Blenheim IVf armed with 20mm cannon

[bearoutwest]

There are several snippets on “unofficial” modifications of Blenheim IV fighters armed with various 20mm cannon arrangements.

These include the 20mm cannon in the nose of regular Blenheim IVf fighters in the Middle East – see photos and profiles in linked websites:
Photo http://www.australiansatwar.gov.au/s...=W2_id=88.html
Profile http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/fww2...lenheim-c3.jpg

The Australians at War website also has this quote (extracted from Vic Cashmore’s letter):
“…. In the Western Desert, August 1941, [my unit] 113 Squadron RAF was composed of a bomber flight and a fighter flight. The fighter aircraft (these were all Mk 4 Blenheims) had five fixed machine guns firing forward. Some of them had a 20 mm cannon also. This armament made the aircraft quite a formidable long range strafer and on one occasion several of us flew to Agedabia near the Gulf of Sirte where we split up and proceeded to strafe transport targets along the road to the South.

We caused quite a bit of damage and not only to the transport. On one pass I came in too low in my attack and we hit a telephone pole. The starboard engine was knocked about somewhat but it did keep working, after a fashion, until we were practically home. Charlie was somewhat put out because a piece of timber from the post came back and smashed the perspex on his turret.

Something I learned on this trip was that if you become a strafing target whatever you do, do not run. A moving human target is irresistible to a pilot. A few days later another strafe of the same area found the enemy up the pole mending the damage we had caused. They proved to be another irresistible target. …….”

In Roy Nesbit’s book “RAF Coastal Command in action 1939-1945”, there is a photo of a Blenheim MkIVf modified with two Hispano 20mm cannons mounted under the bomb-bay like Harrier 30mm cannon pods. I’ve tried attaching a picture below – if the attachment doesn’t work, the photo is on p.32 of Nesbit’s book and is referenced as AIR 15/560.


Does anyone have any further details of 20mm cannon armed Blenheim IVfs?


Regards, ...geoff

[Andrei Demjanko]

Geoff

MAW vol.1 by C.Shores several times described activities of these cannon-armed Blenheims, for example on 20 April 1941 (One such aircraft, T2383, was lost on this date), 1 May 1941, 8 December 1941

[udf_00]

Possibly Z5867 see http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=27502

[stefaan]

Hi. When we did the book on 15 Sqdn SAAF, 'The Eagean Pirates' I did a lot of research in trying to find drawings or references on the nose 20mm.
I even went to Duxford and spoke to the guys doing the Blenheim restoration.
Nobody there or anywhere had any info on the set up.Also looked at anything technical in our S African Archives, also nothing. The consensus at the time was that it was a design that was done at the MU's in the Mid East.
If any of you have any chance of getting to Kew and looking at ??? 113 Mu files you may find them there, or a similar place.
Stefaan Bouwer