Handley Page Halifax

Handley Page Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Type:	Heavy bomber
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Handley Page Aircraft Company
First flight:	September 24, 1939
Commissioning:	November 1940
Production time:	1940 to 1946
Number of pieces:	6178

The Handley Page Halifax (Handley-Page Type 57 or HP57) was a four-engine bomber of the Second World War from British production. It was used by the RAF Bomber Command from March 1941 .

Developed by the Handley Page Aircraft Company , 6178 machines were produced in various versions from 1940 to 1946. The type used until March 1952 was the second four-engine heavy bomber flown by the Royal Air Force , alongside the 1941 Avro Lancaster (7377 machines) and the Short Stirling (2380 machines) .

development

The mid-decker was designed in 1936 from the conversion of the HP56, which was equipped with two Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, according to specification P.13 / 36 after it became clear that the technically highly modern, but fault-prone Vulture engines were not able to satisfy . The HP57 was a greatly enlarged design based on four Rolls-Royce-Merlin engines. The first flight of the first of two prototypes (L 2,744) took place on September 24, 1939 in Bicester . At that time the first order had already been received.

commitment

Halifax B.II W1057, ZA-X , 10 Squadron RAF, the April / May 1942, the attacks on the battleship Tirpitz in Fættenfjord at Trondheim in Norway was involved

Handley Page Halifax B Mk I, s / n L9530, MP-L, No. 76 Squadron RAF, summer 1941

The delivery of the Halifax Mk.I began in November 1940 to Squadron 35. The bomber was on the night of 11/12. March 1941 used for the first time in large numbers during an attack on Le Havre . The first Mk.I's were known as the BI series. This was followed by the Series II with a higher total weight and the Series III. The Mk.II-Series I had its first significant modifications by using a twin MG rear turret and more powerful Merlin-XX engines. The Mk.II-Series I (Special) had a cladding of the nose instead of the armament, and it had no exhaust manifolds on the engine pods. The series IA was the first to use the low- resistance Plexiglas fuselage nose that was later always used; the fuselage turret had four machine guns and the aircraft was powered by Merlin-22 engines. Variants of the Mk.III Series I (Special) and Series IA with chassis from Dowty instead of the usual one from Messier were referred to as Mk.V Series I (Special) and Series IA. In 1966 Mk.II and 915 Mk.V were produced.

The Mk.II-Series IA (HP59) brought another important modification: it had larger rectangular vertical stabilizers to solve the serious stability problems encountered with the earlier design. Perspex nose and rectangular vertical stabilizers were characteristic of all subsequent Halifax. Their only disadvantage was the insufficient drive power.

Therefore, they left in 1943 published Mk.III (HP61) the Rolls-Royce Merlin - V engine and built Bristol-Hercules - radial engines with 1,615 horsepower and increased fuel storage one. With 2091 pieces, the Mk.III was the most built Halifax variant. The aircraft were later fitted with H2S radar devices.

Mk.IV remained an unfinished project.

The next models were the Mk.VI (HP61) with 1675 HP Hercules 100 and the Mk.VII (HP61) , which again had the Hercules of the Mk.III. These were the last versions of the bomber; they were built in relatively modest numbers.

The end of the Halifax types were the civilian conversion version Mk.VIII (HP70 Halton) and the troop transporter Mk.IX (HP71) , the last aircraft of which was delivered in November 1946.

Handley Page 6178 Halifax were manufactured in collaboration with various companies including English Electric , Fairey , Rootes  Motors and the London Aircraft Production Group. The Bomber Command used the Halifax until the end of the war; they made up about 40% of the British "four-engine bombers"; it was last used during the air raid on Wangerooge on April 25, 1945 . His duties included many special missions, including the dropping of agents and jamming German radio measuring ( radar ) stations. Halifax were also used in the Middle East. After the war, they stayed with the Coast and Transport Command for a long time. A GR Mk.VI of the Coast Command completed its last flight in March 1952.

Production numbers

The Halifax was built in the UK by Handley Page, London Aircraft , English Electric , Rootes in Speeke and Fairey in Errwood Park.

Production by Handley Page Halifax until July 31, 1945

version	Handley Page	London Aircraft	English Electric	Rootes / Speeke	Fairy / Errwood Park	total
BI	85					85
B.II	607	450	900	12		1,969
B.III	323	260	900	250	320	2,053
A.III				30th		30th
BV				658	246	904
B.VI	155		280			435
B.VII	120		20th		21st	161
A.VII				120	53	173
C.VIII	100					100
total	1,390	710	2,100	1,070	640	5,910

At the end of the war, the ASR variant A.VII was still in production.

