Boulton Paul Overstrand to Malaya Oct 1940

[Admiral Beez]

It's Oct 1940, and with Japan now in FIC their lordships decide to send the remaining dozen Boulton Paul P.75 Overstrands to Singapore to join the Vickers Vilderbeasts. How would you use these into Dec 1941? By then you've also got Blenheims and Hudsons.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Night bombing from satellite airfields

 

[buffnut453]

Airfield decoys given that flying them was limited after one disintegrated in mid-air in April 1940.

Sorry for the buzz kill.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Air 20/2022 RAF Aircraft strength 3 September 1939. No Bombay listed despite 11 built to end August 1939. As of 3 September 1940 there was 1 Overstrand on inventory, a year later none. (19 built October 1935 to July 1936, then 5 more February to April 1937)

UK	Overseas	Total	Aircraft
93​	44​	137​	Gauntlet
208​	151​	359​	Gladiator
377​	2​	379​	Hurricane
247​		247​	Spitfire
925​	197​	1,122​	Total Fighter
986​	0​	986​	Battle
794​	226​	1,020​	Blenheim
195​	0​	195​	Hampden
83​	0​	83​	Harrow
0​	47​	47​	Hart L.B.
0​	31​	31​	Hardy
196​	25​	221​	Hind
0​	124​	124​	Vincent
21​	113​	134​	Wellesley
0​	95​	95​	Wapiti
147​	0​	147​	Wellington
172​	0​	172​	Whitley
2,594​	661​	3,255​	Total Bomber
0​	105​	105​	Audax
195​	37​	232​	Lysander
195​	142​	337​	Total Army Co-Op
622​	10​	632​	Anson
65​	27​	92​	Hudson
41​	58​	99​	Vildebeeste
728​	95​	823​	Total GR/GP/TB
22​	6​	28​	London
2​	0​	2​	Lerwick
10​	7​	17​	Singapore
14​	0​	14​	Stranraer
22​	17​	39​	Sunderland
4​	67​	71​	Valentia
74​	97​	171​	Total Flying Boat/Transport
378​	0​	378​	Audax
90​	0​	90​	Fury
24​	27​	51​	Gordon
0​	2​	2​	Envoy
92​	0​	92​	Hart L.B.
325​	36​	361​	Hart T.
196​	0​	196​	Harvard
157​	0​	157​	Hector
109​	0​	109​	Henley
36​	0​	36​	Heyford
150​	0​	150​	Hind T
673​	11​	684​	Magister
2​	0​	2​	Master
41​	0​	41​	Mentor
565​	10​	575​	Moth
318​	20​	338​	Oxford
5​	0​	5​	Prefect
4​	0​	4​	Scapa
7​	0​	7​	Overstrand
23​	4​	27​	Seal
220​	13​	233​	Tutor
124​	0​	124​	Wallace
3,539​	123​	3,662​	Total Trainer/Comms
42​	8​	50​	Shark
53​	0​	53​	Skua
57​	13​	70​	Swordfish
7​	4​	11​	Walrus
159​	25​	184​	Total Naval
8,214​	1,340​	9,554​	Grand Total

Overseas

Type	Aden	Far East	India	Iraq	Malta	Middle East
Fighter	16​	0​	0​	9​	0​	172​
Bomber	50​	17​	180​	95​	0​	319​
Army Co-Op	0​	9​	46​	0​	0​	87​
GR/GP/TB	0​	57​	0​	0​	0​	38​
FB/Transport	0​	14​	11​	25​	10​	37​
Trainer/Comms	3​	11​	3​	3​	7​	96​
Naval	0​	11​	0​	0​	13​	1​
Total	69​	119​	240​	132​	30​	750​

 

[Admiral Beez]

Air 20/2022 RAF Aircraft strength 3 September 1939. No Bombay listed despite 11 built to end August 1939. As of 3 September 1940 there was 1 Overstrand on inventory, a year later none. (19 built October 1935 to July 1936, then 5 more February to April 1937)

That's too bad. I was going by Wiki...

At the outbreak of the Second World War, eleven Overstrands remained in service and six were used for gunnery training. They remained in operation until May 1941, though flying was limited following the fatal mid-air breakup of Overstrand K8173 on 22 April 1940.[15]​[16]​

I am looking for opportunities where the last remaining land-based multi-engine biplane bombers could serve in secondary theatres in WW2. I see your list shows 36 Handley Page Heyfords. Perhaps our likeliest candidate is the Curtiss T-32 Condor II, of which eight were produced as BT-32 bombers, shown below.