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| CA-4/CA-11 Woomera | |
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| A side view of the Woomera CA-4 prototype, A23-1001. | |
| Role | light bomber reconnaissance dive bomber torpedo bomber |
| Manufacturer | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation |
| First flight | 1941 |
| Number built | 2 |
The CAC Woomera, also known as the CAC CA-4 and CAC CA-11, was an Australian bomber aircraft, which was designed and manufactured by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation during World War II. The order for the Woomera was cancelled before it became operational with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
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Design and development
In 1941, because of a need to replace the Bristol Beaufort and Lockheed Hudson, the RAAF issued Development Specification No. 241. This stipulated an aircraft suitable for: reconnaissance, general bombing, torpedo delivery and dive bombing.
CAC, under Sir Lawrence Wackett, began to re-work an existing, unbuilt design, the CAC CA-4 (sometimes known as the Wackett, and not to be confused with the unrelated CA-6 Wackett single-engine trainer). A prototype CA-4 took to the air on September 19, 1941. The CA-4 was a low wing, twin-engined, dive bomber with a crew of three. It was armed with four nose-mounted .303 calibre machine guns and two remote-controlled twin machine-gun barbettes mounted at the rear of the engine nacelles. It could carry either 500 lb (230 kg) bombs, 250 lb (110 kg) bombs or two torpedoes. It was originally powered by two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp R-1830-S3C3-G radials. (The CA-4 prototype was scrapped in 1943 after it suffered major damage, from a mid-air explosion due to a fuel tank leak and a consequent fire.)
With a re-designed tail and rudder, and an improved nose armament of two 20 mm cannon and two .303 calibre machine guns, the CA-4 became the CA-11 Woomera.
Production
The RAAF accepted the design and ordered 105 CA-11s on March 8, 1942. However, the prototype CA-11 was not delivered to the RAAF until November 22, 1944. By the time production commenced, the dive-bombing concept had fallen into disrepute, the RAAF was filling the light bomber/reconnaissance/strike role with British-designed Bristol Beaufighters (which were being made in Australia by the Department of Aircraft Production); US-made B-24 Liberator heavy bombers had also become available. Consequently, the original Woomera order was reduced from 105 to 20. After a few Woomeras had been manufactured, the whole program was cancelled and production capacity set aside for Woomeras at CAC was switched to P-51 Mustang fighters.
Although test flights continued into 1945, the finished aircraft were never sold and were scrapped in January 1946.
Operators
Specifications
Data from 1
General characteristics
- Crew: 3 (pilot, bomb aimer/navigator, rear gunner)
- Length: 39 ft 7 in (12.07 m)
- Wingspan: 59 ft 2½ in (18.05 m)
- Height: 18 ft 2 in (5.53 m)
- Wing area: 440 ft² (40.9 m²)
- Empty weight: 12,756 lb (5,798 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 22,885 lb (10,402 kg)
- Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C3-G Twin Wasp 14-cylinder two-row radial engine, 1,200 hp (895 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 282 mph (454 km/h, 245 knots)
- Range: 2,225 mi (3,580 km, 1,934 km) (with external tank and one torpedo)
- Service ceiling 23,500 ft (7,165 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,090 ft/min (10.6 m/s)
Armament
- Guns:
- 2 × .303 machine guns in nose
- 2 × 20 mm Hispano cannons in nose
- 2 × .303 machine guns in rear firing barbettes
- 1 x .303 machine gun in ventral position
- Bombs:
- 4× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs
- or 2× 500 lb (224 kg) bombs
- or 4× torpedoes and 4 × 25 lb (13 kg) bombs under wings
See also
Comparable aircraft Twin-engine aircraft with dive bombing capability:
References
Notes
- ^ Green, 1967, p. 16.
Bibliography
- Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War: Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft, Volume Seven. London: Macdonald, 1967. ISBN 0-356-01477-0.
External links
- adf-serials.com, 2003, "ADF Aircraft Serial Numbers RAAF A23 CAC CA-4/CA-11 Woomera"
- Felix Noble, 1997, "The Woomera Bomber of WWII"
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 09:05.
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