Bristol Blenheim
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Key facts
- Type
- Medium bomber Night fighter Reconnaissance
- Manufacturer
- Bristol Aeroplane Company
- Designer
- Frank Barnwell
- Primary users
- Royal Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force , Finnish Air Force , Royal Yugoslav Air Force
- Number built
- 4,422
- First flight
- 12 April 1935
- Retired
- 1944 (United Kingdom) , 1958 (Finland)
- Variants
- Bristol Beaufort , Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Operator
- Hellenic Air Force
- Manufacturer
- Bristol Aeroplane Company
- Image
- Bristol Blenheim Finland 23019.jpg
- Length
- 12.98
- Has use
- light bomber
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- Bristol Blenheim
- first flight
- 1935-04-12
- total produced
- 4422
- wingspan
- 17.17
- vehicle range
- 1270
- name
- Bristol Blenheim
- powered by
- Bristol Mercury
- service retirement
- 1944-00-00
- service entry
- 1937-00-00
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. Development began with the Type 142, a civil airliner, after a challenge from the newspaper proprietor Lord Rothermere to produce the fastest commercial aircraft in Europe. The Type 142 first flew in April 1935, and the Air Ministry ordered a bomber development as the Type 142M for the Royal Air Force (RAF).
Deliveries of the Blenheim to RAF squadrons commenced on 10 March 1937. In service the Type 142M became the Blenheim Mk.I which would be developed into the long-nosed Type 149, the Blenheim Mk.IV, while in Canada Fairchild Canada built the Type 149 under licence as the Bolingbroke. The Type 160 Bisley was also developed from the Blenheim.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bristol Blenheim” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.