Boulton & Paul P.69

The Boulton & Paul P.69 was a design for a bomber/ transport aircraft, based on the earlier P.64 mail carrier.

The P.69 was related to the P.64 mail carrier, the first Boulton & Paul design for some time to reach the prototype stage. The P.64 was a rather stubby looking biplane, with a streamlined fuselage, two-man crew sitting side by side in an enclosed cockpit, a fuselage that filled the gap between the wings, and two Bristol Pegasus engines mounted below the upper wings. The P.64 had a rather chequered career. It made its maiden flight successfully on 27 March 1933, but then crashed into a cricket pitch (oddly placed on the airfield) at the start of an attempted second flight on the same day. The aircraft was repaired and modified, and went to Martlesham Heath for tests. It reached an impressive speed of 185mph, but was written off after a crash during its third flight at Martlesham on 21 October 1933. Unsurprisingly no orders were placed for the type.

The P.69 was designed in response to specification C.26/31, for an aircraft capable of acting as either a bomber or a troop transport. It would have been a larger version of the P.64. It was given nose and tail gunner's positions, each carrying a single Lewis gun on a Scarff ring, would have been powered by two Pegasus engines, and had a biplane tail with twin fins and rudders.

This specification produced two successful designs - the Bristol Bombay, which was accepted as the bomber-transport, and the Handley Page H.P.51, which became the Harrow bomber. Boulton & Paul's design didn't get an order for a prototype.

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How to cite this article: Rickard, J (6 October 2016), Boulton & Paul P.69 , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_boulton_paul_P69.html

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