122.8 m²
Weights
Empty	44,000 lb	19,950 kg
Loaded	59,400 lb	26,940 kg
Maximum takeoff	70,000 lb	31,750 kg
Powerplant
Engine	4 × Bristol Hercules II
Power (each)	1,375 hp	1,030 kW
Performance
Maximum speed	255 mph @ 21,000 ft	410 km/h @ 6,400 m
Combat range	2,330 miles	3,750 km
Ferry range	km	miles
Service ceiling	16,500 ft	5,030 m
Rate of climb	800 ft/min	240 m/min
Wing loading	44.9 lb/ft²	219.4 kg/m²
Power/Mass	0.093 hp/lb	0.153 kW/kg
Armament
Guns	8 × 0.303in Browning machine guns 2 × nose, 4 × tail, 2 ×dorsal
Bombs	14,000 lb	6,350 kg

The Stirling was a World War II heavy bomber design built by Short Brothers. It was the first British design meant to use four engines from the outset, an otherwise successful experiment hampered by a number of odd design requirements. In the end it would be relegated to second-line duties, while four-engine conversions of earlier twin-engine designs took over its role. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939: Events January January 12 - the RAF Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed February February 9 - Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record for the round trip between England and Cape Town in 4 days 10 minutes in a Percival Mew... Short Brothers, almost universally referred to simply as Shorts, is a British aerospace company currently located in Belfast. ... Bristol Hercules engine The Hercules was a 14_cylinder two_row radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1939. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe... The B-52 Stratofortress, a heavy bomber. ... Short Brothers, almost universally referred to simply as Shorts, is a British aerospace company currently located in Belfast. ...

Through the 1930's the Royal Air Force was interested primarily in twin engine bombers. These designs put limited demands on engine production and maintenance, both of which were already stretched with the introduction of so many new types into service. However. the limitations in terms of power were so serious that they invested heavily in development of huge engines in the 2,000 horsepower (1500 kW) class in order to improve performance. Meanwhile the US and USSR were developing bombers with four smaller engines instead, which proved to have excellent range and fair lifting capacity. So in 1936 the RAF decided to try their hand at the four engine bomber as well. The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ... ...

It seems the Air Ministry wasn't entirely clear what it wanted in the new design, and the resulting Specification B.12/36 was an odd mix of features. In addition to a 14,000 lb (6,350 kg) bombload carried to a range of 3,000 miles (4,800 km) (incredibly demanding for the era), the aircraft should also be able to be used as a troop transport for 24 soldiers. The idea was that it 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 "backcountry" airfields, it needed to lift off from a 500 ft (150 m) runway and able to clear 50 ft (15 m) trees at the end, a specification most small aircraft would have a problem with today. In addition, so it would fit into existing hangars, the wingspan should not exceed 100 ft (30 m). This last requirement was particularly odd, fitted for old Type B hangars, while it was planned to build new Type C hangars, opened to over 125 ft (38 m). The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps The British Empire was the worlds first global power and the largest empire in human history, a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with the global maritime empires of...

Shorts was one of eleven designs returned in response to the requirements, but were likely the only company that could have realistically started production in a short time. They were already producing several four-engine flying boat designs of the needed size, and created their S.29 design by basically removing the lower deck and boat hull of their S.25 Sunderland. Their new S.29 design was largely identical otherwise; the wings and controls were the same, construction was identical, and it even retained the slight upward bend at the rear of the fuselage, originally intended to keep the Sunderland's tail clear of sea spray. The Sunderland, S.25, was a flying boat patrol bomber, developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers, based on their successful S.23 Empire flying boats, the flagship of Imperial Airways. ...

Shorts managed to persuade the RAF to dismiss most of its unrealistic design goals when they saw the S.29 would be an excellent bomber. On one point the RAF stood firm: the S.29 used the Sunderland's 114 ft (35 m) wing, and they demanded it be reduced to less than 100 ft (30 m). In order to get the needed lift from a shorter span, the resulting redesigned wing was thickened and reshaped.

