Bristol Blenhiem

The Bristol Blenheim MK IVF aircraft flown by 404 Sqn was fitted with a four machine gun pack of .303 Brownings installed in the bomb-bay position. It also had a dorsal turret with two Browning machine guns and a single .303 machine gun in the nose position operated by the navigator. It was employed in the Fighter escort role as well as reconnaissance role along the Norwegian coast seeking targets for the Coastal Command strike aircraft.  It had a crew of three; pilot, navigator and Wireless Op/Air Gunner. The aircraft had a wingspan of 54 feet 4 inches with a fuselage length of 43 feet 7 inches and a height of 12 feet 9 ½ inches. It had an empty weight of 7,409 pounds and a maximum weight of 15,000 pounds. It was powered by two Bristol Mercury XV radial air-cooled engines developing 995 HP each driving Hamilton three-blade variable pitch propellers. It had a maximum speed of 266 mph at 11,800 feet, a range of 1,460 miles and an endurance of 8.65 hours. Its service ceiling was 22,000 feet. Th Sqn flew Blenheims from its formation in April, 1941 until January,1943, when they were replaced with Beaufighter MK IIF.