Boulton Paul P.95

The Boulton Paul P.95 was a design for a two man close support bomber that never progressed beyond the design stage.

The P.95 was designed in response to Air Ministry Specification B.20/40, which called for an aircraft capable of performing a similar role to the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, at the time seen as one of the most fearsome weapons in the German arsenal.

The P.95 was a single engined aircraft, powered by a Bristol Hercules VI radial engine. It would have had a tricycle undercarriage, most unusual for 1940. It would have been very heavily armed, with eight fixed firing machine guns or four cannon in the wings and two flexibly mounted machine guns for the rear gunner. The crew would have sat below a long glazed canopy with an open rear end for the rear gunner.

It would have been able to carry four 250lb bombs, two in an internal fuselage bomb bay and one each inside each wing. The 250lb bomb could be replaced by containers for smaller bombers, or supply dropping containers. Finally it could have carried a F.24 camera. The crew positions would have been heavily armoured.

The wings had a straight trailing edge, whiel the leading edge was straight in the centre and tapered in the outer panels. The central section was level, the outer sections had slight dihedral. The tail had twin vertical surfaces and rudders at the ends of the horizontal surface.

Three designs were submitted in response to B.20/40 - Boulton Paul's P.95, a modified version of the Hawker Henley, and the Bristol Type 162 - but by the end of 1940 the Stuka had lost much of its reputation, after heavy losses forced the Germans to withdraw it from the Battle of Britain, and none of these designs reached the prototype stage.

Air War Index - Air War Links - Air War Books

How to cite this article: Rickard, J (4 January 2017), Boulton Paul P.95 , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_boulton_paul_P95.html

Help - F.A.Q. - Contact Us - Search - Recent - About Us - Privacy