Bristol Blenheim

Light bomber · Bristol Aeroplane Company · United Kingdom

Bristol Blenheim
ⓘ licence & creditHugh Llewelyn from Keynsham, UK / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Bolingbroke_IV-Blenheim_IV_(21630744589).jpg
Typical crew3
Engines2 × Bristol Mercury
First flight1936
Number built4,422

Photographs

Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. A petrol tanker and trailer on fire on the road between Homs and Misurata, Libya, after an attack by Bristol Blenheims interdicting enemy fuel supplies in support of Operation CRUSADER.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Operations_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa,_1939-1943._CM1500.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Operations in the Far East, 1941-1945. Bombs explode on Ywataung-Myitkyina railway line near the Irrawaddy River in Burma, during a raid by Bristol Blenheims of No. 167 Wing RAF operating from airfields in India. At left can be seen teak logs, probably conveyed by Japanese trucks and off-loaded to await floating down the Irrawaddy in the monsoon season.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Operations_in_the_Far_East,_1941-1945._CI253.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command A line-up of NCOs, including wheelchair-bound Sergeant G A Gamble, about to receive the Distinguished Flying Medal from the Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal, at Wyton, July 1940. Gamble, a No 40 Squadron Blenheim gunner, was wounded fighting off an attack by Messerschmitt Bf109s over the Netherlands on 27 June 1940.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_CH777.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Bomber Command A gunner's view of a trawler burning after being hit during an anti-shipping strike by Blenheims off the Dutch coast on 18 August 1941.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Bomber_Command_C2039.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircrew and their aircraft of 8 (BR) Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, probably in Alaska, 1942. Left to Right: Flight Sergeant G.A. Anderson (Wireless Air Gunner), J.M. McArthur (Pilot), W.J. Smith (Pilot), Flight Sergeant F.W. Johnston (Wireless Air Gunner).
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown authorUnknown author / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PMR79-781_8_Sqn_RCAF_Bolinbroke_1942.jpgView source & full licence →
Feb 1943 Annette Island, Alaska. Commanding Officer's Aircraft of 115 Squadron. Aircraft is in dispersal area by the Administration Building. The mountains are to the East.
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown authorUnknown author / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PMR79-762_Bolinbroke_of_115_Sqn_RCAF.jpgView source & full licence →
Cropped screenshot from the film Men of the Lightship (film).
ⓘ licence & creditScreenshot / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightship_attack.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditEric Jones / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Close_to_the_point_of_impact_of_the_Bristol_Blenheim_V6099_on_Elidir_Fawr_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6744572.jpgView source & full licence →
UK - Cambridgeshire - IWM Duxford
ⓘ licence & creditwww.mgaylard.co.uk and thanks for looking / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Blenheim_MK.IF_-_Imperial_War_Museum_Duxford.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditAd Meskens You are free to use this picture for any purpose as long as you credit its author, Ad Meskens. Example: © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons If you use this work outside of the Wikimedia projects, a message or a copy is very much appreciated. This image is not in the public domain. A staView source & full licence →
Format: Fotopositiv Dato / Date: 10 Februar 1941 Fotograf / Photographer: Hjalmar Iversen Sted / Place: Trondheim, i nærområdet til Kasernen i Festningsgata 2 Eier / Owner Institution: Trondheim byarkiv, The Municipal Archives of Trondheim Wikipedia: Bristol Blenheim Lenke / Link: Flyvrak - World War II Aircraft wreck sites in Norway (tihlde.org) Lenke / Link: "Fant våpen fra styrtet krigsfly bak loftsveggen" (Adresseavisen, 2 November 2011) Arkivreferanse / Archive reference: Tor.H41.B26.F1975 Merknad: En av pilotene ligger på bakken. Wilkins fra Berlin nummer 2 fra venstre. Bildet er tatt 10 Februar 1941 av Hjalmar Iversen med Wilkins' eget kamera. Bristol Blenheim bombefly. Det britiske flyet kom fra Shetland for rekognosering, men ble antagelig skadeskutt av luftvernild over Fosen eller Trondheim. Flyet tenkte å lande ved Kristiansten Festning, men fløy for lavt og vingen gikk i taket på Kasernen, som fungerte som offisershjem for tyskerne. Tre britiske piloter omkom, og ble gravla
ⓘ licence & creditMunicipal Archives of Trondheim from Trondheim, Norway / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Blenheim_Air_Crash_-_Bristol_Blenheim_Flystyrt_(1941)_(4170966495).jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditneznámý (unknown) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Blenheim_(motor_Merkur_IX).jpgView source & full licence →
BURMA. 1942-11-10. LOW LEVEL ATTACKS BY RAF BLENHEIM SQUADRONS. AIRCRAFT FROM NO. 60 SQUADRON LEVELLING OUT FOR THE "RUN IN" TO MAKE A MAST-HEAD ATTACK ON A JAPANESE COASTER OFF AKYAB. A SPRINKLING OF RAAF MEN SERVED WITH THIS SQUADRON. (AIR MINISTRY). (PHOTOGRAPH REPRODUCED IN OFFICIAL HISTORY VOLUME: RAAF 1939-42, PAGE 466).
ⓘ licence & creditAustralian War Memorial / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blenheims_flying_low.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft from No. 60 Squadron, Royal Air Force, levelling out for the "run in" to make a mast-head attack on a Japanese coaster off Akyab, Burma, in November 1942.
ⓘ licence & creditAustralian armed forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blenheims_60_Sqn_off_Akyab_1942.jpgView source & full licence →
Basil Embry piloting a Bristol Blenheim circles over a British tanker, burning and sinking in the English Channel
ⓘ licence & creditPhotograph No. 107 Squadron RAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basil_Embry_over_burning_British_tanker.jpgView source & full licence →
British A.M. T1082/R1083 radio from a Bristol Blenheim bomber. Photographed in the Finnish Air Force signals museum.
ⓘ licence & creditMKFI / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A.M._T1082_R1083_radio_Bristol_Blenheim.JPGView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown authorUnknown author / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:30_mm_mine_shell_test.pngView source & full licence →
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ⓘ licence & creditWFan / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20191117_Bristol_bomber_cabin.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : The Royal Dutch Shell oil depot near Beirut comes under a bombing attack from three Bristol Blenheims of No. 11 Squadron RAF, flying from Aqir, Palestine, at the start of Operation EXPORTER.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:11_Squadron_RAF_Blenheims_bombing_Beirut_1941_IWM_HU_93073.jpgView source & full licence →

About

The Bristol Blenheim began life as a civil aircraft. Newspaper proprietor Lord Rothermere commissioned Bristol to build a fast private transport, and the resulting Type 142 proved quicker than the RAF’s fighters of the day — a performance that prompted the Air Ministry to order a bomber version straight off the drawing board. It entered service in 1937 as one of the first stressed-skin, retractable-undercarriage monoplanes in the RAF.

Powered by two Bristol Mercury radials and crewed by three, the Blenheim was fast for the mid-1930s but soon outpaced by enemy fighters. Its crews paid a heavy price flying daylight anti-shipping and low-level raids over occupied Europe in 1940–41, where casualties were severe. The type also served as one of the RAF’s first radar-equipped night fighters before being supplanted by the Bristol Beaufighter. It remains a symbol of the costly early daylight bombing campaign.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Bristol Blenheim IV — RAF Museum and Bristol Blenheim — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Engines

Airframes in this database

SerialCodeSquadronFate
BA875 W — Lost on operations
N6215 — 139 Unknown
V6028 GB-D 105 Unknown