A Dictionary of Coastal Command 1939 - 1945 by Geoff Simpson

Author:Geoff Simpson [Simpson, Geoff]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2017-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

H

Handley Page Halifax – The Halifax entered RAF service, with No. 35 Squadron in Bomber Command, towards the end of 1940, having first flown in late 1939. As the bomber offensive gathered pace from 1942, this four-engine type proved to be one of the Command’s major weapons, though outshone in fame and public affection by the Lancaster. However, the Halifax was an aircraft in which the crew stood a good chance of getting home, even with considerable damage. It came to be referred to in the RAF as the “Halibag”.

As first flown at Bicester, Oxfordshire on October 25 1939, the Halifax had four Rolls Royce Merlin engines and provision for a crew of seven.

Despite the demands of the bomber offensive, the Halifax was made available to Coastal Command and was modified for its use. Halifaxes equipped nine squadrons and contributed considerably to antisubmarine, anti-shipping and meteorological duties.

Handley Page Hampden – The Hampden was a result of an Air Ministry specification of 1932, calling for a twin-engine bomber, which also led to the very different Vickers Wellington.

In its Bomber Command form the Hampden was equipped with Bristol Pegasus radial piston engines and normally carried a crew of four and up to 4,000lb of bombs. It had a maximum speed of just over 250 mph. There were twin forward firing 0.303in machine-guns and further guns of the same type in ventral and dorsal positions. This armament was insufficient to counter Messerschmitt Bf 109s in daylight, a problem which Coastal Command would find represented a severe drawback. The first flight by a Hampden was in 1936.

The prototype Handley Page Hampden, K 4240, first flew, without armament, on June 21 1936.

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