 {| |} the boulton paul p.29 sidestrand was a twin-engine biplane medium bomber of the royal air force. named after a village on the norfolk coast near boulton & paul's factory in norwich, the sidestrand first flew in 1926 and entered service in 1928. it remained in service until 1936, only ever equipping one squadron; no. 101 squadron raf. it was an agile and relatively fast aircraft that was capable of aerobatic manoeuvres such as loops, rolls and spins. taylor 1969, p. 325. ==design and development== boulton & paul ltd of norwich built a series of twin-engined biplanes starting with the bourges of 1918, which although not ordered into production, had demonstrated excellent performance and manoeuvrability, followed by the all-metal bolton of 1922 and the smaller bugle of 1923. in 1924, the air ministry issued specification 9/24 for an all-metal, twin engined medium bomber, with an order for two prototypes following early in 1925. jarrett aeroplane monthly november 1994, pp. 19â20. mason 1994, p. 180. the first aircraft flew in 1926 by c a rea, boulton & pauls first full-time test pilot."bobolink to delta, part iii." flight, 8 july 1955, p. 51. the village of sidestrand, chosen for the aircraft name, was the home of the then secretary of state for air, samuel hoarebrew 1993 only 20 sidestrands were ever built. the first two, essentially prototypes, were designated the sidestrand mk i. originally intended to be powered by two napier lion inline engines, the mk i was eventually fitted with 425&nbsp;hp (317&nbsp;kw) bristol jupiter vi radial engines which also powered the first six production sidestrands, designated the sidestrand mk ii. the remaining 12 aircraft were powered by 460&nbsp;hp (343&nbsp;kw) jupiter viifs and were designated the sidestrand mk iii. the six mk iis were also re-engined to bring them up to the mk iii specification. the sidestrand had three open defensive gun positions; nose, dorsal and ventral. the crew usually consisted of three personnel; pilot, nose gunner and
Biplanes Boulton_Paul_aircraft British_bomber_aircraft_1920a1929 Twin-engined_tractor_aircraft