Meet the Canberra Jet Bomber

Meet one of the most successful jet bombers ever built. I say “successful” because of just how many countries operated them.

Development and Design

Developed by English Electric, the Canberra was the first jet bomber operated by the United Kingdom and was intended to be a successor to the de Havilland Mosquito.

Powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce turbojet engines, the Canberra had a top speed of Mach 0.88 and was one of the first jet bombers designed to carry both conventional and nuclear payloads. Though as time passed, the Canberra would end up carrying various munitions such as rockets and gun pods.

Operational History

But just like the aforementioned Mosquito, the Canberra was also designed with reconnaissance in mind and was used by the RAF on operations in the Far East.

But what really makes the Canberra such a success is just how many nations ended up operating them since they were introduced in 1951. Canberras were exported heavily and it was not uncommon for opposing sides to both use them against one another.

Retirement and Legacy

The last operational military Canberra was retired by the Indian Air Force back in 2007. Though three heavily modified Canberras were said to still be in use by NASA as research aircraft as recently as 2021. However, those were actually built by Martin under license.

~NC