[bearoutwest]

Thanks Gerry.


While I've got the Blenheim books out - a few more bits of interest...

From Warner's book The Bristol Blenheim - A Complete History:
- Blenheims that served with the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (just some partial extracts of armament trials)

Martlesham Heath (to 03-09-1939)
Mk.I
K7168 (performance & armament trials)
L1201, L1253, L1495, L8662, L8689 (armament trials)
L1424 (prototype Mk.If) ****
L6594 (performance trials and then 37mm COW cannon trials)
L6787 (twin 20mm cannon trials)

Boscombe Down (from 03-09-1939)
Mk.IV
L4838 (gunnery trials)
V6000 (H2S trials)

- Blenheims that served with RAE at Farnborough
(most of the list does not specify what purpose)
Mk.I
...long list that includes L1424

Mk.IV
L4838, L4843, L4888 (centimetric radar nose)

From Roy C Nesbit's book Coastal Command in Action 1939-1945
- caption (can't scan at present, with scanner buried under Blenheim books...perhaps later):
"A gun pack beneath the fuselage of a Blenheim IVF was modified by Coastal Command in January 1941 to take two Hispano 20-mm cannons. However, the normal armament in the pack was four .303-in Browning machine-guns."
It's not the regular gun pack housing a pair of 20mm Hispanos, it's custom built with cylindrical fairings for each individual Hispano. For those who are familiar with British archival photograph numbers, it's Ref: AIR 15/560. I can't tell from the angle if it's a Mk.IVf or a Mk.I (perhaps L6787).


...geoff