Handley Page Henfield - Gypsum Flats Sky Pirate Lair February 1947

[zenrat]

The Handley Page Henfield was developed from the Heyford following it's rejection by the US Army Air Force because it did not fit into their strict (and according to Handley Page executives who attended procurement committees "obsessively and stubbornly pedantic") classification structure for Light, Medium and Heavy Bombers.
Handley Page Henfield 003 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
In order to meet the US Heavy Bomber requirements Handley Page increased the performance envelope by adding an additional wing, three more engines and, in concert with the then current thinking that bombers could fight their way to the target, more defensive guns.  A "Bomber Leader" variant was also proposed with a flying bridge mounted on the upper wing from which the Raid Commander could survey his bomber force and make adjustments to such things as formation patterns and release points as he saw fit.  The flying bridge also contained a set of duplicate instruments and controls enabling the aircraft to be flown from there should it be so desired.
Handley Page Henfield 011 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Despite (or maybe because of) being superior to any of the locally produced proposals the US rejected the Henfield leading to the sole Bomber Leader prototype being taken on a tour of the British Empire to be demonstrated to the local Air Force commanders in the hope of making sales.
After being rejected by Canada (trials carried out with skis and floats were unsatisfactory), all the African colonies, India, Burma and Malaya the Henfield ended up in British North Australia where it was pushed to the back of Alice Springs Field's disused airship hanger and forgotten about.
Until Sky Pirate Chief Captain Fat Hamster, on a raid looking for spares for his ageing Runnymede class armoured dirigible, discovered it, fell in love with it and took it away with him naming it Hesperus and putting it into use as the flagship of his Sky Pirate air fleet operating from a number of strips scattered along the Nullarbor coast and further inland in outback South Australia and Aryan Südreich.
Handley Page Henfield 012 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The Hesperus is modelled as it appeared in the late 40's.  By that time it had seen a fair bit of action requiring its fabric covering to be patched.  Captain Fat Hamster always flew with a full bomb load believing in being ready for every occasion.  After 1945 this included carrying two of the nuclear bombs taken in a raid on an Aryan Südreich research facility.  Investigations by South Australian Military Intelligence established that in addition to taking two functional dicke dame Sänger prototype weapons  he took a number of empty casings and concrete filled test bombs.  However, all these were visually indistinguishable meaning no-one was ever really sure what the Hesperus was carrying.
Handley Page Henfield 014 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Handley Page Henfield 007 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Handley Page Henfield 006 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Handley Page Henfield 010 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The model – It's pretty much all Matchbox Handley Page Heyford – It took 3 of them to get 5 engines.  I got lucky with an Evil-Bay win when the claimed 3 Heyfords turned out to be 5 in various states of completeness and startedness.  This of course means I have enough bits left over to complete another box stock build (not very likely – engine swap at least) plus a long winged whiff.
The only added parts are the nukes (bombs from a Monogram 1/48 Me 262) and some of the crew members (various sources including Sandiego89 – once again I thank you – and Elhiem figures)5, tailwheel (parts box wheel on bent paperclip leg and flying bridge (AMT 1/25 Monster Truck wheel).
Handley Page Henfield 001 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[Dizzyfugu]

OMG!!! Looks one of those Sky Pirate "things" from the Porco Rosso anime!

Very cool! 

[Devilfish]

Love it!  Just makes me think "Catch that Pigeon!" 

[Librarian]

Love it!  Just makes me think "Catch that Pigeon!" 

.

Absolutely ****ng fantastic. Phenomenal job and just  the camo scheme. Superb all round .

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.  Stop the Pigeon was one of my inspirations and Porco Rosso was another.

I don't want to rig another triplane for a while.

[Captain Canada]

Nice read and again, great job o the model ! Love to look at this one...seems a new detail pops out every time !

[PR19_Kit]

FANBLOODYTASTIC!  

What an awesome device it is, and I love the 'Flying Bridge' idea.

As for the USAAF's  "obsessively and stubbornly pedantic") classification structure for Light, Medium and Heavy Bombers." I laughed till my ribs ached. 

[NARSES2]

Absolutely marvellous 

[ericr]

 

[Rheged]

FANBLOODYTASTIC!  

What an awesome device it is, and I love the 'Flying Bridge' idea.

As for the USAAF's  "obsessively and stubbornly pedantic") classification structure for Light, Medium and Heavy Bombers." I laughed till my ribs ached. 

Concur!! I too am delighted with the concept of the Flying Bridge and am still chuckling at the whole thing. I think it probably fits into the category structure as an "Outrageous Bomber"

[Tophe]

Great!
And so realistic, I have to ask: is it coming completely from your (genius) imagination or is it a "Real unbuilt project" of Handley-Page? The model would be wonderful anyway...

[Army of One]

Holy brown stuff.......!!!!! I gotta take my hat off n bow for the rigging alone.......

[jcf]

As for the USAAF's  "obsessively and stubbornly pedantic") classification structure for Light, Medium and Heavy Bombers." I laughed till my ribs ached. 

Ditto.   

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Its mad! I love it!

[Ed S]

Brilliant!!!

Ed