Bristol Bombay

Type 130 Bombay
Bombay in flight.
Role	Transport aircraft
Manufacturer	Bristol Aeroplane Company
First flight	23 June 1935
Introduction	1939
Retired	1944
Primary users	Royal Air Force Royal Australian Air Force
Produced	1939
Number built	51

The Bristol Bombay was a British troop transport aircraft adaptable for use as a medium bomber flown by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

The Bristol Bombay was built to Air Ministry Specification C.26/31 which called for a monoplane bomber-transport aircraft to replace the Vickers Valentia biplane in use in the Middle East and India. The aircraft was required to be capable of carrying 24 troops or an equivalent load of cargo as a transport, while carrying bombs and defensive guns for use as a bomber. This dual-purpose design concept was common to British pre-war designs. Other entries for the specification were the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.23 and the Handley Page HP.51.

Bristol's design, the Type 130, was a high-wing cantilever monoplane of all-metal construction. Bristol's last monoplane design, the 1927 Bagshot, had suffered from lack of torsional rigidity in the wings leading to aileron reversal. This led to an extensive research program at Bristol which resulted in a wing design with a stressed metal skin rivetted to an internal framework consisting of multiple spars and the ribs. This was the basis of the Bombay's wing, which had seven spars, with high-tensile steel flanges and alclad webs. The aircraft had a twin-tail and a fixed tailwheel undercarriage.

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