English Electric Canberra Bomber/Photo Reconnaissance

The Canberra was one of the first successful jet bombers produced by England. Some Canberras are still in service, mainly in training and electronic warfare roles. Production began in 1949 and continued until 1961; in the U.S. Martin built the aircraft as the B-57. The Canberra is an impeccably streamlined aircraft, with a straight mid-wing section inboard of the engines and tapered wings outboard. At the time of its introduction it was safe from interception by fighters and was used to overfly the Soviet Union on photographic missions. It's prime function was as a nuclear bomber and photo-reconnaissance aircraft. It was to be used as a second strike bomber and to determine those areas untouched by the first wave of atomic warheads so that the second wave could finish off the opposition. Fortunately, it was never used as a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft in the nuclear roles. British production was 974.

The Americans used the B-57 model extensively in Vietnam in a multitude of roles, including bombing, electronic warfare, general reconnaissance, and weather monitoring. The last use of Canberras in warfare was during the Falklands War. The British loaned four PR models to the Chileans for side-scanning reconnaissance of Argentina.

Technical Details
The Canberra B2 bomber carried a crew of three, pilot, navigator and second-navigator with bomb control duties. It was powered by a pair of 2948 kg Rolls Royce Avon 101 jet engines mounted in nacelles on the wings, much like the Gloster Meteor. It's maximum speed was 569 mph (917km/h), with a ceiling of 48,000 ft (14630 m) and a range of 2,656 mi (4275 km). Armament consisted of 6,000 lb (2722 kg) of nuclear bombs.

The Canberra PR MK.9 photo-reconnaissance aircraft had a crew of two, pilot, and navigator, the navigator had photographic duties. The Pilot occupied the fighter-style cockpit, of course, and the Navigator sat in the extreme
nose, which hinged open sideways to starboard for entry and exit. There was no direct contact between crew in flight. This model was powered by a pair of 5103 kg Rolls Royce RA 24 Avon Mk.206 jet engines. It's maximum speed was 547 mph (881km/h), with a ceiling of 58,000 ft (17700 m) and a range of 5,000 mi (8170 km). It carried no armament.

The IIRC Mk17 model shown above is an Electronics Warfare (EW) trainer.

The Canberra T4 was a dual control trainer that carried a single navigator.

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Image From:
Photo Copyright Paul Nann, used with his permission. Check out his Military Aircraft Photo Gallery.

Thanks to Phil Ward and John R Nickolls for pointing out errors and suggesting changes to the original page.