What tasks did the British "Winner" strategic bomber experience?

Petty Company in Handley, England, began to pay attention to new advanced bombers after the successful launch of Halifax bombers in World War II. The tailless swept wing scheme has become one of their favorite plans. The Air Force was interested in this and put forward the design requirements at the beginning of 1947, with the official code name. 1949 signed a prototype development contract and manufactured two prototypes. Within Handley Petty, the original design number was HP.75, and later it was developed into HP.80 This aircraft has become one of the three famous V-series bombers. The company plans to put into active service on 195 1. Faced with many V-series bomber manufacturers, the General Staff of the Air Force has some helplessness in business distribution.

In order to avoid development risks, Handley Petty decided to test their newly designed crescent wing/tail on a minicomputer. They bought the fuselage of Huber Marin 5 10, and after a short stay, they transported it to Blackburn, where they installed crescent wings and T-tail, with code B.2 or HP.88 and internal number VX330. Because the test flight was too late, it was part of the winner's planned test. The plane crashed in the accident on August 26th, 195 1, and the test pilot Holland Broomfield died.

1952, the first HP.80 is ready. Because the runway of Handley Petty Company in Ladrette was not long enough, the plane was transported by land to Bosco Dang Kang. After being reassembled locally, WB77 1 successfully made its first flight at 65438 on February 24th of that year. Different from the original tailless design of HP.75A, HP.80 has a huge T-shaped tail and retains the crescent wing design, which can keep the critical Mach number of the whole wing consistent along the spanwise direction. Compared with Vulcan and Warriors, HP.80' s bomb bay is bigger and the crew bay is more spacious. Vulcan and Warriors are sealed cabins in series, so they are relatively narrow.

The winner's cockpit extends all the way to the nose, providing more space and better view. Because the nose radar occupies the unsealed cabin at the lower part of the nose, the winner's cockpit must be high above, so that the working space of other crew members is almost on the same plane as that of the pilot. In fact, the pilot's position is lower. According to the general bomber layout, such as B- 17 and B-24 during World War II, pilots, radio operators and bombers work in the front and lower parts of the cockpit. In June, the company won an order for 25 planes, when it was officially named the winner.

Like warriors and Vulcan, winners are just pilots with ejection seats. The original design included an integral ejection module to ensure the safety of all crew members, but the huge development cost discouraged the air force chief, and the development of this type of ejection module was terminated at 1950. So only the pilot was equipped with an ejection seat, and other crew members had to ask for help in case of emergency.

The first HP.80 and the second WB775 quickly found problems in use, especially the gravity center deviation was very serious. The aircraft produced later lengthened the front fuselage to improve this situation. This change inadvertently increases the chances of members escaping. In the original design, the members' escape exits are close to the engine air intake, which is very dangerous when parachuting, but it is much safer after the change.

The test flight has been carried out smoothly and orderly, and there have been some insignificant accidents, but in the end it was smooth and smooth. Until July 1954, 14, WB77 1 When Granfield was skimming the runway at low altitude, the tail suddenly broke, and the plane crashed on the spot, leaving no survivors. The calculation error led engineers to think that the tail wing of the aircraft was absolutely reliable, but in fact, the stress of the three bolts used for fixing exceeded the estimated value, especially when the tail wing vibrated in the airflow, the fatigue strength of the metal was insufficient and failed to yield. The second HP.80 uses four bolts to reinforce the tail wing, and is equipped with four "Sapphire" 100 series engines, with a thrust of 3600kg and the same power as the first one.

1954 September 1 1 The first test flight was successful at the Van Paul Air Show. Handley Petty's test pilots often joke about the Ministry of Defence of this new fighter: after the test flight in the North Sea, they deliberately lost contact with the ground command center, and then used the excellent performance of the aircraft at high altitude and high speed to break through the British air defense network. At that time, the British Air Force had only one kind of aircraft, and the American F- 10 1 voodoo could intercept them. Its fragile air defense system can be seen, but it just reflects the Excellence of the winner.

1955 in may, the Ministry of national defense purchased another 33 successful bidders. At the end of the same year, the flight test was completed and the aircraft was handed over to the Aerospace Electrical Engineering Bureau for further testing. The production winner B. 1 is equipped with tail reduction to overcome the metal fatigue problem and avoid the recurrence of WB77 1 tragedy.

