GIANT BOMBERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 January 1941, Page 2

GIANT BOMBERS

DELIVERY IN AUSTRALIA SHORTLY.

POWERFUL AMERICAN AIRCRAFT.

An official statement received from the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, San Diego, recently, the aviation correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald" reports, was than 26 Model 32 four-engined land-plane bombers will be delivered to the Royal Air Force before March 1.

These large bombers, the correspondent observes, are similar to the Consolidated prototype Model 32 first flown late in 1939. and marked Consolidated’s return to the land-plane manufacture. They have incorporated in them the latest military features to meet the combat requirements learned from the war.

While performance figures are confidential, it is more likely that there planes equal—and probably exceed—the official statement issued in reference to the prototype, which stated: "This aeroplane, in preliminary examination. gives evidence of living up to the advancements in aerodynamic and performance characteristics predicted These include a speed of over 300 miles per hour, a range of approximately 3.000 miles, and a bomb-carrying capacity of about four tons." These planes arc capable of carrying from England a full bomb load almost to tiny sector of the war zone in Europe and return non-stop, continues the statement, or they can be operated by shuttling between England and British bases.

Their speed and defence and attack armament give them adequate protection from all angles. The planes are full cantilever four-engine, all-metal, high-wing, monoplanes, with high aspect ratio wings and retractable landing gear. Eowlcr flaps aid this highspeed aircraft m take-offs and landings. Their landing gear is of tricycle type, with single wheel forward. Approximate dimensions arc: Wing span 110 feet, fuselage length 04 feet, and height 19 feet.