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The biggest problem with the earlier versions of the Martin Baltimore had been the poor rear guns – two hand operated Vickers “K” guns which proved to be difficult to use in combat – and so the Baltimore III was equipped with a powered gun turret.
The turret used on the Baltimore III was a Boulton Paul Type A hydraulically operated four gun turret, armed with four .303in guns, similar to the design used on the Defiant, Halifax, Albemarle, Liberator II and Ventura.
250 Baltimore IIIs were built, completing the first British order for 400 aircraft of May 1940. A number of these aircraft were lost in transit when the merchant ships SS Thurso Bank and SS Loch Don were sunk crossing the Atlantic.
Engine: Two Wright GR-2600-19 Cyclone engines
Power: 1,660hp
Length: 48ft 5.75in
Width: 61ft 4in
Empty Weight: 15,200lb
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 23,000lb
Range: 950 miles
Ceiling: 24,000ft
Max Speed: 302mph at 11,000ft
Armament: Fourteen 0.303in guns – four fixed in wings, four fixed firing down and to the back and two in ventral hatch, and four in Boulton Paul turret
Bomb load: 2,000lb maximum