With eswube's help, i bring you today a nice british transport aircraft.
The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle was a British transport airplane developed during the second world war.
It was twin engined and initially it was intended to be a medium bomber but it never served in that role and was used for general and special transport duties like paratrooper transport or glider towing.
It was made famous because it transported the British 6th airborne division to Normandy during the operation overlord and later they transported the 1st airborne division into Arnhem during operation market garden.
Many variants were made:
- Albemarle B.Mk.I: Airplanes built as reconnaissance bombers, powered by two Bristol Hercules XI 14-cylinder radial engines which became the standard ones in the series. It was armed with a dorsal turret equiped with four 7,7mm (0.303in) browning machine guns. Some initial prototypes had also a retractable ventral turret equiped with two 7,7mm (0.303in) vickers K machine guns. This turret was initially labeled as "assault turret". It had also a bomb bay. All the aircraft of this variant were later converted to the glider transport or special transport role.
Albemarle ST Mk.I: A special transport version with the bombing equipment removed and the rear fuselage tank removed. The four gunned dorsal turret was replaced by two Vickers K machine guns covered in a crystal sliding hood. A freight door was added at the right side of the airplane.
Albemarle ST Mk.I VVS: An unofficial version made to serve in the USSR. It was a regular ST Mk.I without the freight door.
Albemarle GT Mk.I Series II: Similar to the Mk.I series but fitted with a malcolm glider towing equipment. The bomb bay was converted to accommodate three aditional fuel tanks.
Albemarle ST MK.I Series II: A regular ST version fitted with glider-towing equipment.
Albemarle GT Mk.II: A paratroop carrier and glider-tug version. It was able to carry ten paratroopers which jumped through a hole made in the rear side of the fuselage (just where the assault turret was present in some units). A tubular guard was also installed to prevent free drops from fowling the elevators present in the interior cabin. It was also fitted with the glider-towing equipment. It was first delivered to the RAF in January 1943.
Albemarle GT Mk.III: An Mk.II version powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin III engine which was never made.
Albemarle GT.Mk.IV: A version powered by two 1,600 hp Wright GR-2600-A5B Cyclone 14 air-cooled radial engines. Only one prototype was built.
Albemarle GT.Mk.V: Similar to the Mk.II but with the addition of fuel jettisoning equipment.
Albemarle GT.Mk.VI Series I: Same as the Mk.V but with the same freight door present at the ST versions to make possible the loading of bulky materials which may be required for paratroop operations.
Albemarle GT.Mk.VI Series II: Same as the Mk.VI Series I but with additional radio equipment fitted for glider-towing. The dorsal turret was removed in order to get more space leaving therefore the aircraft unarmed.
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/nckd43v5ce2yqz0/Armstrong%20Whitworth%20Albermale%20-%20blank.png)
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/5jzxmlthivka75l/Armstrong%20Whitworth%20Albermale%20-%20ENG.png)
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/b2mz0f89h8t0z9c/Armstrong%20Whitworth%20Albermale%20-%20SOV.png)
Also, don't miss the AU variants and users that i drawn for this airplane here:
http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... 98#p141198
![[ img ]](http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b579/kennyisstillalive/Boeing%20E3%20Sentry_zpsiyddypzx.png~original)
![[ img ]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb219/darthpanda_NL/Sneak%20Preview_zpsswfagkwr.png)