At the beginning of 1956, the first one won the bid B.MK. 1 (hereinafter referred to as B. 1) rolled off the production line and made its first flight in February 1. This mass-produced model was refitted with Pristo Siddeley's "Sapphire" MK202.7 turbojet engine, with a thrust of 4,990 kg and a fuselage that was lengthened by nearly 6,500 kg. In the previous test flight, the winner's maximum speed was only 1 185 km/h, while test pilot Johnny. Alan is really a hero. He unexpectedly reached 1.430km/h when diving at a small angle, which made the designer feel better.

1957165438+1October, the first batch of RAF troops received B. 1 winners. 1958 In April, the RAF Bomber Command was established and began to operate, responsible for the first batch of 10 squadrons equipped with victors. Some minor changes have been made to the fuselage of the winner in service: weight reduction measures have been taken on the outer part of the wing to reduce the leading edge sag, and vortex generators have been installed on the upper part of the wing. The second batch of production B. 1A improved the booster cabin and lengthened the tail cone to install the tail early warning radar and electronic jamming equipment. The winner soon began to carry the "Yellow Sun" hydrogen bomb and became the nuclear deterrent force of the Royal Air Force. B. 1/B. 1A * * produced 50 aircraft, and 1958 stopped production.

At the end of 1955, Handley Petty introduced the modification of B.MK.2 (hereinafter referred to as B.2) by the winner, which was later proved unnecessary. Although the future development direction of bombing tactics is low-altitude attack to avoid shore-based radar, the winner B.2 still adheres to the design principle of high altitude and high speed. In fact, this persistence is worse than Vulcan. As the "Sapphire" series turbojet engine became the victim of the extreme trading behavior of the Ministry of Aviation, Rolls-Royce's "Conway" series was designated as the special engine of B.2, so the wing root, inlet and engine pod must be redesigned.

Production type B.2, four "Conway" MK201.1turbofan engines were modified, with a thrust of 7,825 kg, a wingspan of 3. 1 m longer, a tail cone improved, and the electronic equipment of the whole machine updated and put into mass production. On February 20th, 1959, the first production test flight, 1962 was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the Royal Air Force Command, and 34 aircraft were produced, one of which was delivered to the Aerospace Electrical Engineering Bureau, but it disappeared during the test flight over the Irish Sea, and the cause of the crash was unknown. Afterwards, it was estimated that the pitot tube of the aircraft was broken, which caused the aircraft to pitch automatically during supersonic flight, causing the aircraft to dive into the sea at a speed of1300 km/h.

Winner B.2 was finally used to carry out low-altitude bombing mission, and the painting was changed from the early white anti-nuclear storm flash to green-gray camouflage, and began to carry the "Lan Jian" nuclear missile. At that time, the American air-to-surface missile with crossbow just surfaced, and the British government eagerly incorporated it into V's arsenal, canceling some successful bidders who had already been on the production line.

Handley Petty is in a dilemma because the government plans to merge all military aircraft manufacturers into several groups and order only from these powerful groups in the future. This means that British Aircraft Company and Hawk Hindley Company will become the government's preferred manufacturers. Handley Petty itself is small in scale and has not merged with any company, so the prospect of the winner is not optimistic. At this time, the government appealed to resume the winner's production and promised to order 27 additional planes if Handley Petty merged with other companies. However, in the middle of the negotiation between Handley Petty and Hawk Hindley, the government cunningly changed the commitment of 27 aircraft to five, and the winner's production could not continue. 1963 In April, the last B.2 rolled off the assembly line and was delivered to the Royal Air Force in May.

On his deathbed, Sir Frederick Handley Petty cursed the bureaucracy of the British government, saying that "these misguided villains will get what they deserve". It may be a comfort for him not to see his beloved company go bankrupt in the end. At the end of 1963, the winner facing the suspension of production saw a ray of hope: the situation in Southeast Asia suddenly changed, and Indonesia threatened the British protectorate Malaysia by force. Indonesia's attitude did not converge until a large number of winners were deployed in the region. However, the government never asked to reopen the production line, and the company's hopes were dashed again.

Soon, B. 1/B. 1A, the winner in service, was replaced by B.2, the former was ordered to be converted into a tanker at 1964, with three refueling pipes, originally numbered BK.1/BK.1A. Warrior, another member of the V series, was in charge of this position at that time, but his efficiency was not good and he could not escape the fate of being laid off. 19651October, the transformation from B. 1 to K. 1 was in full swing, but the Warriors' fleet was grounded due to fatigue fracture of the girder. Low-altitude mission leads to excessive stress on soldiers' bodies, which leads to structural fatigue and fracture. Facts have proved that the aircraft is not suitable for large overload maneuver, and the Royal Air Force immediately grounded all Warriors tankers to avoid unnecessary accidents. Handley Petty's luck changed, and the demand for the winner tanker increased greatly. Six B. 1A tankers were urgently changed to tankers.

