The Canberra is a bomber designed in the late 1940s by the English Electric company.
It was born out of a requirement to replace the Mosquito bomber at the end of the second world war.
The Canberra was designed with no defensive armament of any kind which made it compact and fast. It was designed to fly high enough to avoid any fighter aircraft of the same era.
The Canberra B.2 first flew on 21st April 1950. Carrying 7,900 lbs of bombs at up to 48,000 ft and with a maximum speed of 470 knots, it was an instant success.
English Electric (later Avro/Handley Page/Short Brothers) would go on to produce 900 aircraft in 27 different variants.
49 aircraft were also license built in Australia.
The Glenn L. Martin Company produced 403 heavily modified variants of the Canberra, known as the B-57 Canberra.
Despite over 1350 of these aircraft being produced in total, only 5 or 6 remain flight worthy today.
General Dynamics took the Martin B-57D design and produced the RB-57F/WB-57F high altitude research plane.
There are many examples in museums around the world. Several more survive in private hands, especially nose sections which, at 15 feet long, are a little easier to store in your back garden or driveway.
I don't imagine I have come even close to finding all of the ones visible in GE, so if you find one let me know and I'll add it. Most of the airframes are identified, except for the 6 awaiting their fate at AMARC in Tucson, 7 in Venezuela, 5 in India, 2 in Zimbabwe and 6 at Pisco, Peru. If anyone has any information on the identity of these, please let me know.
Currently there are 189 full or partial aircraft in the collection. That accounts for 13% of the original airframes built. Hidden ones are included, where their identity and location is precisely known.
EDIT: 03-Apr-2021 - Complete rebuild of collection from scratch. Now 171 placemarks.
EDIT: 07-Apr-2021 - Lots more nose sections added and 2 more complete aircraft. Now 181 placemarks.
EDIT: 07-Apr-2021 - Another nose section added and 1 more display aircraft. Now 183 placemarks.
EDIT: 14-Apr-2021 - Many more additions including 2 complete aircraft at Lampson Field, California. Now 189 placemarks.
Good reading there remains an interest in the Canberra. One of my 'modern era' favorite aircraft. Last fall, NASA did a 'Thank You' over flight here in Houston, Texas with its WB-57's. Both fly out of Ellington Field, south of Houston.
As I said, nowhere near all the ones visible in GE are in the collection. Keep them coming.
Another 15 added today. Chile, Peru, South Africa and Venezuela make their first appearance. There are 7 unknown airframes at Pisco, Peru as well as the one on display. If anyone has information on these aircraft, let me know. Judging by the date of the imagery and the conditions in Peru, this is the place to get a second hand Canberra if you want to get it flying again.
After reading your reply, did a Google earth search for Ellington Field, Texas. Right there on the hardstand sits an overhead view of the WB-57. Image dated 7/31/2015.
Another 8 aircraft added, including 5 WB-57F variants. The only WB-57F I could accurately identify is the one in the Pima Air & Space Museum back lot. Several of the other previously unidentified aircraft are now labelled correctly.
KMZ in first post updated. Now 125 aircraft in the collection.
I have found 2 aircraft in Zimbabwe and 1 in China. All 3 are former Rhodesian Air Force. The one in China was a gift to the Chinese people from Robert Mugabe. I have no ID for the 2 at Harare International.
Rhodesia obtained 15 ex-RAF B.2s and three T.4s in 1959, for a total of 18 Canberras. In 1971, elements of three Rhodesian Canberras were used to build a dedicated PR Canberra with a sophisticated camera payload.
When Rhodesia became Zimbabwe another B.2 and a T.4 were supplied in 1981.
6 B.2 aircraft were lost in accidents, so these 2 must come from the remaining 9 B.2 or 4 T.4 airframes. The six losses were R2509, R5212, R2510, R2156, R2514 and R5203. The one gifted to China was R2175. (This may or may not be the PR conversion. Opinions differ on this point)
Anyone has any more information on the fate of the others, please let me know.
India was the third largest user of the Canberra bomber with 144 airframes in several different variants. I figured they must therefore have more than 3 remaining on display somewhere in the country.
Finding records for Indian Air Force aircraft seems to be a very difficult task. The records are spotty and split across several different regions. With perseverance, I have so far found evidence for 8 more aircraft in India, 5 of which are now included in the collection. One of these, a PR.57, is not yet identified.
I have also added the hidden Canberra at Hendon Museum.
3 of these are not identified yet. There are no pictures or other information on line about them. From articles about the retirement of the Canberra in India, I have determined that one of them is definitely a T.4, but that is all I have found so far.
That means there are now 13 unidentified aircraft in the collection. I think the only way to identify them is to get someone who happens to live near Tucson, Pisco or one of the sites in India to photograph the tail fins.
1 more in the UK. TT.18 WK118 Nose. It's hidden and I only found out about it because it was auctioned off last Tuesday. So I guess I'll have to find it all over again when the imagery updates.
WK163 currently resides near me at Baginton. When I used to work across the road from there, I regularly saw DC-3's, Electras, a Shackleton and a Twin Pioneer flying from there. Not to mention seeing a Canberra or 2. Not much flies out of there now.
It would be nice to see a British Canberra back in the skies again. I think my collection proves there is no shortage of spares around the world.
I have moved all my collections to simple CSV files for more flexibility of use. Finally got around to making a CSV to KML generator, as I didn't find any on the net I liked.
The rebuild has also cleaned up the placemarks, by resetting all the compass, tilt and eye height settings.
A few aircraft have disappeared in the last 5 years, but 4 more have also been added, including the ones reported by jeep1943
For sure. BTW, there's also a wrecked Canberra on one of those outlying dispersal pans, also in the historical imagery - late 90's early 2000's, I think.
syzygy: For single or a few placemarks coordinates still fine of course!
Jun 18, 2022 14:24:09 GMT
syzygy: Yup! Sorry everyone for the attachment issue! Hope will be solved soon! Until links to kmz files stored elsewhere is can be a solution...
Jun 17, 2022 18:22:19 GMT
RaveyThirteen: So... I just tried to add a .kmz of some new finds and saw that nasty error message. Should I just hold onto it til the space issue is sorted?
Jun 17, 2022 6:57:05 GMT
typsish: As far as I know, it should be foldable. But check the rules of the company you are flying with. They have the specific requirements mentioned in the luggage section. And if the stroller you have now doesn't fit their requirements, check the article on new
Jun 15, 2022 14:05:38 GMT
diane9247: I don't know what to do about the "space limit" thing. I got a post ready, then couldn't upload the small file. I am losing eyesight, so not sure I can even post anymore! 😵💫(Pinned unfinished post last night, but it didn't save.)
Jun 14, 2022 7:08:26 GMT
willi1: GE Imagery Date: Yes, I noticed it too. And I thought it was something of an attitude on my part.
Jun 8, 2022 9:29:04 GMT
SpiderX22: In regards to this error - on my forum posts/threads -> I can start compiling attached files into one kml collection to slim down attachment numbers
Jun 6, 2022 15:32:37 GMT
SpiderX22: Also - a heads up: Error: This forum has exceeded its attachment space limit. Your file cannot be uploaded.
Jun 6, 2022 15:31:44 GMT
SpiderX22: Anyone else notice that new Google Earth imagery doesn't have a date anymore?
Jun 6, 2022 15:01:28 GMT