| List of Bristol Blenheim operators | |
|---|---|
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| A Finnish Blenheim Mk IV |
The following are units which operated the Bristol Blenheim:
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Eight captured ex-Royal Yugoslav Air Force Mk I aircraft were acquired by the ZNDH from the Germans after the April invasion in 1941. [4] Several survived to the end of the War, with one retreating to Klagenfurt Austria upon the collapse of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in May 1945. [5]
Finland was the first export order for the Blenheim and 18 Mark Is were delivered between 29 July 1937 and 27 July 1938. A licence to local produce the aircraft was granted in April 1938 but none of the 15 ordered from State Aircraft Factory were delivered before the Russian invasion. Twelve new Mark IVs were diverted from RAF production and these were followed by 12 former RAF Mark Is.
One damaged Blenheim Mk IV was captured during Battle of France in 1940. It was later repaired and used as special training aircraft from 1940 until 1942. [8]
The Hellenic Air Force in its campaigns against Italy and Germany in 1940 and 1941, operated 12 Mk IVs (delivered before WWII without sights, bomb racks, wireless radios and intercoms) and 6 Mk Is (delivered in February 1941). [9] In the Middle East, the Hellenic Air Force operated 19 Mk IVs (from January 1942 till January 1943) and 31 Mk Vs (from January 1943 till September 1943).
One Blenheim Mk IV was captured during the Indonesian National Revolution from the IJAAF. It was re-engined with Nakajima Sakae engines. [10]
Blenheim Mk.IV N3589 of No. 40 Squadron RAF landed in error at Pantelleria on 13 September 1940 and was evaluated at Guidonia airfield near Rome. [11] One more was captured in Yugoslavia while two were seized in Italian East Africa but were recaptured when this territory fell into British hands. [12] N3589 might be the Mk.IV appearing in a non-flying role in the movie Un Pilota Ritorna (1942) directed by Roberto Rossellini.
At least one Blenheim Mk I and two Blenheim Mk IV wrecks were discovered in Semarang, Java in August 1947. It was either captured during the Malayan campaign or the Dutch East Indies campaign. [13]
Germany provided 6 captured ex-Royal Yugoslav Air Force Mk I aircraft to Romania in 1941, [14] where they joined 12 Mk Is previously purchased from Britain.
The Royal Yugoslav Air Force acquired 24 Mk I aircraft from RAF stocks and subsequently undertook a licensed production run of some 36 aircraft. Tooling up for the production of the Mk IV was about to commence when interrupted by the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Some 20 partly completed airframes, as well as production tools and spare parts were subsequently sold by Germany to Finland. [14]
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 modified design as the Type 142M for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber.
The Supermarine Stranraer is a flying boat designed and built by the British Supermarine Aviation Works company at Woolston, Southampton. It was developed during the 1930s on behalf of its principal operator, the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was the RAF's last and fastest biplane flying boat.
The Blackburn Shark was a carrier-borne torpedo bomber designed and built by the British aviation manufacturer Blackburn Aircraft. It was originally known as the Blackburn T.S.R., standing for "torpedo-spotter-reconnaissance", in reference to its intended roles. The Shark was the last of Blackburn's biplane torpedo bombers.
The Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke is a maritime patrol aircraft and trainer used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Produced by Fairchild-Canada, it was a license-built version of the Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber.
No. 211 Squadron RAF was a squadron in the Royal Air Force active from 1917 to 1919 and from 1937 to 1946. In World War I it operated as a bomber and later a reconnaissance unit on the Western Front. In World War II it operated as a medium bomber unit in the Middle East and Far East and later as a strike fighter unit in the Far East, equipped with, successively, the Bristol Blenheim, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.
404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron is a long range patrol and training squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The squadron was originally No. 404 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and later the Canadian Forces Air Command.
Flying Regiment 4 was a bomber aircraft regiment of the Finnish Air Force. The regiment was formed on 1 January 1938 and was active during the Winter War, the Continuation War, and the Lapland War. During the Winter War, the unit flew 423 war missions, of which 22 were strategic and photo reconnaissance flights with its Bristol Blenheim Mk.Is. 18 aircraft and 21 crew members were lost.
The Royal Yugoslav Air Force, was the aerial warfare service component of the Royal Yugoslav Army. It was formed in 1918 and existed until 1941 and the Invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II.
The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-designed aircraft of the army co-operation type to serve with the RAF.
The Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia, was the air force of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state established with the support of the Axis Powers on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II. The ZNDH was founded under German authority in April 1941, following the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia.
Air warfare during World War II in Yugoslavia pitted the Yugoslav Air Force, both Royal and NOVJ, United States Army Air Force (USAAF), the Royal Air Force (RAF), including the Balkan Air Force, and Soviet Air Forces against the German Luftwaffe, the Italian Regia Aeronautica and the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia. The latter provided the majority of the support for the ground operations against the Partisans. The Allied forces engaged in an extensive bombing campaign in an effort to weaken the Axis hold on the country.
No. 8 Squadron RCAF was a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) that was in operation from 1936 to 1945.
No. 119 Squadron was an RCAF Canadian Home War Establishment (HWE) Squadron. Created 15 May 1935 in Hamilton, Ontario, it came to be tasked with coastal patrol and anti-submarine duty over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean around Nova Scotia. It was disbanded 15 March 1944 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Royal Air Force Hutton Cranswick or more simply RAF Hutton Cranswick is a former Royal Air Force station located to the south of Driffield and immediately south west of the village of Hutton Cranswick in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The station was developed as a fighter base with many Spitfire fighter squadrons passing through. It was used by the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and several Polish Fighter Squadrons of the RAF. It was opened in 1942, and disposed of in 1946.
No. 13 Service Flying Training School RCAF was a RAF flight training unit flying Avro Ansons from RCAF Station St Hubert, Quebec and later from RCAF Station North Battleford, Saskatchewan. It was part of No. 3 Training Command RCAF carrying out British Commonwealth Air Training Plan ("BCATP") operations.
787 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded in January 1956. It formed in March 1941, at HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, out of 804 Naval Air Squadron as a Fleet Fighter Development Unit. Almost every type of fighter was received by the squadron for testing and evaluation for naval use. A move to RAF Duxford in June 1941 saw it become the Naval Air Fighting Development Unit, attached to the Royal Air Force's Air Fighting Development Unit. The squadron undertook rocket projectile test, continuous development of fighter tactics and even helping Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance squadrons in evading fighter attack. Post Second World War it continued its trials task and also undertook Rebecca radar trials and ASH, US-built air-to-surface vessel radar trials.