Armstrong Whitworth A.W.29

The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.29 was a British single-engine monoplane day bomber built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft to Air Ministry specification P.27/32, which called for a long-range day bomber. It was a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with a welded tubular steel front fuselage, a light alloy monocoque rear fuselage and hydraulically retractable landing gear that left the tyres partly exposed, and a long-chord cowled nose engine drove a three-bladed propeller. The two crew sat in separate cockpits, with the pilot ahead of the wing leading edge and the gunner and observer behind the wing spar in a hand-operated turret, and the rear cockpit could be fitted with a second set of controls for flight training. The prototype made its first flight on 6 December 1936 and was damaged in a wheels-up landing soon afterwards. The Fairey Battle had already been given the P.27/32 contract, so the A.W.29 was never repaired to fly again.