My father flew in these aircraft, along with others, during WWII. On D-Day he was involved with dropping paratroops and gliders. I have been unable to complete my collection of videos of the aircraft he flew in as I have only a very short video of the Albemarle. I would appreciate information as to where I can find a decent video of this aircraft. Thanking you in advance Pete (New Zealand)
Armstrong-Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle
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CharlesBronson
Senior Master Sergeant
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice one.
Quite a hump in that airfield - one of the Albermarles appeared to get airborne twice !
Quite a hump in that airfield - one of the Albermarles appeared to get airborne twice !
CharlesBronson
Senior Master Sergeant
edited----
CharlesBronson
Senior Master Sergeant
Indeed, definately that was not a plain, but I suppose you cant be picky in wartimes.
Does anyone have pictures/drawings of the Albemarle prototype? I understand it had a ventral "dustbin" turret. would like to get more info on that if possible.
Without getting into the rather confusion series of specifications that resulted in the Albemarle, it was a development of Bristol's Type 155 which did indeed have both a dorsal and ventral turret, in this case cannon armed.
The Albermarle was initially planned to retain two turrets, though now machine gun armed, but the ventral turret was dropped from the specification before the prototype was built. Remember that the Albermarle was never configured as a bomber and that the one dorsal turret it eventually got was a manual 2 gun version rather than the originally intended powered 4 gun version.
Cheers
Steve
The Albermarle was initially planned to retain two turrets, though now machine gun armed, but the ventral turret was dropped from the specification before the prototype was built. Remember that the Albermarle was never configured as a bomber and that the one dorsal turret it eventually got was a manual 2 gun version rather than the originally intended powered 4 gun version.
Cheers
Steve
CharlesBronson
Senior Master Sergeant
I think the proper armament of this type was never an priority, with so many better designs the Albermale was not use in the frontline.
Hmmm...could have sworn I saw her armed at least with the four gun turret a la BP Defiant. Back to the stacks!
I've seen pictures of Albemarle's with a four gun turret too. I would be interested to know which and why.
As far as I know only the B Mk.I was supposed to be so equipped, but I'm sure I've seen a glider tug, presumably a GT Mk.I, which retains the turret. It wasn't supposed to!
Cheers
Steve
Such is war I guess
fubar57
General
This the photo Jim? This is the second prototype, P1361, 1941.
Geo
Geo
Not sure. Will have to check Geo.
There is an operational one with a 4 banger, albeit as a troop transport.
Another one of those myths lost to time, I'm afraid, Steve. The AW.41 Albemarle was John Lloyd's own design and was not based on the Bristol 155. Sadly, the myth has been perpetuated in Oliver Tapper's Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft since 1913 (Putnam), so it's now widely read as being truth, but it's fiction.
Albemarle V1599 was prototype of the ST.Mk.1 variant and was fitted with the BP turret but the guns were removed - there's photos of it taken in 1944 in a couple of books. A possible explanation is that prototypes were converted from already built aircraft complete with armament and modified post production. It might explain the anomalies we see here.