Shorts first constructed a half scale version as the S.31, powered by four Pobjoy Niagra engines, which flew in September 1938. Everyone was happy with the design in general, except the takeoff run was thought to be too long. Fixing this required the angle of the wing to be increased for takeoff, normally meaning the aircraft would be flying nose down while cruising (as in the Whitley). Instead Shorts lengthened the landing gear struts to tilt the nose up on takeof, leading to its spindly gear. The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was one of three twin-engine, front-line medium bombers in service with the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of World War II. Along with the Handley Page Hampden and the Vickers Wellington, it bore the brunt of the early fighting, seeing...

The first S.29, now known as the Stirling, took to the air on May 14, 1939 with four Bristol Hercules II radial engines. Upon landing one of the brakes locked, causing it to skew off the runway and collapsing the landing gear. A redesign added much stronger and heavier struts on the second prototype. On its first mission two months later one of the engines failed on take-off, but the plane landed easily. From then on the record improved and service production started in August 1940 at Shorts' Rochester factory. The Rochester area, which included a number of major British 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 17's flying at tree top level. A number of just-completed Stirlings were destroyed on the ground, and the factories were heavily damaged, setting back production by almost a year. Operational status wasn't reached until January 1941. The first three Stirlings flew a combat mission on February 10, 1941, over fuel tanks in Rotterdam. From spring of 1942 it started to be used in greater numbers. From May 1943, there started air raids on Germany with over hundred of Stirlings at once. This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939: Events January January 12 - the RAF Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed February February 9 - Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record for the round trip between England and Cape Town in 4 days 10 minutes in a Percival Mew... Bristol Hercules engine The Hercules was a 14_cylinder two_row radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1939. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1940: Events March March 16 - Britain suffers its first civilian air-raid casualties of the war after a raid by KG 26 on Scapa Flow March 25 - the US government grants permission to the countrys aircraft manufacturers to sell advanced... Rochester is a small, historic town in Kent, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. ... A major campaign of World War II, the Battle of Britain is the name for the attempt by Germanys Luftwaffe the german airforce to gain air superiority of British airspace and destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF). ... The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Bleistift (pencil), was a World War II light bomber produced by Dornier that was used at the beginning of the war by the Luftwaffe. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1941: Events Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942: Events January January 30 - Canadian Pacific Air Lines formed by the acquisition and merger of Arrow Airways and Canadian Airways, along with all the various subsidiaries of the latter. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943: Events January January 27 - the USAAF makes its first daylight raid on Germany January 30 - Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos make the first daylight air-raid on Berlin January 30-31 – the H2S radar is used by RAF bombers...

Although it wasn't as large as the US and Soviet experimental designs, the Stirling had considerably more power and far better payload/range than anything then flying. The massive 14,000 lb (6,340 kg) bombload put it in a class of its own, double any other bomber. In fact it was larger than the Handley-Page Halifax and comparable to the Avro Lancaster, which would eventually replace it, but both of these were originally designed to have twin engines. The Stirling was the only British bomber designed as four-engined from the beginning. Wingspan Height 20 ft 9 in 6. ... The Avro Lancaster was a four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force (RAF). ...

The design mounted nose and tail turrets (the latter was notable for the wide angles of fire), and included a retractable ventral ("dustbin") turret just behind the bomb bay, fired by remote control. This proved almost useless due to the limited visibility through the sighting system, with the added distraction that the turret tended to drop and hit the ground when taxing over bumps. The ventral turret was removed almost from the start, to be replaced by a new dorsal turret instead. This turret had its own problems: it had a metal back with an escape hatch in it, which turned out to be almost impossible to use. The later Stirling Mk.III instead used a fully glazed turret(the same FN.50 as in Lancaster) that removed the hatch, and had more room and an improved view.

The first few Mk.Is received the Hercules II engines, but the majority received the 1,500 hp (1100 kW) Hercules XIs. The Mk.III, introduced in 1943, was similar with the exception of the new dorsal turret and the improved 1,635 hp (1200 kW) Hercules VI or XVI engines, which improved maximum speed from 255 to 270 mph (410 to 435 km/h). This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943: Events January January 27 - the USAAF makes its first daylight raid on Germany January 30 - Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos make the first daylight air-raid on Berlin January 30-31 – the H2S radar is used by RAF bombers...