In desperation, only one refueling pod was installed in the outer wing, and the winner in the later period added another one in the belly bomb bay. The first modified aircraft was tested on April 28th, 1965, and delivered in August. The 55th Squadron of the Royal Air Force became the first unit to receive the winner BK.1A. After the tanker fleet became larger, these six BK. 1A were dramatically changed back to B.1A. In the later period, K. 1/K. 1A was equipped with the 57th, 2nd14 and 19 squadrons.

Although the production of new aircraft has stopped, Handley Petty still has a lot of work to do, and they need to develop strategic reconnaissance derivatives of winners. After a small number of B. 1 aircraft were modified experimentally and accumulated a lot of experience, 9 B.2s were modified into strategic reconnaissance aircraft NO. B(SR).2, this machine is equipped with radar plotter, F.96MK2 daytime reconnaissance camera, F.89MK3 night reconnaissance camera, F.49MK4 aerial survey camera and other equipment, and all the fire control systems matched with Lan Jian were dismantled at the same time.

B.2 was originally designed to install Lan Jian's nuclear bomb. The trailing edge of the outer wing is equipped with a huge low-resistance fairing. With a little modification, it can provide enough installation space for defense countermeasures, quick start system, wing auxiliary fuel tank and fixed leading edge flap. B(SR).2 has proved to be an excellent reconnaissance platform. It was used for 8 years before retiring, of which 3 years were changed to K.2 standard.

The winner's shutdown proved to be a huge mistake. The tanker fleet in Britain is gradually unable to cope with the tasks undertaken, and K. 1A is also close to the life limit. However, the military's demand for tankers is increasing. 1967, Handley Petty began to study the feasibility of converting the winner B.2 into a K.2 tanker. The modification plan was approved, but it was delayed again and again until the company closed down. 1970 was still not implemented when the assets were liquidated in February.

K.2 is planned to be handed over to Hawke Hindley, Handley Petty's competitor. They sneered at the original modification scheme of K.2, arbitrarily reduced the wingspan and moved the under-wing pod outward. A series of changes caused the performance of the aircraft to be worse than the previous model. This work is substantial, but the cost is also staggering, far exceeding Handley Petty's suggested budget. Finally, 24 changes of K.2 were approved, such as dismantling the bombing equipment in the original aircraft, installing aerial refueling equipment under the belly and wing, replacing the "Conway" MK20 1. 17 engine, and increasing the thrust to 9344 kg. The first K.2 made its first flight on 1 March 1972 1 May 19741belonging to the 55th and 57th squadrons and the 232nd combat refitting unit. The fleet is in service until 1988.

The winning tanker had two chances to show its talents: once in 1982, when Argentina occupied the Falkland Islands. The attack ordered a Vulcan plane to bomb the airport in Stanley, its port. The problem is that Vulcan's combat radius is not enough, even from the recent promotion, and it needs aerial refueling. The other is the Gulf War.

Because the voyage is too long, the plan needs at least 1 1 winners to feed a Vulcan. The winner should not only cheer for Vulcan, but also cheer for other winners. This kind of air relay must ensure that a winner meets Vulcan at the designated navigation point and refuels for the last time before Vulcan attacks. After the Vulcan attack, five Victory ships provided support to ensure the fuel for its return.

In the first mission, the relay refueling showed the courage of the winner's crew. When they delivered oil to Vulcan, their available fuel was reduced. Before the attack, they were not allowed to break the radio silence and call another tanker to refuel themselves. As a result, they didn't have enough oil to return to the base. Fortunately, Vulcan returned victorious in time and the restrictions on radio communication were lifted. The pilots staring at the fuel gauge can finally breathe a sigh of relief, because a tanker is taking off in an emergency and meeting them on the way back.

Due to the tight war, a large number of winners were transferred to the war zone, domestic tankers were in short supply, and some Vulcan tankers were changed to K.2 tankers. The high attendance at the Falklands War exhausted the lives of most winners. By 1986, a large number of winners had to retire, and the 57th Squadron was dissolved, leaving only the 55th Squadron still using the winners.

