The Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle was designed specifically to be quite an unremarkable aircraft. Designed in response to an Air Ministry specification B.9/38 , this specification called for a medium bomber/general reconnaissance aircraft that was constructed primarily from nonessential materials such as metal and wood rather than light alloys that were in high demand and that suplly of could be critical in the advent of war. It is unclear on who actually designed the aircraft, with some sources stating Bristol before being taken over by Armstrng Whitworth, while others states that it wholly originated with ArmstrongWhitworth. Either way, orders were placed and by 1940 a prototype was flying. Deliveries began by the end of 1941, however before the Albermarle had even started in service, the bomber role had been abandoned as it was found to have no real improvements over medium bombers already in service with RAF Bomber Command. Instead, the Albermarle would be directed into operations as a glider tower, paratrooper carrier and general purpose aircraft. As a paratrooper carrier and glider tower it saw significant operations during the Second World War, being invovled in the invasion of Sicily, DDay and Operation Market Garden before being pulled from frontline service.

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Sources:
Aviastar: http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/a...
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum: https://caspir.warplane.com/bin/warpl...
History of War: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/...
Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II
Tangmere Military Aviation Museum : https://tangmeremuseum.org.uk/aircra...
Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstro...

**While Wikipedia can be disputed for its accuracy, due to the limited sources on the aircraft it was useful to use. I checked the sources and was happy that the article could be considered accurate.

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