Post by Diarist on Feb 12, 2015 12:47:31 GMT 1
We had our Abyssinia meeting late today because Geoffrey de Havilland visited us this morning. Air Vice-Marshall Freeman arrived first and although he is here to join our planning team he will also attend the de Havilland meeting.
The de Havilland team arrived punctually just before 1000hrs. R. Bishop, R. Clarkson and C. Wilkins accompanied Geoffrey de Havilland. After introductions they showed us what they had offered the Air Ministry. They had calculated that their 7 ton bomber equipped two 1,000hp RR engines and carrying 2 x 500lb bombs at a range of up to 1500 miles would achieve a speed of 400 mph. Twice the speed of all existing British bombers and appreciably faster than the monoplane fighters being designed. That got the attention of Prince Edward and the AVM who were hearing this for the first time.
I asked whether 4 x 500lb to 1200 miles and 6 x 500lb to 900 miles are realistic figures and they replied they need to check the figures but it sounds feasible. We told them that the Fairey Battle had been cancelled so RR, (Merlin), engines would be available. They showed us several sketches and we said that the tail wheel version is better because we need the nose of the aircraft for other versions:
Photo-Reconnaissance, unarmed, with a variety of cameras,
Fighter with 4 x .303 machine-guns in the nose and 4 x 20mm cannon in the belly,
Torpedo-bomber, unarmed, with 1 x 21" torpedo,
Night-fighter with a radar in the nose and 4 x 20mm cannon in the belly,
Hunter-aircraft armed with an automatic QF 2 pdr in the bomb-bay/nose to be used against U-Boats or armoured targets,
Fighter version with 4 x 20 mm cannon in the bomb-bay behind the pilots pointing forwards and upwards at an angle of 60° - an idea from our scientists.
We also discussed a 'transport-aircraft' to take "passengers" behind enemy-lines and maybe we'll have a few more ideas later.
This meeting was great - the de Havilland team was glad that someone was finally taking them seriously. We decided on secretly building a prototype - designing and building it away from the rest of their firm - then showing it to the RAF and Air Ministry after we were satisfied with the design. The presentation would determine the future of this aircraft so nothing could go wrong. Captain Wales would be the Project Officer for Project Mosquito. We agreed that the speed of the aircraft is the prime factor. We assigned it the Air Ministry number B 27/35 and explained that we couldn't fund it so do they have enough funds to design it as a private venture? They did, so that ended a very constructive meeting.
Prince Edward and I then took AVM Freeman to our "Officer's Club" in Saffron Walden hoping to meet others from the Abyssinian group. General Gort went with the de Havilland team to see their factory which is not too far from our HQ.