The Atlantian 'V Bomber', unlike the UK Atlantia only produced one design, the Vindicator shown below in all it's forms. The aircraft featured a thick highly swept wing and and in it's original form was designed to deliver free fall nuclear devices if the cold war went hot. The B.2 introduced a bulged bomb bay and revised defensive armament in the form of a 20mm Gatling replacing the earlier pair of 30mm revolver cannon. The B2 introduced a more advanced radar bomb-sight in a fairing under the fuselage which was retained and updated until the B.5 variant came on-line in1975. The B.3 variant was a steppingstone towards the B.5 (B.4 not being pursued) and featured terrain following equipment which belies it's changing role from a high level strategic bomber to that of a low level interdictor, whilst retaining it's nuclear capability. The B.5 is quite a different beast from the B.3 that it replaced. It had a noticeable dorsal hump containing the non-flightdeck crew members who until now were housed in the bowels of the fuselage as well as comprehensive ECM/EW systems and additional fuel tanks. The bomb-bay was again revised in the B.5 becoming slightly more capacious than before. As well as the revised bomb-bay the B.5 featured external fuel tanks and two hardpoints attached to a revised outer wing section. The tail design also changed with the B.5 getting a taller tail fin and larger ECM boom. The defensive guns were removed to save weight and the tail cone replaced with a more conventional one. The B.5 formed the second line of strategic deterrence of the Atlantian Government from 1975-1991 when the type was retired from service having seen action in the Gulf War as both a precision bomber, tanker and reconnaissance aircraft. B.5s also went to the Falklands in 1982 in the tanker and bomber role to support British efforts to re-secure the islands from Argentinian occupation. The role of the Vindicator can be thought now to be fulfilled by the FA-15 and FA-127.
Schemes the B.5 carried
[Low Level Interdiction Scheme - 1975-81]
[Grey Lady Scheme - 1981-91]
[Pink Panther Scheme - 1989-91]
Points of Interest
- Un-refueled range of 4,500km
- 17km service ceiling
- Top speed of 0.95 Mach at altitude and 0.79 at low altitude
- Powerplant (originally) 4x 50kN class turbojets (B.3 onwards) 2x 100kN class turbofans
- Crew of 5-6 depending on version
- Max. payload of 15500kg for the B.5
- Total of 120 built, only 64 were upgraded to B.5 standard, the rest being scrapped.
~Regards, Mark.