Comments by "TheThirdMan" (@thethirdman225) on "The Short Stirling; First of the British Big Boys" video.

  1. Harris was just as derisory about Handley Page. I don’t know if he had shares in Avro but he seemed to be doing a lot of back room politicking that they benefitted from.
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  2. The Stirling kind of sums up the sadness of the early-mid war bombing campaign that bore witness to terrible crew losses for not a lot of achievement. That said, it was capable of large scale attacks that couldn’t be mounted with machines like the Wellington. It was simply the only thing that was available and it was better than the machines it replaced. Not only that, its results were limited by the lack of later navigation systems like GEE. That kind of makes the Stirling look worse. Accounts of Middleton’s mission to Turin in November 1942 report that he struggled to get the Stirling through the Alps. It was supposed to be able to fly at 16,000 feet but he couldn’t get it over 12,000. Middleton eventually found a way through and the rest is well known. Coincidentally, both Stirling VCs were awarded for raids on Turin. Both required their crews to fly over the Alps, a risky proposition in a Stirling.
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  3. I think it was better looking than either the Halifax or the Lancaster. I think it was better looking than the American heavies too.
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