081B - Inside the Bristol Blenheim

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CLASS: Light Mid-Range Bomber

YEAR OF DESIGN: 1935

CREW: 3

LENGTH:  42 feet 7 inches

WINGSPAN: 56 feet 4 inches

MAX AIRSPEED: 266 MPH

CEILING: 27,260 feet

TYPICAL ARMAMENT

1 x 7.7 mm Port Side-Mounted Machine Gun

2 x 7.7 mm Belly-Mounted rear-facing Machine Guns

2 x 7.7 mm Machine Guns in top Turret

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1,200-lb total wing-mounted bomb load

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Like the American B-17 Bomber, the Bristol Blenheim was just past its prime as the War started. Although it found heavy use over England’s skies during the Battle of Britain in 1939, newer bombers from Bristol Aeroplane Company (like the Beaufort and Beaufighter) would outperform the Blenheim and relegate it to use in less important theatres such as the Indian Ocean.

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Another peculiar aspect of the Blenheim was its lack of dedicated front-facing machine guns in either the nose or the wings. In fact, only two of the three sets of machine guns faced forward. One was located on the top turret while the other was a side-mounted machine gunner’s nest located on the port (left) side of the bomber. This made the bomber very weak against attacks from below as well as low on the starboard side (the pilot’s 3 o-clock). For this reason, Blenheim Bombing Squadrons had tight formations and had to rely heavily on a “wingman” approach to defense.

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The Blenheim, which was much better equipped to attack land targets, was employed in early attacks on both Japanese-held Burma and parts of Papua, New Guinea, often facing off against the Japanese Army’s Ki-43 “Oscar”. It’s main role during the defense of the Indian Ocean was that of coastal anti-submarine patrol, strafing and bombing any targets that lurked near Allied ports throughout the Bay of Bengal.

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