Handley Page Halifax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Halifax

The Handley Page Halifax was a 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 of the Avro Lancaster, and the Short Stirling,
all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers.

The Halifax has its origins in the twin-engine HP56 proposal of the late 1930s,
which had been produced in response to the British Air Ministry's Specification
P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". The HP56 was ordered
as a backup to the Avro 679, both designs being designed to use the
underperforming Rolls-Royce Vulture engine; the Handley Page design was altered
at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement, which was powered by the
Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, 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 famed Avro Lancaster. Both
the Lancaster and the Halifax would emerge as capable four-engined strategic
bombers of which thousands would be manufactured and operated by the RAF and
several other services during the War.

Various improved versions of the Halifax were introduced, which incorporated
more powerful engines and a revised defensive turret layout and also made it
capable of carrying increased payloads. It remained in service until the end of
the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing. Additionally,
specialised versions of the Halifax were developed for troop-transport and
paradrop operations. Following the end of the Second World War, the RAF quickly
chose to phase the Halifax out of service, the type having been succeeded in the
strategic bombing role 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, where it was mainly
used 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.


Role
Heavy bomber

National origin
United Kingdom

Manufacturer
Handley Page

First flight
25 October 1939

Introduction
13 November 1940

Retired
1961 (Pakistani Air Force)

Status
Retired

Primary users
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
Free French Air Force

Produced
1940–1945

Number built
6,176

While the early-built models of the Halifax were heavily used by Bomber Command
and made valuable contributions to operations, it was felt that the aircraft's
performance was unsatisfactory for the most part, mainly due to the Merlin
engine being underpowered, which meant that the type could not fly at higher
altitudes to avoid increasingly effective enemy fighters throughout 1943. This
was answered by the development of the Halifax Mk III, which was powered by
Bristol Hercules radial engines in place of the Merlins; in November 1943, this
model was introduced to service, first being delivered to No. 433 Squadron and
No. 466 Squadron. By January 1944, the Hercules-powered Halifax had become
available in quantity and quickly proved to have superior performance in the
face of German fighter defences.

Early on, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, was scathing
in his criticism of the Halifax's performance in comparison to the new Avro
Lancaster, primarily of its bomb-carrying capability: it had been calculated
that an average Halifax would drop 100 tons of bombs in its lifetime compared to
a Lancaster's 154. The fact that later Hercules-engined Halifaxes had lower loss
rates and higher crew survival rates after abandoning the aircraft than
Lancasters, and came very close to its speed and altitude performance, did not
alter his opinion. Unlike the Lancaster, the Halifax's bomb bay could not be
adapted to carry the 4,000 pound "Cookie" blast bomb which was an integral part
of Harris's fire-bombing tactics. It was progressively outnumbered in frontline
service over occupied Europe as more Lancasters became available from 1943
onwards, many squadrons converted to the Lancaster.

The only Victoria Cross to be awarded to any Halifax pilot was awarded to Cyril
J. Barton of No. 578 Squadron for displaying great gallantry in bringing his
heavily damaged aircraft back after a raid on Nuremberg on the night of 30/31
March 1944. Barton continued to fly the Halifax while other crew members bailed
out, he was killed in the aircraft's crash-landing, but the remaining crew
survived due to his actions.

Specifications (Mk III)

General characteristics
Crew: 7 (pilot, co-pilot/flight engineer, navigator, bomb aimer, radio
operator/gunner, two gunners)
Length: 71 ft 7 in (21.82 m)
Wingspan: 104 ft 2 in (31.75 m)
Height: 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Wing area: 1,190 ft2 (110.6 m2)
Empty weight: 37,870 lb (17,178 kg)
Loaded weight: 54,400 lb (24,675 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 65,000 lb (29,484 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Bristol Hercules XVI radial engine, 1,615 hp (1,205 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 282 mph (454 km/h/246 kn) at 13,500 ft (4,115 m)
Range: 1,860 mi (3,000 km) combat
Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,315 m)
Rate of climb: 750 ft/min (3.8 m/s)
Wing loading: 45.7 lb/ft2 (223.1 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.12 hp/lb (195 W/kg)

Armament

Guns: 8 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns (4 in dorsal turret, 4 in tail
turret), 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun in nose
Bombs: 13,000 lb (5,897 kg) of bombs




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