Avro Nottingham Gr.ii

[Captain Canada]

" Those are some big boots, baby "

-Elvis

[kitnut617]

" Those are some big boots, baby "

-Elvis

If I've done my calculations right, these should be good for about 95,000 lbs.  A Shackleton' all up weight is 86,000 lbs so using that as a base I've allowed extra for the floats and additional fuel etc.  With water weighing at approx' 62.5 lbs a cubic foot, I needed something that displaces 1520 cubic feet.  For comparison the Short Shetland' all up weight was about 78,000 lbs and it's a bit bigger than this I think.  On these floats I've allowed for a draft between 3'-6" and 4'-0" at the deepest section of the float, which scales out at around 10 feet deep at the step incidently, the float scales out to 10 feet wide at the widest point too. I had to space them out a bit too because the bomb bay doors protrude out quite a bit when they're opened, so needed the extra room for the diagonal bracing that will be going on.

[kitnut617]

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, almost there, just the turrets and bomb aimers window, the wheels and some more decals to go on.

Last couple of photos before the final presentation on Tuesday.

[kitnut617]

couple more.

[Captain Canada]

No wonder that thing is so big......it's been on Cenrum Select this whole time ! Now with more boot building Iron !



Looking good, Robert......can't wait to see the final presentation !

[kitnut617]

Final photos:  I managed to get it done in time but I ran out of daylight to take photos outside.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing this build and it's a milestone for me too, the first 'finished' model in nearly two years.  I hope everyone likes the finished product.

Cheers,
Robert

[kitnut617]

2nd group:

[kitnut617]

3rd group:

[kitnut617]

4th group:

[GTX]

Where'd that jaw dropping smiley go?!

Wow!!!

Regards,

Greg

[kitnut617]

The Backstory.

Avro Nottingham, an alternative history.



In 1942 the Air Ministry realized that a requirement for a Very Long Range, Very Heavy Bomber was needed, specifically for the use in the Pacific arena.  The requirement was for an aircraft to take a 20,000 lb load for 5000 miles.  The industry responded with designs but it was soon realized that such an aircraft would not be available for operational use in much less than five years time.  The RAF suggested an in-trim bomber would be a better option for the immediate future and Avro, Handley Page and Shorts were instructed to do some studies to see if any of their aircraft could be modified into a longer ranged aircraft.

At that time Avro had their Lancaster well into production and the Avro designers went back to their drawing boards to create an improved Lancaster, which received the designation of Mk. IV & V (these were later renamed Lincoln).  The RAF planners had been following the Pacific campaign closely and based their ideas on using islands that were close to Japan as bases and so a Medium to Long Range Bomber would probably be sufficient.  The design work was well advanced when events in the Pacific brought everything to a halt.

In July of 1944 a stumbling block happened to make the Air Ministry rethink their whole strategy over the Pacific war.  The Japanese High Command had been informed by the German Intelligence of a new long, range bomber the USA was building, which turned out to be the B-29, and the High Command realized that such an aircraft would soon be within range of their homelands.  They began to look carefully at the USA's island hopping campaign with this new information and surmised, correctly, where the next attack was going to be, the Marianas.  They secretly re-enforced the islands, which came as a major surprise to the attacking forces, to the extent that the Allies had to withdraw after four months of very heavy fighting.

The Japanese then strengthened all major islands that came within the radius of the B-29 to the Japanese homelands, which had a major effect of all future operations.  The RAF was very concerned about this development as it practically nullified the Medium/Long Range Bomber in this arena. 

At a high level meeting held at the Air Ministry it was suggested that the RAF could use flying boats as bombers instead and operate them from small islands closer to the Japanese mainland (and also inside of the Japanese circle of control) the idea that there would be a number of these small bases and would be used on a rotational basis, never being at one base for more than a few weeks at a time to circumvent being discovered.   But the RAF only had Sunderlands, which had the range but not the load capacity.  It was then that Avro made a suggestion that they could design and equip their Lancasters with floats, and a study was quickly set up on the feasibility of such development.  Once again the Air Ministry stepped in requiring more speed and load capacity so Avro developed their Lancaster Mk. V by widening the fuselage and offered a version powered by Napier Sabre engines. Napier responded by offering their latest engine spec, the Sabre VII of approximately 3000hp, and were instructed to develop it as quickly as possible, and as an alternative supply of engines, Rolls Royce were instructed to develop their new 24 cylinder 'H' engine and give it top priority. Emphasis was given to standardize the engine nacelle to except either engine, which was simplified by the use of leading edge radiator ducts between each pair of nacelles.  At this time the airframe changes were sufficient enough for the aircraft to warrant a new name and Nottingham was selected and the Sabre engined version would be known as a GR.I and the new RR engined version would be called a GR.II.

As the Sabre was already in production in it's Mk.IV version, these were installed on the first prototype to quicken development time and was the first to fly.  It was found to be grossly underpowered during it's thorough testing, plus a few short comings arose, one was stability during sea trials and another was it needed more elevator authority, consequently only three GR.I's were built before all development concentrated on the GR.II where the airframes were changed in light of the short comings.  This entailed a six foot extension to the rear fuselage just behind the bomb bay and three foot three inches was added to the inner wing section at the wing root which spread the floats further apart.  This had a side effect of being able to open the bomb bay doors further allowing the possible carriage of two Tallboy bombs, stored side by side in the bomb bay. 



With all the changes the GR.II finally got airborne at the end of January 1945 and production aircraft were quickly rushed to operational squadrons, two of which were RCAF squadrons and as they converted to the Nottingham were dispatched to the West Coast of Canada at the end of 1945.  These squadrons were used with great effect, as their capability of carrying two 10,000 lb deep penetration bombs, enabled them to attack two targets in one mission, which was usually a deeply re-enforced bunker that the Japanese had built in numerous quantities.  Fortunately, the war didn't progress much later than June 1946 so only a small number of squadrons were equipped with the Nottingham and when the war ended, all production ended with a grand total of 33 being built.  A few months after the war' end, the Canadian squadrons were ordered back to Canada and on their arrival, their Nottinghams were flown to a remote lake in the BC Interior and mothballed for future use.  They were re-activated a few years later and used as Maritime Patrol aircraft as the worsening relationship between the Soviet Union and the rest of the Allies reached a boiling point.  They patrolled the Canadian coastline for a good many years after but their numbers gradually dwindled as one after another was cannibalized to keep the others airborne and the last one in service was FM359 with 111 CU until it was SoC in 1960.  It had been converted to SAR duties and although it retained it guns, no ammunition was ever carried and a few months before being SoC, had all it's guns removed.  This project depicts the aircraft a few weeks after being converted to SAR configuration.

[Captain Canada]

On the advice of my lawyers I c-c-c--c-can n-n-n-n-n-n-nolonger c-comment o-o-on th-th-th-th-this pppp-pp-p-pr-pro-proj-pp-project.

Sorry.

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Great idea beautifully modelled - a magnificent beast! A plausible backstory as well. Lakes throughout Canada would have boasted houseboats converted from those floats after the Nottinghams were scrapped! Well done kitnut -whiffing at its best.

[Mossie]

I've been waiting for this one Robert!  Fantastic!

[nev]

Sweeeeeeeeet!