Warplanes of the UK: Handley Page Halifax

Handley Page Halifax

(RAF Photo)

Handley Page Halifax Mk. 3.

The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine H.P.56 proposal of the late 1930s, produced in response to the British Air Ministry's Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use." The H.P.56 was ordered as a backup to the Avro 679, both aircraft being designed to use the Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. The Handley Page design was altered to use four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines while 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 Avro Lancaster. Both the Lancaster and the Halifax emerged as capable four-engine strategic bombers, thousands of which were used during the War.

The Halifax performed its first flight on 25 October 1939, and entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, primarily at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster (in part due to its smaller payload) though this opinion was not shared by many of the crews that flew it.[2] Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 long tons (227,805 t) of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also flown in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and Free French Air Force.

Various improved versions of the Halifax were introduced, incorporating more powerful engines, a revised defensive turret layout and increased payload. It remained in service with Bomber Command until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing. Specialised versions of the Halifax were developed for troop transport and paradrop operations. After the Second World War, the RAF quickly retired the Halifax, the type being succeeded as a strategic bomber by the Avro Lincoln, an advanced derivative of the Lancaster. During the post-war years, the Halifax was operated by the Royal Egyptian Air Force, the French Air Force and the Royal Pakistan Air Force. The type also entered commercial service for a number of years, used mainly as a freighter. 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. In 1961, the last remaining Halifax bombers were retired from operational use. (Wikipedia)

(IWM Photo, C 4109)

Daylight attack on German warships docked at Brest, France. Two Handley Page Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron RAF fly towards the dry docks in which the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are berthed (right), and over which a smoke screen is rapidly spreading. Prinz Eugen is morred at the right, 18 Dec 1941..

(Alan Zomerfeld Photo)

(Rachel Semlyen Photo)

(Craig Sunter Photos)

Handley Page Halifax B Mk. II (Serial No. HR792).  The Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, Yorkshire, on the site of the Second World War airfield, RAF Elvington, has a fully restored aircraft re-constructed from a fuselage section of HR792 and parts from other aircraft including the wings from an RAF Hastings.  It is painted to represent Halifax (Serial No. LV907), "Friday the 13th" from No. 158 Squadron RAF on the port side and "N - Novembre" of 347 "Guyenne" Squadron, Free French Air Force, (NP763), on the starboard side (RAF Elvington was the home of the only two French heavy bomber squadrons in Bomber Command).

Handley Page Halifax B Mk. VII (Serial No. PN323), front fuselage.  Imperial War Museum, London.

(RAF Photo)

Gathering hay during the Second World War in and around RAF Elvington, Yorkshire. In the background is Handley Page Halifax B Mk. II Series I (Special),(Serial No. DT807), coded KN-R, "Rita", of No. 77 Squadron RAF.

(IWM Photo, CH 3393)

Handley Page Halifax Mk. I Series 1, (Serial No. L9530), coded MP-L, No 76 Squadron RAF undergoing maintenance at Middleton St George, County Durham. L9530 was shot down while attacking Magdeburg on 15 August 1941.

(Alan Wilson Photos)

Handley Page Halifax B Mk. II (Serial No. W1048), "S for Sugar" of No. 35 Squadron RAF.  On the night of the 27/28 April 1942, W1048 was taking part in a raid on the German battleship Tirpitz - its first operational flight.  It was hit by anti-aircraft fire after releasing the four 1,000-pound (450 kg) mines it carried and the pilot made a successful belly landing on the frozen surface of Lake Hoklingen.  The crew escaped to Sweden with the help of the Norwegian resistance, except for the Flight Engineer who remained behind because of a broken ankle and was taken prisoner. Within hours, the aircraft sank through the ice into 27 metres (89 ft) of water.  In the summer of 1973, it was recovered from the lake by a team of divers from the RAF and a Norwegian diving club, and was transported to the UK on a British Army Landing craft tank.  It is displayed in its "as recovered" condition in the Bomber Command display at the Royal Air Force Museum London, Hendon, apart from the nose turret which had already been restored.

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