My grandfather, W/Cdr David Holford DSO, DFC, flew two full tours in Wellingtons. Unfortunately, on his 3rd tour as C/O of 100Sdr he crashed his Lancaster on returning from Berlin. He remains the youngest W/Cdr in the RAF, ever.
My father was a Wellington tail gunner in the gold coast, Africa, doing submarine patrols in the Atlantic. They had quite a high attrition rate, mostly through poor maintenance. In fact it got so bad, that just before take-off, the captain would pick a ground crew guy at random to go along for the ride. The quality of maintenance improved somewhat after that.
My father was a navigator in Wellingtons in the Western Desert. He told me a couple of interesting facts about the plane. First, if you stood at the front of the plane and looked back to the rear turret, you could actually see the fuselage corkscrew while the plane was in flight. Second, if the plane was losing altitude, you could reduce the weight of the plane by cutting parts of the geodetic fuselage structure at specifically marked places on the girders. Third, the plane was designed in part by Barnes Wallis, famous creator of the bomb used by the Dam Busters raid. The fuselage structure was based on the geodetic girder structure he created for the British airship R100.
It was a brilliant piece of engineering design, I've read and heard many recounts from Wellington aircrew who've recounted how they'd made it home, despite massive structural damage when other aircraft types would have been lost. The geodetic/spaceframe construction is/was a massive PLUS/Positive for these and other aircraft that weren't scene as 'cutting edge' designs at the time, even though it wasn't completely understood at the time????
My father trained in and operated as a bomb aimer/navigator on Wellingtons towards the end of the war. Service in the Middle East. We have his flight log and boots. So proud.
No one will ever match these men ever again. I was born 20 years after the war and a man of Lewisham and the scars of the war made an impression of my life through the experience of my family. As a child I saw the bomb sites around Lewisham and Greenwich. At the moment I am reading waiting for the all clear by Ben wicks. I can't describe how I feel about it because it is too emotive. I've always admired the RAF and I will always be loyal to the crews of bomber command and fighter command.. When you consider that this force was only 22yrs old when we went to war, the achievement was incredible. Every one of them was a hero of the highest order. I thank them all for their services and dedication. Such men. I would do the same just to follow them.I can't explain my admiration. Born in 1965 and free because these men fought for us ✌️
@@andrewbranch4075 I could not agree with we more! I was born in London and worked in London too and in the seventies you could still see the devastation that was caused! I lost one uncle as a navigator and one survived and used to come with us on boating holidays and my mum was in the WRAF! We cannot thank them all enough for our freedom hey! 😥
The principle designer was Barns Wallis. And his design saved his life. He was in a Wellington which was doing a night flight along the south bank of the River Humber when it flew into the cable from a barrage balloon. The cable started to saw its way through the bombers wing when it hit the spar which attached the wings to the body of the aircraft. A part of the design which Wallis was responsible for. Because of the strength of the spare rather then the wing being sawn-off the spare actually snapped the cable allowing the Wellington to fly on and land at an airfield, saving the lives of all on board.
My Grandfather was a Tail Gunner in Wellington Mk1c's with 115 Squadron from Jan-Jun 1941. That tour covered 16 missions before his tour was brought to end following a bail out in the sea on returning from a raid on Hamburg. Seven crews from 115 at RAF Marham were lost during that 5 1/2 months. He was awarded a DFC for shooting down an Me110 on return from bombing Brest Harbour whilst just north of Morlaix in North Western France.
One of my teachers in junior high school flew Wellingtons during WWII. He was amazed that I knew that the Wellington's nic name was Wimpy. Thanks Airfix
Note the Polish RAF squadron at 4:43 in the video (red and white checkered insignia). In the Battle of Britain, Polish RAF pilots had a German plane kill rate that was twice as high as the rest of the RAF. The Polish 303 squadron is famous for its skill and courage. The Poles were first to fight and provided major help for the allies in WW2. The Polish forces in Italy took Monte Casino and opened the door to Europe from the south. Polish tank squadrons battered German tanks in Northern Europe after D-Day. Poland is for heroes. We treated Poles poorly after the war. To our shame.
Dear Kurt, you are correct in that the contributions of the Polish airmen, soldiers and sailors who fought on against the Nazis after the fall of their country has not been adequately remembered by Great Britain. There are those who have a greater knowledge and understanding of events who do however and I consider myself to be one of them in my own way. I have met a few Polish Airforce veterans, obviously some years ago, who have now passed as we used to have a Polish Airforce Association club in my home town. They were great characters and a pleasure to have a few drinks with. I do think that people are now better informed than ever, partly owing to things like RU-vid and videos such as this.
