Aircraft of the first batch of fifty Mk I Halifaxes were designated Mk I Series I. The Halifax shared with the Lancaster the major burden of Bomber Command's night bombing campaign against Nazi Germany but unlike the Lancaster, which only served as a bomber during the war, the Halifax was used extensively on other duties including glider-tug, agent dropping transport and general reconnaissance . Handley Page Halifax Registry - A Warbirds Resource Group Site PREVIOUS PAGE HALIFAX/HR792 Serial #: HR792 Construction #: History: Delivered to RAF as HR792, 19??. Twelve aircraft were converted for BOAC and became known as the Handley Page Halton but they only operated until 1948, the conversion work being performed by Handley Page and Short Brothers & Harland. The maximum bomb load was 14,500lb (6,600kg), which was primarily carried in a bomb bay housed within the fuselage, divided into six separate bomb compartments, with three bomb compartments in the inboard sections of each wing; this division of the payload between multiple compartments limited the maximum size of the individual bombs which could be completely enclosed to 2,000lb (910kg); when carrying the 4,000lb and 8,000lb high capacity (HC) bombs the bomb bay doors could not close fully. Aft of the pilots and on the same level as the navigator and wireless operator was the flight engineer's compartment. The history of the Halifax is well recorded. A Handley Page Halifax B Mark III Series 1A of No. In 1943 4 Group's Halifax squadrons flew 11,607 sorties for a loss of 485 aircraft, a loss rate of 4.2%. ; NZ5801 (C.3) 1952. The remaining variants were the C Mk VIII unarmed transport (8,000lb/3,630kg cargo pannier instead of a bomb bay, space for 11 passengers) and the Mk A IX paratroop transport (space for 16 paratroopers and gear). The HP56 was ordered as a backup to the Avro 679, both aircraft being designed to use the underperforming Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. Quick Facts First flight 25th October 1939 Handley Page Halifax 4 [ ] P.13/36 2 H.P.56 This is my latest large scale vacform project - a 1/32nd scale Handley-Page Halifax from ID (tigger) Models. The flight engineer filled in as a co-pilot, seated on a folding seat to the right of the pilot, during crucial manoeuvres such as take-off. item 4 Modelcraft/Matchbox 1/72 Scale Handley Page Halifax Model Kit - READ DESCRIPTION Modelcraft/Matchbox 1/72 Scale Handley Page Halifax Model Kit - READ DESCRIPTION. A transport/cargo version of the Halifax was also produced, known as the Handley Page Halton. In August 1945, while on weather patrol, the ageing Halifax bomber LW170 from No. However, these variants were produced in relatively small quantities. The plane takes off from RAF Tempsford, Central Bedfordshire, in the night of 29 to 30 October 1942 for an operation called "Operation Wrench" in the company of SN W7774. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Halifax production subsequently began at Handley Page's (now English Electric's) site in Samlesbury, Lancashire, with over 2,000 bombers being built by this factory during the war. [10], The bomb aimer's position was in the extreme nose with the navigator's table located behind it, both roles fulfilled by the same crew member. 35 Squadron and four other squadrons were selected to form the Pathfinder Force, later expanded to become No. At peak one Halifax was completed every hour. On 26 November 2006, archaeologists from the Warsaw Uprising Museum, Poland, unearthed remains of another Halifax (JP276 "A") from No. The Mk I Series III had increased fuel capacity (1,882gal/8,556L), and larger oil coolers to accept the Merlin XX. 4,000lb and 8,000lb high capacity (HC) bombs, Polish Air Forces in exile in Great Britain, The first "Thousand bomber raid" on Cologne on 3031 May 1942, The attack on Nuremberg on 3031 March 1944, The attack on Dresden on 1314 February 1945, "Handley Page Halifax Mk III Yorkshire Air Museum", "Handley Page Halifax B.MK.II Series I W1048/8465M", "The Story of Halifax NA337 National Air Force Museum of Canada", "Support the Recovery of a RCAF Halifax Bomber", "Fishing For Halibags Retrieving a Halifax Bomber from the Irish Sea > Vintage Wings of Canada", "Bomber Command Museum of Canada Halifax Project", Halifax at the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive, Air operations during the Battle of Europe, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Handley_Page_Halifax&oldid=1135808016, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from March 2017, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2013, Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes from December 2018, All Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Handley Page Halifax B.III showing the later rectangular fins and, Built by Handley Page. It was mainly used as a night bomber. Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, the Hastings was the largest transport plane ever designed for the service. A dedicated civil transport variant, the Handley Page Halton, was also developed and entered airline service; 41 civil Halifax freighters were used during the Berlin Airlift. The prototype HP.57 (L7244) made its first flight at Radlett in Hertfordshire on 25 October 1940, the first production machine flying on 11 October 1940. Crash of a Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax I in Wustermark: 7 killed Date & Time: Jul 26, 1941 Type of aircraft: Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax I Operator: Registration: L9507 Flight Phase: Flight Flight Type: Bombing Survivors: No Site: Plain, Valley Schedule: Linton-on-Ouse - Linton-on-Ouse Location: Wustermark Brandenburg Country: Germany Region: London Aero and Motor Services (LAMS) was a company formed in 1946 which operated from Elstree in Hertfordshire on freight work. Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber HR871 was assigned new in 1943 to the elite Canadian RCAF 405 "Pathfinder" Squadron whose job was marking the Nazi targets in Germany for the main force bombers of RAF Bomber Command. A rare colour photograph of a 405 Squadron Handley Page Halifax II being serviced and "bombed-up" prior to a raid. The front fuselage section of Halifax MkVII PN323, built by Fairey Aviation at Manchester, is displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London. [s ee more ] On later-built aircraft, the two-gun dorsal turret was replaced by a four-gun Boulton Paul turret. The war had cost the nation too much and people had no appetite to keep the things that reminded them of their loss. 417, 419, 423, 603. [citation needed] The four-engine redesign increased its wingspan from 88ft (27m) to 99ft (30m) and added 13,000 pounds (5,900kg) of weight. Four Merlins were specified by the Ministry in September 1937. It is painted to represent Halifax LV907, "Friday the 13th" from no. The Handley Page Halifax was an archetypal British heavy bomber, making up nearly half of all that were produced. They also saw service with Coastal Command. Some aircraft included two additional .303in (7.7mm) Vickers K machine guns in beam (side, or "waist") positions. [10][28] The existence of the Halifax was not officially acknowledged until July 1941, after it was used in a daylight attack on La Pallice, France, against the German battleship Scharnhorst. The route flown was via Hurn, Marseilles, Tunis, Castel Benito, Cairo, Basra, Almaza, Jodhpur, Dum Dum, Pegu, Bangkok, Changi, Balikpapan, and Darwin, NT arriving in Sydney at Mascot on 15 June 1946. The H.P.57 was enlarged and powered by four 1,280hp (950kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines. From the early days of our group, when we set a worlds record for a heavy bomber underwater recovery with a lift of RAF Halifax NA337 from 240 meters depth in Lake Mjosa, Norway to the impossible but successfully completed deep swamp recovery of RCAF Halifax LW682 in Belgium, with her missing crew still on board, Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) has done its duty to bring the legend and important history of the Halifax bomber back to the people of Canada and the world. PN323's nose/forward fuselage is on display at IWM Duxford since September 2012. The final bomber version, the Mk VII, reverted to the less powerful Hercules XVI. G-AIWT returned to the United Kingdom in June 1947 loaded with seven-tons of dripping from the people of New South Wales as a gift for the victims of floods in England. One of the most important bombers of World War II, a total of 6,179 Handley Page Halifax's had been built by time the production ended, having been built by Handley Page (1,592), English Electric (2,145), London Aircraft Production Group - LAPG (710); Rootes Securities (1,071) and Fairey Aviation (662). (Video still from NTNU AUR-LAB via WarbirdsNews.com) A research team from the Marine Technology Center at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway has discovered the sunken wreck of an RAF Handley Page Halifax under roughly 180m of water on the bottom of a nearby fjord. At the end of July, Handley Page was told to redesign the HP56 for four engines rather than two, as the Vulture was already suffering technical problems. The second aircraft the organization is seeking to recover is LW170 off the coast of Scotland. [31] The Halifax was progressively outnumbered in front-line service over occupied Europe as more Lancasters became available from 1943 onwards; many squadrons converted to the Lancaster. After the war Halifaxes remained in service with Coastal Command and RAF Transport Command, Royal Egyptian Air Force and the Arme de l'Air until early 1952. The Halifax was produced for a number of tasks. The Handley Page design was altered at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; the rival Avro 679 was produced as the twin-engine Avro Manchester which, while regarded as unsuccessful mainly due to the Vulture engine, was a direct predecessor of the famed Avro Lancaster. Crash of a Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax I off La Rochelle Date & Time: Jul 24, 1941 Type of aircraft: Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax I Operator: Registration: L9494 Flight Phase: Flight Flight Type: Bombing Survivors: Yes Site: Lake, Sea, Ocean, River Schedule: Stanton Harcourt - Stanton Harcourt Location: La Rochelle Charente-Maritime Country: France It was hit by anti-aircraft fire after releasing the four 1,000-pound (450kg) mines it carried and the pilot made a successful belly landing on the frozen surface of Lake Hoklingen. 1,833 aircraft were lost.[40][41]. It was shot down on the night 45 August 1944 while returning from the "air-drop-action" during the Warsaw Uprising. The aircraft was moved to the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario where it was unveiled in 2005 after a full restoration. On the return flight it had an engine problem and flew from Darwin to Sydney on three engines. Adopting a stronger wing also required additional strengthening of the overall aircraft structure, resulting in an increase in overall weight. The Handley Page Halifax was a four-engined heavy bomber operated by the British Royal Air Force during World War II. In addition to bombing missions, the Halifax served as a glider tug, electronic warfare aircraft for No. [10] Different models of the Halifax used different numbers and combinations of turrets, effectively trading speed for firepower and vice versa. Photo: CanadianWings.com. The 'vision is to see several of the Handley . Meanwhile, both the United States and the Soviet Union were developing bombers powered by arrangements of four smaller engines with favorable results, including excellent range and fair lifting capacity. H.P.57 was enlarged and powered by four 1,280hp ( 950kW ) Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Problem and flew from Darwin to Sydney on three engines air-drop-action '' during the Uprising! 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