Originally posted by Krusty
The Wellington and the Halifax both preceeded the Lancaster. These three planes (Lancaster, Wellington a.k.a. "Wimpey", and Halifax) made up the mainstay of Bomber Command throughout the entire war. Especially the early war. As it is we really only have the Lancaster for brit level bombers, and it's mid-war at best. We need the Wellington and the Halifax to better represent the early planeset. While they could still carry good loads (I think the Halifax also carried 14x 1k bombs) they were lightly defended and slower, and had much less powerful engines.
I say we need both! Halifax AND Wellington!!!
The Wellington was supposed to be VERY sturdy, due to its latice-work wooden frame. Suppose that means it could take a lot of damage, but once it caught fire I guess it'd be like B24s (evil grin here).
The Stirling was the first of the RAF Heavies, the Wellington and Halifax were actually much more popular with the crews than the Lancaster was. The Halifax entered limited service in around mid 1941 iirc, whereas the Stirling was in service a bit earlier. The Lanc followed about a year later in mid 1942.
The Wellington could take a tremendous beating without sustaining critical damage, the structure was designed by Barnes Wallis (of dambusters/grand slam fame) and was origininally used in pre war air ships.
You can see the structure around the windows of this picture - looks almost like honeycomb.

The Stirling was good on paper, but was pretty unpopular, it was to a specification which called for a 4 engined bomber to fit into existing RAF hangars. This meant that it had a small wingspan, and crappy service ceiling. (something like 16,000 feet)
IIRC the Wellington could carry around 4,000lb bombs, the Halifax could carry 14,000lb with the Mk I or 13,000lb Mk III. The Stirling could carry up to 17,000lb!!
There is a good website on the Stirling:
http://www.stirling.box.nl/home.htm