Britain's Forgotten WW2 Heavy Bomber | Armstrong Whitworth Whitley

F.A.Q Section - Ask your questions here :)

Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)

Q: How do you decide what aircraft gets covered next?
A: Supporters over on Patreon now get to vote on upcoming topics such as overviews, special videos, and deep dives.

Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.

Strange the prototype wasn't provided with flaps from the start. I would have thought they were esential for bombers and the airfields of the time. The canted airframe in flight, and the engine nacelles, which were canted upwards, must have contibuted a lot to the drag of the aircraft.

Excellent video and narrating - really enjoyed all the details of a long forgotten bomber that was so overshadowed .
Cheers !!!

V cool
😊

Who knew all the men and women who built, serviced, flew this bomber all instantly forgot about it.

Forgotten for a reason….

The Whitley was not forgotten not by a long shot.

Beware the slightly intoxicated honey badger....

As a kid I read a German WW II magazine for the Luftwaffe, called „ Luftflotte West“. My grandfather, a fighter pilot in the First World War was in Sperrle‘s staff in WW II and seems to have collected them. I read 1942/3 magazines. I remember seeing a lot of pictures of downed Whitley, even a complete article of pulling a crashed Whitley from the sea and scrapping it transforming it into german airplanes. Sadly the magazines have disappeared over the years.

Now I want this in war thunder.

That miscegnating Anson! ❤
Green's Famous Planes series intro'd the ruler-straight Whitley 2 me as a kid; her membership in the war-opening bomber trio (4 w/ the Blenheim) put her very high on my list of affection ❤❤❤

War is a racket

is that geobbels front and center of the '32 geneva disarmament convention lol

I worked with a man who was a mechanic on the Heyford at the beginning of the war. There was a reluctance by the government to get rid of these obsolete aircraft because of budget constraints. The RAF wanted to get rid of these relics and came up with a plan. These bombers had great lift so that they had to be secured to the tarmac. A hurricane was predicted to hit Scotland so under a maneuver order the Heyfords were sent north to an airbase in the direct path of the storm. Even strongly secured to the tarmac the aircraft wanted to lift up and most of the aircraft were destroyed.

WIsh Gaijin would add these to warthunder, but they don't care about WWII anymore

Good video :) nice 👍

One small correction, the raid on Berlin was the first British raid, not the first raid - which was done by the French

I do have a love for this quirky looking plane, where it appears that the engines are flying off the wing, or that there's five fat blokes sat right at the front buggering up the trim. What also interests me is that the UK's intentions to deploy night flying heavy bombers go back to the very early 30s. The 1:72 Airfix kits are great builds by the way!

You yubr is a bad actor now!

Huh. The nose of the Whitley almost looks like a Giga Chad.

Whitley, we salute your service!

Stirling next pretty please❤

My favourite WW2 aircraft, brilliant, thanks for the upload.

One question: what differences did a night bomber have opposed to a day bomber?

Apparently whitleys flew from the local former airfield at Ashbourne ( now industrial estate) in Derbyshire. Later part became a JCB testing ground.

The front reminds me of shere khans chin for some reason

I usually move to about 3/4 through. By then the fella has moved on from the aspect ratio of the inverted flux compactor of the 3rd galactic .
..... Wow this dude needs to work in government.😅

If one starts a sentence or clause with "also," it is not necessary to end it with "as well."

No mention of it being developed in a suburb of Coventry called Whitley. Great information though, thanks.

Really loving this deep dive format. Like others, i knew of the Whitley, but never knew it had such an interesting career, particually for an aircraft that was almost obsolete from the start.

Very interesting 😃

Loved this it’s great to get a deep dive into a rather forgotten aircraft. Looking forward to more Maby one on the short Stirling.

The Whitley has been much maligned for decades due to its weird looks and rather ox-cartish performance. Thanks for setting the record straight, Rex. I think the best compliment one can give the Whitley is that it was there when needed the most. Cheers.

Thank you so much for this video. My father was a wireless air gunner in 10 Squadron in 40-41. He was shot down in September of 41 and spent the rest of the war as an unwilling guest of Adolf and his cronies.

It's most appropriate that you continue to devote such time to the original order of battle squadrons on the eve of World War II. Few people study anything prior to 42 or even 43. I've devoted extensive time to all the early campaigns waged by Bomber Command. So much learning. So much courage. So much sacrifice. So few survivors; yet so many inspired that went on to win the war. You've gone far to ensure the legacy of this generation will not be forgotten. Thank You.

Wait,that looks like the plane on the picture in Fowlers memorial chest from the movie chicken run...

My father worked on the Whitley and Lancaster at the Armstong Whitworth factory at Baginton and nearby Whitley in Coventry during the war.

A brilliant piece of work. Thanks very much for this.

Rex's hangar, Drachenifel, and military history visualized. Together they're the first triumvirate of historical military vehicles

I remember reading Leonard Cheshire's experiences of operating the Whitley and found it quite interesting, particularly the long ops to Turin in Italy. The Whitley was pretty impressive for its day. No other twin-engined bomber of conventional arrangement that I can think of, apart from the much later Do217K could lift a 7,000lb bomb load which really made the Whitley a heavy bomber. But, what a wing! So thick and designed with an unusually high incidence which gave the Whitley that unmistakable nose-down droop in flight that made it look like an ugly big vulture.

OUTSTANDING