Handley Page Hampden

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HP.52 Hampden

No. 455 Squadron (RAAF) Hampden
Type	medium bomber
Manufacturer	Handley Page
Designed by	Gustav Lachmann
Maiden flight	21 June 1936
Retired	1945
Primary users	RAF RCAF
Produced	1936-1941
Number built	1,430

The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force serving in the Second World War. With the Whitley and Wellington the Hampden bore the brunt of the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000-plane raid on Cologne. The newest of the three medium bombers, the Hampden, known as the "Flying Suitcase," was still unsuited to the modern air war and, after operating mainly at night, it was retired from Bomber Command service in late 1942.

1 Design and development
2 Operational history
3 Variants
4 The Hampden in popular culture
5 Survivors
6 Specifications (Hampden Mk I)
7 Operators
8 References
9 Related content
10 External Links

[edit] Design and development

Hampden Mk I

Handley Page designed the Hampden to the same specification as the Wellington (Air Ministry Specification B.9/32) and the first prototype flew on 21 June 1936. The first production batch of 180 Mk I Hampdens was built to specification 30/36.

The Mk I had a crew of four; pilot, navigator/bomb aimer, radio operator and rear gunner. Conceived as a fast, manoeuvrable "fighting bomber", the Hampden had a fixed .303 in Vickers K machine gun in the forward fuselage. To avoid the weight penalties of powered-turrets, the Hampden had a curved Perspex nose fitted with a manual .303 inch Vickers K gun and two more single Vickers K installations in the rear upper and lower positions. The guns were thoroughly inadequate for defence so, by 1940, the single guns had been replaced by twin Vickers K guns.

1430 Hampdens were built, 500 by Handley Page, 770 by English Electric and in 1940-41, 160 in Canada by the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium.

[edit] Operational history

No. 49 Squadron received the first Hampdens in September 1938 with 226 in service with eight squadrons by the start of the Second World War. In operational use, despite its speed and agility, the Hampden was no match for Luftwaffe fighters so its career as a day bomber was brief. It continued to operate at night, on bombing raids over Germany and mine-laying (code-named "gardening") in the North Sea.

According to Harry Moyle, author of The Hampden File, almost half of the Hampdens built– 714– were lost on operations, taking with them 1,077 crew killed and another 739 missing. German flak accounted for 108; one became the victim of a German barrage balloon; 263 Hampdens crashed due to "a variety of causes," and 214 others went missing. Luftwaffe pilots claimed 128 Hampdens, shooting down 92 at night. Guy Gibson spent most of the first two years of his war flying Hampdens, and his book Enemy Coast Ahead gives a strong flavour of the trials and tribulations of taking these aircraft into action.

After being withdrawn from Bomber Command in 1942, it operated with Coastal Command through 1943 as a long-range torpedo bomber (the Hampden TB Mk I with a Mk XII torpedo in an open bomb-bay and a single 500 lb (227 kg) bomb under each wing) and a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. No. 144 Squadron RAF and No. 455 Squadron RAF were involved in the escort of Convoy PQ-18 operating out of Soviet airbases and left their 23 aircraft in the USSR afterwards. These were then used by the 3rd squadron of the 24MTAP (Anti-shipping Wing) of the Soviet Navy until at least 1943. The Hampden was also used by the RCAF and the RNZAF.

[edit] Variants

The Hampden was powered by a pair of 980 hp Bristol Pegasus XVIII 9-cylinder radial engines. A Mk II Hampden was developed as the HP.62 by converting two Hampdens to use the 1,000 hp Wright Cyclone engine in 1940 but no more was done of the project.

In 1936, the RAF had also ordered 150 of a variant of the Hampden; the HP.53 Hereford. These were powered by a pair of 1,000 hp Napier Dagger VIII 24-cylinder H-type air-cooled inline engines but problems with them resulted in most of those built (by Short & Harland) being re-engined as Hampdens. The surviving Herefords served in training units only.

Hampden restoration project at the Canadian Museum of Flight at Langley, British Columbia c.2006

[edit] The Hampden in popular culture

The HP Hampden had a featured role in the Big Blockade (1941) starring Michael Rennie, a Second World War propaganda film showing "blockade" bombing and its affects on the German war industry [1].

[edit] Survivors

No Hampdens remain in flying condition today, although two wrecks are in the process of being restored. Handley Page Hampden I P1344 awaits reconstruction in Great Britain having crashed into a mountain in Sweden in 1942. The remains are presently stored in the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at the Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford.

The other surviving Hampden, P5436, is being reconstructed largely from parts of a Hampden (the last one built in Canada) which were recovered from 600 feet of water in Saanich Inlet on Vancouver Island in 1989 as well as recovered components from two other Hampden crashes in Canada. The aircraft was ditched on a training flight in 1942 when the pilot lost control after a torpedo drop. As of 2007, the reconstruction of the Hampden is about 95 per cent complete, and is currently the showpiece exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Flight at Langley, British Columbia, in the Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver.

[edit] Specifications (Hampden Mk I)

General characteristics

Crew: 4
Length: 53 ft 7 in (16.33 m)
Wingspan: 69 ft 2 in (21.98 m)
Height: 14 ft 4 in (4.37 m)
Wing area: 688 ft&sup2 (63.9 m²)
Empty weight: 11,780 lb (5,344 kg)
Loaded weight: 18,756 lb (8,508 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Bristol Pegasus XVIII 9-cylinder radial engine, 980 hp (730 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 265 mph at 15,500 ft (410 km/h at 4,724 m)
Range: 1,095 miles (1,762 km)
Service ceiling: 19,000 ft (5,790 m)
Rate of climb: 980 ft/min (300 m/min)
Wing loading: 27.3 lb/ft² (133 kg/m²))
Power/mass: 0.104 hp/lb (0.172 kW/kg)

Armament

4 to 6 x .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns. one flexible and one fixed in the nose, one or two each in dorsal and ventral positions
4,000 lb (1,814 kg) bombs or 1 x 18 in torpedo or mines

[edit] Operators

Australia: Royal Australian Air Force
- No. 455 Squadron RAAF

Canada: Royal Canadian Air Force
- No. 408 Squadron RCAF
- No. 415 Squadron RCAF
- No. 420 Squadron RCAF

New Zealand: Royal New Zealand Air Force
- No. 489 Squadron RNZAF

Soviet Union: Soviet Naval Aviation
- No. 24 MTAP

United Kingdom: Royal Air Force
- No. 44 Squadron RAF
- No. 49 Squadron RAF
- No. 50 Squadron RAF
- No. 61 Squadron RAF
- No. 76 Squadron RAF
- No. 83 Squadron RAF
- No. 97 Squadron RAF
- No. 106 Sqaudron RAF
- No. 144 Squadron RAF
- No. 185 Squadron RAF
- No. 207 Squadron RAF
- No. 517 Squadron RAF
- No. 519 Squadron RAF
- No. 521 Squadron RAF

[edit] References

Donald, David and Lake, Jon. (eds.) Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft. London: AIRtime Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-880588-24-2.
Gunston, Bill. Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways. London: Osprey, 1995. ISBN 1-85532-526-8.
Mondey, D. The Hamyln Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II. London: Hamlyn/Aerospace, 1982. ISBN 0-600-34951-9.
Moyle, Harry. The Hampden File. Tonbridge, UK: Air-Britain Historians Ltd., 1989. ISBN 0-85130-128-2.