Manchester AU

[Sheepster]

Much as I would like to claim design rights, BP was working on new cannon turrets, the Type H on top and Type O below, that would be fitted to the Stirling Mk.II. Their aerodynamics was checked on the mini-Stirling, but both were dropped so BP could concentrate on other turret designs.



Details of the Type H Mk.II Turret:
Power system: Modified BP electro-Hydraulic
Armament: 2 x 20 mm (0.78 in) Hispano Mk.II cannon
Ammunition: 300-rounds per gun
Ammunition feed assisters: Drive sprockets for the 2-Guns driven by separate electromagnetic clutches from a common electric motor. Clutches activated by belt tension.
Operating limits:
Traverse: 45°
Elevation: 50°
Depression: 9°
Power requirements:
Voltage: 24V
Current: Normal 50-amps; high speed 75-amps
Turrets speeds: Max: 35°sec; Min: Less than 0.25°sec
Gunfire interrupter: Electro-mechanical type providing separate control for each Gun
Turret weight: Empty: 227 kg (500 lb); Armed: 449 kg (1,100 lb)
Gun Sight: Gyro Gun Sight Mk.IC (proposed)
Turret Dome: Not detachable, consisting of Perspex & Metal Panels mounted on frame members. The Sighting Panel could be powered to slide upwards leaving a clear space for Night Sighting
Turret sizes:
Overall height: 176 cm (69.25 in)
Dome diameter: 112 cm (44 in)
Dome to skin line: 65 cm (25.25 in)
Fuselage opening: 94 cm (36.75 in)

The Boulton Paul Type H Mk.I Turret
Aircraft type: Handley Page Halifax, Short Stirling
Type & Mark: H.Mk.I
Position: Mid-upper
Guns: 2 x 20 mm (0.78 in) Hispano Mk.II
Traverse:
Elevation:
Depression:
Status: Cancelled before Production

The Boulton Paul Type O Mk.I Turret
Aircraft type: Handley Page Halifax, Short Stirling
Type & Mark: O Mk.I
Position: Mid-under
Guns: 2 x 20 mm (0.78 in) Hispano Mk.II
Traverse: 90°
Elevation: 0°
Depression: 70°
Status: Cancelled before Production

[Hood]

Excellent, a more comprehensive reply than I was expecting!

They do look quite weighty and draggy, probably not a good choice in hindsight for the Stirling but very interesting proposals nonetheless.

[Sheepster]

Canadian Vickers

Vickers Sons & Maxim of the UK set up a Canadian shipbuilding subsidiary in Montreal in 1911 to build vessels for the emergent Canadian navy. By 1923 the company expanded into aviation with a contract to build Vickers Viking flying boats for the new Canadian Air Force. Further licence construction of aircraft from British and American designers followed, as did inhouse design and construction of Canadian Vickers seaplanes for Canadian use.
With the British rearmament focussing on maritime aircraft, Canada joined the RAF in choosing the SARO Lerwick for Atlantic patrolling. With the abject failure of the Lerwick and no immediate British alternate design, both British and Canadian representatives travelled to the US to attempt to find a replacement. While Britain had an immediate need and were willing to compromise on their requirements to get aircraft delivered quickly, Canada was not under the same pressures. While Britain was willing to accept the outdated Consolidated 28, the Canadians were not, but they were intrigued by Consolidated’s follow-up model, the 31. Designed and built privately as an airliner, Consolidated had been attempting to sell a militarised version as the P4Y to the US Navy, but without any success. As they had not been involved in the design and had the similar Martin PBM just entering service, the US Navy had no need or even interest in the type. With serious interest in the design for foreign production, Consolidated accepted that there was no future for the P4Y with the USN, and so agreed to sell all tooling and further production rights to the Canadian government.



With their experience as seaplane manufacturers Canadian Vickers were given management of the design, and a new manufacturing facility was constructed on the outskirts of Montreal to produce the new aircraft, now named the Canso Mk.I after a seaside town in Nova Scotia.
The initial Consolidated-built prototype was allocated to the reconstituted 116 Squadron at Halifax, and was used for crew training while Canadian Vickers prepared for the new Canso construction line. With the construction of 2 major aircraft designs in Canada attempts were made to rationalise aspects to minimise doubling up on work, with the most obvious being use of the tail and dorsal turrets already in production for the Stirling on the Canso. But managing the construction of a large new type was a significant project, even for an established shipyard and aircraft manufacturer like Canadian Vickers and from the start the project was dogged by problems.

