Quote:
Originally Posted by Kai-Petri
Poor Stirling Mk III....
Some way to remedying the poor performance of the basic Stirling design with the introduction of the Mark III from the start of 1943, but still the aircraft suffered much higher losses than the other aircraft of the Main Force. Within five months of being introduced, 67 out of the 84 aircraft delivered had been lost to enemy action or written off after crashes.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/stirling.html |
The problem with the Sterling from the start was that the RAF required the design to fit into existing hangers which in turn limited the designers to the original wingspan leaving the aircraft with those stubby wings that in turn limited lift loaded and resulted in poor operational altitude.