#historia

To modify the Wellington for mine clearance duties, a balsa wood ring was constructed around the aircraft’s fuselage with a diameter of fifty-one feet. A circular aluminium coil was then placed inside the ring. Inside the Wellington, a Ford V8 engine powered a generator to activate the ring. Initial tests were conducted on land and proved successful. The Wellington was subsequently put into mine sweeping service in 1940. Mine clearing at sea proved to be more precision-focused and difficult compared to land tests. The Wellington would have to fly slow enough for the mine to register the field and trigger the explosives, but high enough to not be caught in the blast wave. https://planehistoria.com/.../mines-weeper-aircraft-of.../