Indeed the UK did treat the Polish Pilots that wanted to remain in Britain to a boot in the ass and a forced return to now Soviet rule. Also no recognition after the Battle of Britain for the achievements and heroism the 303 squadron and the rest of the Polish Pilots of the RAF contributed to the rest of the War. Totally ungreatful for these wonderful brave men from Poland.
@@Bigbassdrum60 In deference to Stalin, the Poles were excluded from the Victory parade in London...Also, Churchill and especially Anthony Eden used the British Army in Southern Austria to deceive and then deport thousands of Cossacks, Jugoslavs and other non-Soviet citizens to Russia-most of whom were shot on arrival.
@@tango6nf477 Well said Tango6nf. There were also members of groundcrew who remained in the RAF. I had the privilege of serving with one of them in 1956 - 59. He was then a Chief Technician and I was a lowly SAC. I learned a lot from him as he shared his knowledge with us on Treble One Squadron. Respect, gratitude and admiration for all Polish Airmen who served in WW2. WE WOULD NOT HAVEWON THE WAR WITHOUT THEM. My cousin (WOP/AG) lost his life i a Wellington of 149 Squadron on night of 11 May 1941.
Designed by Barnes Wallace. The airframes would flying because the geodetic design would maintain its strength after damage. I watched some of these take off from Northolt airfield in 1939.
I had two uncles that worked on the wellingtons! One was a navigator and lost his life in his first raid! the other survived and went on to fly them down in the Med and he told me how when you flew low, you would see the ships crew running about on the deck and then he had to pull it up to go over the ship he was attacking! What was interesting about this story was this! We were on our boat at the time and as dear Uncle Alf was telling me this an R.A.F twin engined plane was flying at eye level towards us on the flying bridge and it too had to raise its self up to miss us! It really gave me chills at the time! R.I.P Uncle Alf and Uncle Victor an uncle I never knew! Thank you for that interesting info on the Wellington! I loved it!
If you want to see a nearly intact Wellington, go to the Brooklands Air museum. The canvas covering is gone, but everything else is there. The aircraft was found by accident in Loch ness during a sonar search for Nessie. The crew had bailed out at low altitude in freezing fog thinking they were going to hit the mountains on their return journey, but the aircraft flat landed on the lake - and you can see all the props still in place but bent back by the water landing. And you can walk through the airframe - truly amazing. Its been restored brilliantly by volunteers.
My Grandfather was a Wellington Pilot, a Squadron Leader in #69 Sqd 2 TAF. Flew it operationally until the final day of the war. Night reconnaissance and tactical bombing. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you for your grandfathers services! I had an Uncle that flew them too! R.I.P to your Grandfather and my Uncle and another that was a navigator that did not come back in his first raid! sigh!
Love the 'Wimpy. My father, as a bowser crewman serviced the aircrew from 1940 through to 1945 with 425 Sqdn in England, North Africa and back in England again changing to the Halifax III. He left a great diary behind . . . and left me with understanding and admiration for them all.
Hey there, This is a reupload of the original video. I'm sorry for that. It's the first time I had to take down a video and I hope the last. I'm very sorry for all those who lost their comments and had RU-vid recommend the same content for the second time. For those that want to know what happened: The original video had a bad mistake on the Notable Pilots section, where I stated: "(...) first of only three New Zealanders to have received the Victoria Cross (...)". This is of course untrue. I changed it to what it was supposed to be "(...) first of only three New Zealand airmen to have received the Victoria Cross (...)". The third picture and name were also wrong, and I replaced it with the correct one: Lloyd Trigg. Thank you all for watching, and a special thanks to all the New Zealanders for their patience, I know there is plenty of you watching my videos. 👍
@@capo.88 Here is an example of someone who doesn't bother to correct their mistakes; Jiro Horikoshi: Father of the Japanese Zero Fighter Plane ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vJl0ctrfKM0.html While they got it right in the Video title - throughout this video - the presenter refers to the A6M as a *_BOMBER_* ... and it's still there. I gave the guy hell about it when I first saw it and he's done _nothing_ to fix it except maybe changed the title. It's to bad because other than that it's got a lot of good information in it. I can't help though but believe that the guy who wrote the material (which was clearly not the presenter) wrote it show that the guy doing the presenting - had no idea what so ever what he was saying .... It's Still there. They obviously are NOT going to fix it. This guy is a presenter in a lot of videos - but - I would never again watch anything he did. .
