80 years on from when people of Broughton came together to build a Wellington bomber in a day, we reflect on why heritage is important and how it continues to inspire...
The Vickers Wellington was designed to the same 1932 Air Ministry specification as the less well-known Handley Page Hampden and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley twin-engined bombers.
All three first flew in 1936 and were introduced into operational service with the RAF well before the outbreak of the Second World War.
However, it would be the Vickers Wellington that was the standout design of the bunch, being produced for longer and in greater numbers than not only the Hampden and Whitley, but also the much better-known Halifax and Lancaster.
The Wellington could carry a greater bombload over a longer distance than its other twin-engined contemporary stablemates, and in most variants, it was the faster aircraft. With a crew of six, it typically carried six machine guns for self-defence.
In terms of its construction, its striking Barnes Wallis-designed geodetic structure comprised a series of overlapping aluminium-alloy diamonds in the fuselage, wings, and empennage - which was all covered with a lightweight layer of doped linen.
Not only did the linen skin prevent the risk of internal ricocheting if the aircraft was attacked, the redundancy in the diamond structures made for a sturdy airframe that soon gained a reputation for ruggedness and survivability - making it a big hit with the aircrew who flew in it.
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In the first half of the Second World War, the Wellington was the real workhorse of the RAF's bomber command, flying operations over Germany by night whenever the weather and availability allowed. In August 1940, the Wellington was the first British aircraft to drop bombs on Berlin.
The damage may have only been light but Hitler was said to have been particularly rattled. By May 1942, the RAF were able to despatch their first '1,000 bomber raid' against a German city, Cologne, and the damage was far greater. Most of these aircraft on this raid were Wellingtons.
By the middle of the war, much larger aircraft such as the Halifax and the Lancaster were coming to the fore. With their four engines, they could carry significantly heavier loads, which represented a strategic efficiency in terms of men and material lost per bomb dropped on the enemy.
The Wellington slowly withdrew from front-line service, but it never stopped being an important aircraft.
RAF Coastal Command, who patrolled the skies above the Atlantic on the look out for German U-boats, were always eyeing the much better provided for Bomber Command with envy. However, there were few complaints when they began to receive Wellingtons from Bomber Command's allocation, as it proved to be a capable anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
The Wellington also excelled in the transport and air ambulance roles. Even after the war, they were still being operated as target towing tugs. The Wellington combined toughness with versatility in a winning combination.
A staggering 11,462 were produced in total, but only two survive to the present day.
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