Performing its maiden flight on 20 March 1940, its entry to service was delayed by the redesign effort, thus the first RAF squadron to operate the Albemarle, No.

Furthermore, the envisioned aircraft had to be engineered in a manner that would allow it to be divided into relatively compact subsections, all of which had to fit on to a standard Queen Mary trailer to facilitate the adoption of a dispersed manufacturing strategy.

[4] At the time, the Air Ministry was particularly concerned that, in the event of a major conflict arising, there would be restrictions on the supply of critical materials that could undermine mass production efforts.

[4] Several aircraft manufacturing firms, including Armstrong Whitworth, Bristol and de Havilland, were approached to produce designs to meet the specification.

The rival Armstrong Whitworth AW.41 design used a tricycle undercarriage and was built up of sub-sections to ease manufacture by firms without aircraft construction experience.

[1][3] Changes in policy made the Air Staff reconsider the Albemarle as principally a reconnaissance aircraft capable of carrying out bombing.

[3] Initially, physical work centred around the construction of a pair of lead aircraft, which were to be test flown prior to the commencement of full-rate manufacture of the type.

The first Albemarle, serial number P1360, was assembled at Hamble Aerodrome by Air Service Training; the aircraft performed its maiden flight on 20 March 1940.

[8][3] This first flight had actually been unintended, the test pilot having picked up too much speed during a ground taxi run, and had only taken off with the barest margin after traversing the entire runway.

[9] A number of modifications were made to the design during this late stage of development, including the extensive redesign of the aircraft's structure by Lloyd at Coventry.

[3] Further measures were made to improve the Albemarle's take-off performance, such as the adoption of a wider span 77 ft (23 m) wing, and the thickening of the rudder's trailing edge to correct a tendency to over-balance.

Occurrences of the engines overheating were never fully resolved, the main change in this area being the raising of the maximum permissible operational temperature from 280C to 300C.

Both Gloster and Armstrong Whitworth were member companies of the Hawker Siddeley group, one of the largest aircraft manufacturing interests in Britain.

[5][11] Amongst the companies that were subcontracted were MG Motor, to produce the forward fuselage, Rover, which constructed the wing centre section, and Harris Lebus, which built the tailplane units.

[12][13] The structure was intentionally divided in order that it might readily permit individual sections to be removed and replaced in the event of battle damage being sustained.

It was one of the particularly notable design features of the Albemarle, according to Tapper, it was the first British-built aircraft with a retractable nose-wheel to be built in quantity for the Royal Air Force.

[5] Power was provided by a pair of Bristol Hercules XI air-cooled radial engines, each capable of 1,590 hp and driving a three-blade de Havilland Hydromatic propeller unit.

This sizable bomb bay was equipped with hydraulically-operated doors and spanned from just aft of the cockpit to roughly halfway between the wings and the tail.

Tests of the surviving Albemarles revealed their weaknesses as transports (notably the cramped interior) and numerous technical flaws; in May 1943, the Soviet government suspended deliveries and eventually cancelled them in favour of abundant American Douglas C-47 Skytrains.

[citation needed] Over the course of its production life, a number of variants of the Albemarle were built:[26] Most Marks were divided into "Series" to distinguish differences in equipment.

[citation needed] Data from The Unloved Albemarle,[28] Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft since 1913[29]General characteristics Performance Armament