A Blenheim with the short Mk I nose at RIAT, 2015 | |
Role | |
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Manufacturer | Bristol Aeroplane Company |
Designer | Frank Barnwell |
First flight | 12 April 1935 |
Introduction | 1937 |
Retired | 1944 (United Kingdom)1958 (Finland) |
Primary users | Royal Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Finnish Air Force Royal Yugoslav Air Force |
Number built | 4,422 |
Variants | Bristol Beaufort Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke |
Deliveries of the new 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, except in Canada where Fairchild Canada built the Type 149 under licence as the Bolingbroke. The Type 160 Bisley was also developed from the Blenheim but was already obsolete when it entered service..
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An airworthy Blenheim was rebuilt from a scrapped Bolingbroke over a 12-year period, only to crash at an airshow at Denham within a month of completion in 1987.
The Blenheim typically carried a crew of three – pilot, navigator/bombardier and wireless (radio) operator/air gunner.
Armament comprised a single forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine gun outboard of the port engine and a .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun in a semi-retracting Bristol Type B Mk I dorsal turret firing to the rear.