Handley Page Halifax war production 1940 to July 31, 1945

year	bomber	Transporter	ASR	number
1940	6th			6th
1941	162			162
1942	801			801
1943	1,827			1,827
1944	2,334			2,334
until July 31, 1945	477	100	203	780
total	5,607	100	203	5,910

Incidents

Due to the abundance of accidents, only a selection of total losses from the period after the Second World War can be presented here (list has only just begun).

• On May 13, 1948, a Halifax C.VIII of Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) ( aircraft registration F-BCJX ) coming from Le Bourget airport rolled over the runway end at Bovingdon military airfield and finally got stuck in the airport fence . The three-man crew were unharmed. The aircraft registered with Société Aero Cargo was irreparably damaged.

• On May 20, 1948, a Halifax C.VIII of the TAI (registration number F-BCJT ) crashed at Le Bourget Airport . The three-man crew survived without injuries. However, the aircraft registered with the Société Auxiliaire de Navigation Aérienne (SANA) was irreparably damaged.

• On December 1, 1948, a Halifax C.VIII of the TAI (registration number F-BCJS ) crashed while taking off in thick fog from Lyon-Bron airport about 1200 meters behind the end of the runway at Beauregard in the Décines district. The machine was on a commercial flight to Casablanca-Anfa Airport . Of the eight occupants, three of the passengers were killed, the other two and the three-man crew injured. The aircraft registered with Société Aero Cargo was destroyed.

• On April 1, 1949 (probably on the night of March 31 to April 1), a Halifax C.8 of the British Westminster Airways (G-AHDL) coming from the Berlin-Gatow airfield as part of the Berlin Airlift arrived at the military airfield Schleswigland crash-landed. All three crew members survived unharmed. The aircraft was totaled.

• On November 20, 1950, a Halifax C.VIII freighter of Eagle Aviation (registration G-AIAP ) crashed after taking off from Dum Dum Airport in Calcutta ( India ). Two of the six crew members were killed.

Technical specifications

Plan drawing of a Halifax Mark I B.III

Parameter	Data Halifax Mk. III
crew	7th
length	21.35 m
span	31.80 m
height	6.32 m
Wing area	110.6 m²
Empty mass	17,178 kg
Takeoff mass	24,700 kg
Top speed	450 km / h
Cruising speed	410 km / h
Landing speed	120 km / h
Range	2,000 km
Summit height	7,300 m
Armament	On the top of the fuselage and on the stern, a turret with a Browning MG quadruplet, in the bow a MG Vickers K , all caliber .303 British (7.7 mm)
Bomb load	5,900 kg

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Olaf Groehler : History of the Air War 1910 to 1980. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1981.
• Kenneth Munson: Bombers, Patrol and Transport Aircraft 1939–45. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 3rd edition 1977.
• Friedrich König: The History of the Air Force. Rastatt 1980.

Web links

Commons : Handley Page Halifax  - Album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• The Halifax at Canadian Air Aces and Heroes (en)
• The Halifax at military.cz (en)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to Friedrich König: The history of the air force. Rastatt 1980 p. 150 on October 25, 1939
2. ↑ according to Friedrich König: The history of the air force. Rastatt 1980 p. 150 on March 10, 1941; see. under [1] also " The RAF attacks Le Havre and at the same time gives the new 4-engine Halifax bomber it debut, although one of the six Halifax's involved is shot down on its return flight by an RAF night fighter. "
3. ↑ ^{a b} Public Record Office (National Archives), Kew, stock AVIA 10/311
4. ↑ Air-Britain Aviation World (English), December 2016, p. 159.
5. ↑ Accident report HP Halifax F-BCJX , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on August 19, 2017.
6. ↑ Air-Britain Aviation World (English), September 2016, p. 110.
7. ^ Accident report HP Halifax F-BCJT , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on August 19, 2017.
8. ↑ Air-Britain Aviation World (English), September 2016, p. 109.
9. ↑ Accident report HP Halifax F-BCJS , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on August 19, 2017.
10. ^ Accident report HP Halifax C.8 G-AHDL , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on March 7, 2019.
11. ↑ HP 61 Halifax 8 G-AIAP, c / n 1354
12. ↑ Air-Britain Aviation World (English), September 2016 p. 110.