Halifax aircraft

[lenny100]

Can anybody tell me what was wrong with the Halifax aircraft
was it the wing
was it the bomb bay
could it have been improved by making the fuselage wider

[lenny100]

so doing a shackaton type upgraqde would not be out of the idea

[pyro-manic]

A post-war Super-Halifax would be interesting to see.

Speaking of the Halifax, Airfix and Revell (ex-Matchbox) both do kits - which is better?

[jcf]

Handley-Page H.P.65 'Super-Halifax'

Halifax III fuselage, enlarged bombay with strengthened bomb-floor, capacity to carry 12,000lb bomb fully enclosed.
Low-drag high aspect ratio wings, NACA 66 series laminar flow aerofoil, 113' span (aspect ratio 11).
Turbo-supercharged Hercules 38 engines, four-blade screws.
Low-drag, fully enclosed main landing gear (single-leg, dual-wheel), retractable tailwheel.

Due to anticipated problems with manufacturing the wing to laminar flow tolerances,
the H.P.65 was "abandoned in favour of a conventional two-spar wing having a 55-ft span
to which standard extended Halifax outer wings could be attached."
The number H.P.66 and name Hastings were assigned to the new project.
Three prototypes were ordered:
two Hercules 100 powered as Hastings B.Mk.1, one with
turbo-supercharged Hercules HE-15MT powerplants as the H.P.69/Hastings B.Mk.2.
As an insurance Merlin 65 'power-eggs' interchangeable with the Hercules
were also specified.

-Handley Page Aircraft since 1907, C H Barnes, 2nd edition, Putnam 1995

Jon

[NARSES2]

I always think of it as a Hurricane compared to a Spitfire.

Good analogy that. A good aircraft but unfortunately for HP Avro's had produced an even better one

[GTX]

Avro had designed a bay big enough to carry two torpedoes in the Manchester, which was carried over and it was useful for carrying bigger and bigger bombs.

Going off topic a tad - noe there's an idea a Lanc loaded with torps!

Regards,

Greg

[pyro-manic]

Ooh, nice - in Coastal Command grey and white...

Thanks for the info, Wooksta - I'll be getting one at some point.

[GTX]

Looking forward to the finished product.

Regards,

Greg

[jcf]

The two torpedo requirement (two at 18" diameter, 18' 3" long) was part of P.15/36, the specification to which both the Manchester and the H.P.56 were designed. When the H.P. 56 was redesigned to have four Merlins instead of two Vultures, due to Vulture delays, the basic bomb bay design, which had by then been shortened by four feet due to a reduction in early 1937 in the specification of the total number of bombs carried (250 or 500lb) from 16 to 15, was retained on the 'new ' design, the H.P. 57. The 'shortened' bay was still capable of carrying two torpedoes. The torpedo requirement was deleted on 30 July, 1937.

Jon