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Wellington Mk X Bomber

One of the famous bomber’s of the RAF in the midst of World War II built by the Welsh aircraft factory set out to set a world record. The plan was to give up their weekend off and build a Wellington MK X Bomber in 24 hours.

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With the war being in full swing and the Luftwaffe dropping bombs every night setting a world record seemed like the last thing they should be thinking of.

Collaborating with the RAF the war ministry challenged one of the factories building bombers to set a record building a bomber. The plan was to beat the current record set in California of 48 hours. Many considered this to be a little strange during war time, but the idea of war aircraft production was speed.

The whole point of the exercise in the middle of the war was to build confidence and boost morale. After all breaking records in the middle of a war does show confidence. The plan demonstrated the efficiency of Britain's factories and the unbowed spirit of its people.

Winston Churchill's policy was to defeat Germany, whatever the cost. In September 1940, he wrote "the bombers alone will provide the means for victory".

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The exercise took place according to the National Archives somewhere around the summer of 1943. This occurred at the time Hamburg was flattened by the British bombers and put a big damper on Hitler’s Blitz.

The factory in Broughton in north Wales accepted the challenge. At the time the factory run by Vickers Armstrong were turning out 28 Wellington bombers a week. This same factory turns out the giant wings of the A380 Airbus to this very day.

On a Saturday morning Broughton’s came to work to build the Wellington Bomber LN514 and beat the clock. The plan was to complete the Wellington in 30 hours and then have a test pilot fly it on Sunday afternoon.

At 3:20 am the plane was moved off the production line and started the inspections and engine tests. By 6:15 only 21 hours after they started the engines were fired up for their final tests. By 8:50 am Sunday morning 10 minutes short of 24 hours she was on the runway ready for take-off.

The Wellington bomber was completed so fast they had to wake the pilot to come fly it. One his way to the plane he was mumbling “Gee I hope they haven’t missed anything”.

The Wellington LN514 lifted its wheels off the ground in exactly 24 hours and 48 minutes after the workers said they would build a bomber in their spare time in about 30 hours. On that very evening the LN 514 was flown fully ready for duty to its operational base.

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