[Sheepster]

Canadian Car and Foundry

CC&F had been established in 1909 by the merger of several railway stock producing companies. During the Great War they expanded into munitions manufacture and building minesweepers for the French navy. With its massive facility at Fort William underused with the end of naval production, CC&F pivoted again to add aircraft manufacture into its repertoire. Hiring the best Canadian engineers, the company attempted to design and build both military trainers and even a biplane fighter.
The first successful project for the company however was construction of Grumman G-23 fighters from kits supplied by Grumman. Although ostensibly ordered by Turkey, the aircraft were in fact for the Spanish Republican government in an attempt to circumvent a US embargo on both sides of the Spanish Civil War. Thirty-four aircraft were shipped before the Canadian government declared the sale illegal in June 1938, and returned the final 16 still crated aircraft from the port back to CC&F. The aircraft were by now outdated and despite marketing efforts including aimed at the RCAF, only a single G-23 was sold to Mexico. The situation changed with the declaration of war in September 1939, with the RCAF quickly realising that they had no fighter protection for the east coast, and no potential for Britain to supply aircraft while they were battling themselves. Being “better than nothing”, the G-23’s were assembled and impressed into 118 Squadron and posted to Nova Scotia, and now named as the Goblin.
After the G-23, CC&F was awarded a contract to produce Hawker Hurricanes for the RAF, as a part of Britain’s plan to establish shadow factories away from the European warzone. The contract did not have the ability to be expanded to include Canadian domestic production, as it was for airframes only, the completed hulls shipped to Britain to be fitted with engines there. To transition from assembling 50 aircraft to an open-ended contract for hundreds of aircraft was a major effort for CC&F and the town of Fort William, but by the end of 1940 CC&F had become the largest employer of aviation workers in Canada.
With the Armistice in Europe Britain was able to start looking to the future again, and while the Hurricane was still a high performing fighter, Hawker’s work on the follow-on Tornado and Typhoon models had led to the decision to upgrade the British Home Squadrons to the new types. The cannon-armed Typhoons would be built in the UK, while the 12-gun Tornados were allocated to Canadian construction. With their Bristol radial engines having the potential to be replaced with US radial engines in the event of engine supply difficulties, the Tornados would be completed in Canada – a win for Canada as Tornado production could also be for the RCAF. By late 1941 the Goblins were being withdrawn, and the RCAF was finally able to field modern fighters for the defence of the Dominion.

[Sheepster]

Bermuda

As one of four Imperial Fortresses Bermuda had a very deep British military history and presence. The Royal Navy had extensive facilities in the colony, with the massive Naval Dockyard being able to co-ordinate and control trans-Atlantic traffic during the Great War, and having been upgraded since to continue performing the same functions into the 1940’s. From before the American War of Independence artillery installations and forts had proliferated over the island, but with changes in military technology and fiscal austerity from Britain many had been rendered obsolete or been otherwise abandoned. Although no airfield had ever been constructed on the colony, independent seaplane bases for the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm and a combined civil/military base used by both the RAF and Imperial Airways were located within the Great Sound.
With the escalation of tensions in Europe the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers were mobilised on the 24th August 1939, while units of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry were already on deployment to Bermuda. The BMA and BVA worked in concert manning the coastal and anti-aircraft batteries and the associated spot lights and signals, while the British troops provided garrison support.
With the Armistice Britain’s military preparedness in Bermuda did not relent, but rather with the decrease in equipment loses in Europe additional resources were able to be sent to the colony. Additional 6” gun batteries were built to protect the island from attack by capital ships, and the anti-aircraft defences strengthened. But the limited availability of suitable real estate and the already established seaplane bases meant that airfield construction was not a priority.
The Fleet Air Arm facility on Boaz Island initially provided support for the Supermarine Walrus and Fairey Seafox seaplanes of the Royal Naval vessels at Bermuda, and used the aircraft to conduct patrols around the island until other suitable aircraft began to arrive at Bermuda. The first unit to be posted to Bermuda was 773 Squadron, operating Blackburn Roc’s as naval target tugs. With the constraint of operating from a seaplane base the aircraft were fitted with floats, the only Roc’s fitted with the floats that the aircraft was originally designed for.
The Roc’s were not the only bespoke aircraft posted to Bermuda, and while suitable patrol aircraft were readily available, seaplanes suitable to repel inbound bombers were not. With the Fairey Fulmar Mk.I fighter entering carrier service, the development of a floatplane version for catapult operations was prioritised to create exactly the aircraft required for Bermuda. 817 Squadron was formed and equipped with the new Fulmars, and by the time the US declared the Monroe Line Bermuda had become a granite aircraft carrier as well as a stone frigate.