In one book I read it said Barnes Wallis was having trouble getting a Wellington bomber allocated to his test program for the bouncing bombs. A snooty official at the Air Ministry wanted to know why Wallis had the nerve to ask for such a valuable aircraft for an experimental program. Once Wallis explained that he was the designer of the Wellington things went a lot better!
I always thought it could be changed into a cargo plane like the DC-3. Britain never really had their own cargo plane. In most ww2 footage the British use C-47s.
Thx for posting. I am currently building a model Wellington on my channel and it is nice to see that this fantastic piece of engineering has not been forgotten!
Wonderful aircraft. One thing you didn't mention was that it wasn't fully retired from RAF service until the mid 1950s (not sure of the exact date) when they were finally replace by the Vickers Varsity as crew trainers.
I believe one weakness of the Wellington was it’s vulnerability to flank attacks not having a dorsal turret. When the plane was designed flank attacks were not usually performed . A dorsal turret was fitted on a trial basis but much reduced the speed and performance of the aircraft and was not proceeded with.
Thanks. Navigation realy was an issue in the beginning of the war, and under the attac on Brunsbüttel sep 4 1939, one of the Wellingtons got quite lost, and attacced Esbjerg in Denmark instead, so, it hit another country, witch was not in the war yet. One of the bombs landed about 200 meters from where my mother lived, fortunately noone was hurt. But Brittain was forced to pay reparations to Denmark.. And no wonder it resembled airship construction, it was dessigned by Barnes Wallis, who worked on the illfaithed airship R 100. And he dessigned the bouncing bomb, Upkeep, used to attac the Ruhr-dams in may 1943.
The R100 airship was illfated because the British airship developments overall were abandoned. The R100 was built by private enterprise. The R101 was built by the government. The R100 was a success and conducted an intercontinental trans-Atlantic return flight. Engineer Neville Shute Norway, later to become popular novellist Neville Shute, recounted that some responsibility was felt for the tragic crash in Europe with all lives lost of the R101, the competing government-built airship. The success of the Atlantic crossing by the R100 may have forced the builders of the R101 into prematurely conducting a long intercontinental flight before the R101 was completely flightworthy. The British adventure into airships to compete with German airships was discontinued.
@@DARANGULAFILM I am sorry, I mistook the numbers! Yes, the private airship was good. I read Neville Shutes book on it, and would very mutch like to read it again..
@@noahwail2444 No need for sorry. I did exactly the same thing a few years back. One forms the assumption that the government project had the lowest number and the privateer would have been given the next number.
Father flew in Wimpy's and then to Lancasters. He said if not for an injury, I may not be here to tell the story,. During his convalescence, his unit took heavy losses over the Ruhr Valley, Thanks.
i know the mossie was a stunning success but though i knew the wellingtons ("Wimpy") could take phenomenal punishment and were OTU workhorses I had no idea this is all news. An excellent plane by the sound of it.
My uncle, a farmer, came across the belly of Wellington while ploughing a field. It had belly landed after developing a fault after taking off during the war. All crew survived apparently.
Love this plane. The geodetic airframe was perhaps one of the top three aviation ideas by Barnes Wallis and he had so many brilliant ones. A truly great man.
My grandfather trained on Wellington Mk X but flew his combat missions on, mostly, the Halifax and later Mosquito. Post war he flew the Vickers Warwick, which was basically an upsized Wellington. You could maybe have mentioned the Warwick as it was essentially a Wellington variant.
Hey there. Yes unfortunately I didn't have time to go down that path as I like to keep the videos around 12 minutes. But in the far future there will probably be a video about the Warwick. If everything goes to plan.
My Uncle Harry Carty was a pilot and flew with the RCAF although he was British his crew was mixed Australian and Canadian. They were all lost over the North sea on their 7th mission .
Nice work Sir, first time I’ve come across this channel and what a debut upload! There’s so little spoken about this and a few others that we’re all aware of so as an English man I wish you the very best and I’ll subscribe and tell my friends. 🎧🇬🇧👏
Also very sad only two left the last ever built at RAF Museum Hendon, and a very early one recovered from Loch Ness and now at the excellent Vickers Museum Weybridge.
