The Blenheim Bomber Story

By Errol Kennedy

This first book in the series tells the fascinating story and heroic reconstruction, over two decades, of the world’s only airworthy Bristol Blenheim bomber, restored back to its glory by ex-RAF pilot Graham Warner and his dedicated team.
This book will take you back to the plane's origins, its role during World War II and the long-lasting effect it had on its crews.
Relive the enthralling and nostalgic story of this mechanical hero, long forgotten and unsung, but brought back to life by the Aircraft Restoration Company based at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Errol Kennedy
• Release date: Jul 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781910816202

Book preview

Copyright © Errol Kennedy and Imagination Band Ltd 2015

Published by Lundarien Press, UK

ISBN 

978-1-910816-20-2 (epub)

978-1-910816-19-6 (mobi)

The right of Errol Kennedy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

For more info and other books in this series, including this audiobook read by Raymond Baxter, go to:

flyingmachinesandtheirheroes.com

Other Books in the Flying Machines and Their Heroes Series

2. AGAINST ALL ODDS - The Guinea Pig Story

3. BY DAY AND NIGHT - The B17 and Lancaster Bomber Story

4. TWO LEGENDS OF WWII - The Spitfire and Mustang Story

5. THE PISTON WARRIORS OF WWII

All available on the Flying Heroes Website

…more to follow soon

The Blenheim Bomber Story

On the 28th May 1993 at the Imperial War Museum Airfield at Duxford, the world's only airworthy Bristol Blenheim stood on the runway in preparation for its first official flight. The day marked the end of a journey that had lasted eighteen years for the remarkable team of enthusiasts who restored the aircraft, a journey that encountered immense technical difficulties and indeed disaster. 

The project not only resulted in the restoration of a unique historical aircraft, but also brought to the public's attention the heroic actions of its aircrews during the difficult early years of World War II.

The restoration project was originally started by Almond Hayden Bailey. In 1973 he purchased two derelict airframes and a number of engines and installed them in a building at Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshire, later to be christened Blenheim Palace. He assembled a team of young aircraft enthusiasts who were willing to assist him in their spare time.

John Romain: I was in my early teens then, still at school, and then suddenly seeing a Blenheim, which was a rare machine in those days as it is now. But to see this aircraft that I had only built models of as a young lad, was quite unique. We spent many years moving parts of Blenheims around the site.

At the time the project was not a priority and progress on the restoration was slow. Tragically Hayden Bailey was killed at an air display in Germany in 1977 and without his inspired leadership the team drifted away and the Blenheim restoration was left to its fate.

In 1979 an ex -RAF pilot