Pressurised Bomber

[Librarian]

Now this could be the result of an increasingly dodgy memory but I recall, donkey's years ago, seeing a photo of a WWII bomber that had been redesigned for high altitude. I think it was British; I think it had two engines; I think the fuselage looked like a submarine with a small bubble on top at front for the pilot. Does this ring any bells....it's along the lines of a conversion I'm working on for a MPM's HE 177. I've googled but no banana, EEK OOOOOOOOK!

[Martin H]

wouldnt be this by any chance?



Photo linked from the Unicraft site

[Librarian]

That's the one. Thank you, exactly what I'm after. Kicking myself...a Wellington...seems so obvious now. She looks fantastic. Again, many thanks .

[Martin H]

no problem:)

BTW its not my model I just linked it to the post as it was the only half decent shot of that version I could find in a short time frame

[PR19_Kit]

There were two Marks of Wellingtons that had the pressurised cabin, the Mk V which was Hercules engined, and the Merlin engine Mk VI, the one that OGL posted. It seems the Mk Vs were just test beds for the idea and needed the Hercules to be turbocharged to fly high enough, but the production Mk VIs used the later two stage Merlins.

Naturally both Marks had longer wings....... 

[pyro-manic]

The Vickers Windsor had a similar arrangement, though wasn't quite as goofy-looking as the Welly...

[Librarian]

I like the look of that Windsor. Once I grope together the funds I'm going to try and source as cheap another HE177 as possible, splice the wings and have four coupled engines...at least in my world they don't keep catching fire . Lottery funding anyone?

[Martin H]

I suspect that the wellington trial results were fed into the Windsor design

[jcf]

Naturally both Marks had longer wings....... 

Mk. V had standard length wings and 38-ft², 6-foot long wingtip extensions were tested only on two Mk.VI, W5795 and W5800. Evidently the only positive result was a 200' increase in absolute ceiling, and the extended wings were noted as 'curving remarkably' when in a loaded condition. 

Source: 21st Profile, Vol.1 Num.12 and Vol.2 Num.15.

[sandiego89]

Dang those pressurized mks are ugly- although I do not recal many citing a pretty Wellington in the first place....

[The Chaos]

Wow Looks 
Are there any kits of the bird ?

[kitnut617]

As Martin says, the model photo it's linked to the Unicraft website who have a conversion you can buy.  The problem though it only fits the Frog Wellington (which BTW didn't get released by them as Frog folded just after some test shots were done) or some of the Frog Spawn companies.  I got hold of the Maquette boxing on the Wellington to do mine.

One thing the observant may notice (I spotted it some years ago), the photos of the completed one on the Unicraft website show what the builder used for propellers, they're P-47 props, the thing is --- they turn in the opposite way to what the real thing's props did ----

The Wellington Mk.V/VI technology was more likely to have been used in the Avro 684 than the Windsor though

http://www.alternatewars.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Avro684.gif

There would have been a fifth engine installed, it's sole purpose was to drive a large supercharger to supply pressurized air to the four wing engines.

[Captain Canada]

What the heck are those things ! Love 'em ! Especially that Windsor ! I guess I'd better remeber that one....too cool !

[jcf]

The Vickers Windsor had a similar arrangement, though wasn't quite as goofy-looking as the Welly...

Windsor wasn't pressurized. The original specification, B.5/41, called for pressurization
but it was withdrawn and replaced by B.3/42 which removed the requirement.

[zenrat]

This needs to be painted like a killer whale.