The Stirling proved an excellent design and pilots were delighted to discover she could outturn the Ju 88 and Me 110 nightfighters they faced, a side effect of that thick wing. Its handling was much better than that of the Halifax, and some even prefered it to the Lancaster. Another side effect of the thick wing was poor altitude performance, and many missions were flown as low as 12,000 ft (4,000 m). This made the plane particularly difficult to use in many scenarios, notably if they were attacking Italy and had to fly through (rather than over) the Alps. When operated along with other RAF bombers flying at higher altitudes, the Luftwaffe ignored the latter and concentrated on the low-flying Stirlings. Within five months of being introduced, 67 out of the 84 aircraft delivered had been lost to enemy action or written off after crashes. The Junkers Ju 88 was a WW2 Luftwaffe twin-engine multi-role aircraft. ... The Messerschmitt Bf 110 (later Me 110) was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Later in the war it was changed to fighter-bomber and night fighter operations, and it became the major night fighter type of the Luftwaffe. ... A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night, or in other times of bad visibility. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... The Luftwaffe â–¶(?) (German: air force, IPA: [luftvafÉ™]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...

In addition the Stirling's huge bomb load was only able to be delivered at short ranges of around 590 miles. On typical missions deep into Germany or Italy a smaller 3,500 lb (1,590 kg) load was carried, consisting of seven 500 lb (227 kg) bombs. This was the sort of load being carried by the RAF's medium bombers such as the Vickers Wellington, and by 1944 by the de Havilland Mosquito. Perhaps the biggest problem with the design was that the bomb bay had two structural dividers running down the middle, limiting it to carrying 2000 lb (907 kg) bombs as the largest. As the RAF started using the 4000 lb (1,815 kg) 'cookies', and even larger 'specials', the Stirling became less useful to them. The Handley-Page Halifax and especially the Avro Lancaster offered better performance, and when they became available in greater numbers from 1943, it was decided to withdraw Stirlings to secondary tasks. (Why Stirlings, with their long legs, were never used for ASW patrol is unclear.) A medium bomber is a bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium bombloads over medium distances; primarily to distinguish them from the much larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers. ... 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 de Havilland Mosquito (The Wooden Wonder a. ...

By December 1943, Stirlings were already being phased out of bomber duty, seeing more use for dropping mines outside German ports, and dropping spies deep behind enemy lines at night (through the now unused ventral turret ring). At that time, there appeared a need of powerful aircraft to tow heavy transport gliders GAL Hamilcar and Airspeed Horsa, and the Stirling fitted to this role well. In late 1943, 143 MK.III bombers were rebuilt to new Mk.IV series, without nose and dorsal turrets, for towing gliders and dropping paratroops, and 461 new Mk.IVs were produced. They were used in the Battle of Normandy and Operation Market Garden. From late 1944, 160 of the special transport variant Mk.V were built, with new openable nose and tail turret removed as well (most were completed after the war). This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943: Events January January 27 - the USAAF makes its first daylight raid on Germany January 30 - Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos make the first daylight air-raid on Berlin January 30-31 – the H2S radar is used by RAF bombers... Gliders are heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for un-powered flight. ... The General Aircraft G.A.L. 49 Hamilcar or Hamilcar Mk I was a large British military glider of World War II, which was capable of carrying 7 tons of cargo or a light tank such as the Tetrarch or Locust. ... The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a World War II troop-carrying glider built by the British company Airspeed Ltd and subcontractors. ... The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944 between the German forces occupying Western Europe and the invading Allied forces as part of the larger conflict of World War II. Sixty years later, the Normandy invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord, remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million... Waves of paratroops land in Holland during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. ...

Flight Sergeant Rawdon Hume Middleton of the Royal Australian Air Force earned a posthumous Victoria Cross for valour during a raid on Turin in November 1942, while piloting a Stirling I of No. 149 Squadron RAF. Rawdon Hume Ron Middleton (1916 - 1942) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ... The RAAF Roundel is based on that of the British Royal Air Force, with the central circle replaced by a Kangaroo, a symbol of Australia. ... Victoria Cross medal, ribbon, and bar. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Short Stirling

• Peter van Gelderen's Stirling bomber website

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...