The Wellingtons were affectionately called 'Wimpy' from the cartoon character, Wellington Wimpy, who was a 'side-kick' of 'Popeye', the spinach eating cartoon sailor.

They had a unique criss-cross geodetic structure that made them very strong in relation to weight. This allowed them to take quite an amount of stress and absorb a considerable amount of damage.

I think it was Wellingtons that were used in the 'Dam Busters' raid in Germany. I have seen a static display of one such aircraft with the launching gear and a 'spinning' bomb of the type used. Quite amazing really. I didn't realise it until I had seen it and had it explained that the bomb had to spin backwards at a particular number of revolutions per minute while it was launched at a critical height with the plane making a critical speed 'over the ground'. If all of these factors were not set up correctly the bouncing effect would not be achieved. It was just one of the amazing inventions of Barnes Wallis.

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