@@AllthingsWW2 The command pilot and radio operator survived the crash and were rescued by the Italians - the radio operator died the next day and the pilot two weeks later. The rest of the crew are buried in unidentified graves in the Tripoli War Cemetery. The pilot has an incorrect date of death listed in the British documentation (which causes endless confusion). (I found the Italian POW casualty reports on line some years ago). My uncle was actually listed as “lost at sea” in the Middle East in official documents. I only found the records by tracing the first pilot he was flying with as second pilot. The radio operator and pilot bookend five unidentified graves.
@@allangibson2408 That is very interesting! As my uncle who was in a thousand amber raid and it was his first was never found but I think I am right in saying that I think one of the crew were found in the sea off of a country that I cannot remember for now! I have not even tried to find out how my uncle could be located or why a crew member was found in the sea?? R.I.P it is very sad hey! Sigh
My father was in the RAF and flew in Weltons he was a navigator odservior and met office and would go up and look at cloud formation and served in Exeter, then in Egypt and in India in Liberators until 1947. The plan had sid gunners to compensate for no top guner. I have been to Colon Cathedral where the relics of the Wise Men
This video shows that the B-17 could carry as much bomb load as the Lancaster. The B-17's bomb load was optimised for speed and altitude and range. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tIQj2qfpXSg.html
For it's size and power the Wellington could carry a heavy bomb load, from memory, 8,000lbs, range would be cut heavily at that, only France, Holland and perhaps the Ruhr being attainable. The usual bombload was 4000lb which a Wimpy could carry to Berlin.
As I understand it Barnes Wallis was on the team that perfected the geodetic structure, but was not the *sole* inventor, this appears to be a common mistake that it is attributed to him only.
Hey Awesome vids... keep it going :)) And small request from me: could you do more vids about russian fighters (LaGGs La5s and other Yaks)? In my opinion they are really underrated and there is lack of technical informations about them too. Ur vids would be made right in point :))
British and American heavy bombers made a significant impact in winning the WW2. If the Germans copied the four engined Lancaster and had an active force of 500 bombers, Germany would have won the war. The four engined bombers would destroy all Red Army assembly areas and invasion fleets. The Germans never understood this.
The question I have ist, was the geodetic construction easily repairable in case of battle damage, much more easily in fact than aircraft built in conventional aluminium monocoque construction?
Years ago, one of my flight instructors (an RCAF maintenance tech) told us about that, saying that the flight characteristics of the wellington towing a glider had deteriorated a great deal. They measured a 4 foot stretching of the fuselage that was apparently not noticeable visibly.
The Wellington is also the fore runner of the Mosquito. The latter being the former cut down without the front and rear gunners. Both were made primariarly of wood.
Some used the retractable 'dustbin', later on the Lancaster featured a belly gun on one or two marks. Frankly night bombers might have been better equipped without defensive armament.
I always thought that the Wellington was easy prey to enemy fighters with no fuselage turret or side guns those poor souls that flew it probably thought that they wouldn't last long
All British bombers were easy meat for German fighters when used in daylight raids; that's why they moved to night bombing. The Battle, Whitley and Hampden were retired from front line duty, The most adaptable designs, the Wellington and Blenheim continued. The Wellington becoming exclusively a night bomber in RAF duty. Defensive armament was less relevant here, navigational aids to elude German night fighters more important, hence the development of 'Gee', 'Oboe' and other radar and the beginning of what would be called 'ECM', electronic countermeasures. The USAAF, a tactical airforce, meanwhile continued daylight raids, so aircraft were heavily armed- at the expense of bombload and range.
I am sorry to her that! I had an uncle that did a thousand bomber raid as a Navigator and it was his first raid and he did not come back! Sigh We owe them a lot hey!
It was THE bomber in the Far East right to the end of the war. My friend was a rear gunner on Lancasters, but flew in Stirlings and Wellingtons too when he was in the OTU. One crewman - the navigator got killed by the propellers when they were getting out of the plane after a flight. He said they had to sit in the plane for 6 hours and there was a mound of sand under the aircraft to soak up the blood.
One of the least known facts about the Wellington is that it could acommodate much larger bombs than the US B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator, like the 4000 lb "cookie" Type HC 4000 LB, first carried by the Welliongton mark B.II version
I'm surprised they didn't produce a dedicated sub-hunter type like the TseTse version of the Mosquito, removing the forward gunner and turret ball and replacing it with a fixed group of armour-piercing cannons powerful enough to penetrate the pressure hull of a surfaced submarine and aligned with the dazzling lamp...