Bermuda’s primary seaplane base was on Darrell’s Island, also within the Great Sound. The facility had been constructed by Imperial Airways for its pre-war trans-Atlantic service, and both Pan Am and Lufthansa had used it for staging their own flights. With hostilities declared with Germany Darrell’s Island was taken over as an RAF station for long-range flying boats, while Imperial, and then rebranded BOAC, still used the now RAF Bermuda for civil traffic. Bermuda now became a major mid-Atlantic hub for patrol aircraft from Canada down to the West Indies, and traffic between the US and Britain; Newfoundlander Catalinas and Canadian Cansos shared the waters with the RAF’s Grenadiers and BOAC’s G-Class boats.

[Sheepster]

Ecuador And Peru

While the conflicts of 1940 and 1941 could all be pigeonholed into the broader European and East Asian wars, the one exception that had no tie-in to global politics was the war between Ecuador and Peru – rumours of Japanese, Italian and US interference and agitation were never substantiated. The conflict was instead the continuation of an almost 150 year old conflict between the former Spanish colonies.
In the early 1800’s Spain had issued several Royal Proclamations reorganising the administration of her South American empire, with differing allocations of territory for administrative, judicial, military, and ecclesiastical purposes, allocations which overlapped and contradicted each other in the wild country inland from Quito. With independence being won in the early 1820’s the Republic of Gran Columbia and the Republic of Peru were formed to succeed the imperial Viceroyalty of New Grenada and the Viceroyalty of Peru. But disputes arose immediately with differing interpretations of their common border and the two republics went to war as Peru attempted to expand north. Gran Columbia retained her territories but fragmented into the new republics of Columbia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and the border dispute now transferred to between Peru and Ecuador and Columbia.
Sporadic skirmishes continued through the 1800’s, but came to a head again with the Leticia War of 1932/33 between Peru and Columbia over Peru’s ownership of the Amazon headwaters between Columbia, Peru and Ecuador. With Columbia and Peru now agreeing to their common border, Ecuador found itself in a weak position, with territory it still claimed now being accepted by her neighbours as Peruvian.
By 1938 minor border skirmishes by both sides had started again. In Ecuador the entire national cabinet, formed by senior military officers after the 1937 military coup, resigned to retake command of the Ecuadorian army. Seeing the increasing escalation in their northern neighbour, Peru attempted to conduct “business as usual”, but the increasing military presence along their border led to Peru forming the Agrupamiento del Norte and began deploying troops to the border in early 1941.

[Sport_21_ing]

And now, both sides would by weapons from both the Europeans and Americans (unless Japan contributes with something to Peru - just a strech XD)

[Sheepster]

July 5 Incident

The date of the actual instigation of hostilities, 5th July 1941, is not in doubt, but both Ecuador and Peru blamed the other for crossing the Zarumilla River and attacking the other’s border outposts. Regardless, hostilities spread along the length of the river. In response Ecuador ordered the formation of the 5th Infantry Brigade for the defence of El Oro province. For the next 2 and a half weeks both sides continued to snipe at each other without any movement, although Peruvian aircraft conducted aerial photography missions all along the borderlands.

[Sheepster]

El Oro Offensive

Finally on 23rd July Peruvian forces advanced into Ecuador’s El Oro Province, with the claim of preventing more border skirmishing. The Peruvian Aeronautical Corps lead the assault with strafing and bombing attacks by the North American NA-50 Toritos of 41 Squadron against Ecuadorian positions. Taking their first casualty, one of the NA-50’s and its pilot were lost in a low level attack on Quebrada Seca.



At the same time Caproni Ca.310’s carried out a strategic bombing raid on the Ecuadorian city of Puerto Bolivar with no casualties.

[Sheepster]

Battle of Macará

The civilian population of the Ecuadorian border town of Macará had been evacuated in response to the buildup of Peruvian military forces on the other side of the border. By the afternoon of the 25th July fighting had broken out and Peruvian troops advanced into the town against minimal Ecuadorian opposition. All along the border the story was similar, as the massively outnumbered Ecuadorians were forced back in the face of Peruvian advances. The Peruvian advantage was not just in manpower, Peru was also fielding a force of light tanks, while the Ecuadorians did not have any significant anti-tank weaponry.



On the sea Ecuador found itself on the defensive too. Peruvian vessels established a blockade of the Ecuadorian city of Puerto Bolívar, leaving several gunboats stuck in the harbour. With command of the seas Peruvian cruisers bombarded the city.