Time flies, and the remaining winner tankers have been in service until 1990 Gulf War. 199 1 year, they fought side by side with multinational forces, not only serving the royal air force, but also providing fuel for allied fighters including the United States. Six of them were proposed by Corporal Andy Price of the 55th Squadron, painted with nose art and named after the captain's wife or girlfriend. Their achievements are also marked on them, including an unusual "shooting down" in which a winner crashed into a truck while taxiing and destroyed it, which was the only success of the tanker.

The victor's fleet proved itself in the Gulf War, * * * completed 299 missions, with a success rate of 100%. But the winner is really old and gradually replaced by VC- 10. 199310 June 15, the fleet of the last winner, the 55th squadron, was dissolved. Except for a small number of aircraft put into storage and sealed, most of them are destined to be dismantled. From birth to retirement, the winner * * * produced 86 planes, and five survived, of which only four were properly kept.

"Winner" adopts crescent wing and high tail layout, with four engines installed at the wing root and air inlets at both sides of the wing root.

Wing: Cantilever medium-monoplane aircraft. The aspect ratio is 5.55. The chord length of the wing root is 1 1. 12m, and the wing tip is 3.01m; The relative thickness of the inner wing is 16%, the middle wing is 9%, and the outer wing is 6%. The dihedral angle of the inner wing is-1 104 mm, the middle wing is +9 14 mm, and the outer wing is-1; Installation angle11.4m; The leading edge sweepback angle of the inner wing is132.3m, the middle wing is112.2m, and the outer wing is 89.2m. All-metal structure. The inner wing is composed of two torsion boxes composed of three beams, and the outer side of the landing gear is composed of three torsion boxes composed of four beams. There are only eight bearing ribs on each wing.

The skin is a corrugated sandwich panel, the outer panel is connected with the corrugated sandwich panel by spot welding, and the inner panel is connected with rivets. The webs of beams and ribs also adopt sandwich plate structure to improve the bending stiffness. The all-metal aileron at the trailing edge of the outer wing is operated by an electro-hydraulic booster. The inner trailing edge is equipped with a fuller flap, and the outer wing leading edge is equipped with a leading edge flap, which is later changed to a fixed drooping leading edge.

Fuselage: All-metal semi-hard shell structure. The hydraulic pressure of the middle bomb door is contained in the fuselage. On both sides of the tail cone are hydraulically operated speed brake.

Tail wing: All-metal cantilever structure. A high tail with dihedral angle is adopted to avoid the influence of engine jet. The outer skin is corrugated sandwich plate. The elevator and horizontal stabilizer have two shear webs and four ribs, and the vertical stabilizer adopts a three-beam torsion box structure. The elevator is operated by an electro-hydraulic booster. The leading edges of vertical tail and horizontal tail are deiced by electric heating.

Landing gear: retractable front three points. The main landing gear of eight-wheeled small car adopts oil-gas shock absorber, which gathers forward at the wing root. The parallel two-wheel nose landing gear can be turned and retracted into the fuselage. The main wheel size is 27X6.5, and the front wheel size is 30X9.0, with disc brake and anti-skid device. The tail is equipped with anti-collision wheels and landing umbrellas.

Power plant: "Conway" 1 1, with a single takeoff thrust of 7825 kg; Conway 17, single thrust 9344 kg. Diameter 1067mm, length 3454mm, bypass ratio 0.3. The fuel is stored in the soft fuel tanks of the wing and fuselage, with an oil load of 30-32 tons. When used as a tanker, two fuel tanks are hung in the bomb bay. In order to shorten the take-off distance, each wing root can be equipped with a 1 Spectre rocket booster from Dihaveland, so that the winner can take off in a short distance on the 500-meter runway.

Cockpit: five members in a closed cockpit. Martin Baker 3L and 3LS ejection seats are used for pilots and co-pilots. In the back row are pilots, radar operators and electronic equipment operators.

System: The pressurization system keeps the pressure difference in the closed cabin at 0.63kg/cm. The hydraulic system is used to control landing gear retraction, bomb hatch, front and rear flaps, speed brake, front wheel steering and wheel braking. The power supply is four 200V 400Hz three-phase alternators, which provide 28V DC through the converter, 1 15V 400Hz three-phase alternating current through the transformer and115v1600 Hz single-phase alternating current through the inverter. The emergency power supply is a 200 V 400 Hz three-phase alternator and two 28 V batteries driven by ramjet turbine.

Electronic equipment: the nose is equipped with radar, and the tail cone is equipped with electronic countermeasures. Ordnance, a "Lan Jian" nuclear missile, half buried in the belly bomb bay, or 35 454 kg conventional bombs, or 4 American "Tiancrossbow" air-to-surface missiles (2 on each side under the wing).