Anti-shipping Hampden

[kitnut617]

Following the Hampden thread got me thinking about some things.  What if the RP hadn't been developed as quick as it did, what would have been an alternative to torpedo attacks on shipping.  The RAF were finding this activity quite suicidal and what they needed was a 'stand-off' capability.  Hence big guns mounted in aircraft.

I got to thinking of how to convert a Hampden into an anti-shipping variant, I think I'll go with a pair of 40mm in the forward bombay and a brace of .303's in the upper nose like a Mosquito and then have Merlin engines.  I've found that the Wellington Mk.II nacelles practically fall onto the Hampden and the bonus is they appear to be about the same size as the Dagger nacelles, a set of which I have to compare the MPM Wimpy Mk.II's with.  Think I'm going to go with a Halifax four-gun dorsal turret too, and have some square type Halifax Mk.III fins & rudders (sort of a forerunner to the Halifax change) only smaller.  And to up-gun the thing, an extra pair of Hurricane 40mm cannon pods outside the engine nacelles.  I think that would work quite well.

[sequoiaranger]

>Following the Hampden thread got me thinking about some things.  Paraphrased: [What the RAF needed was an alternative to torpedo attacks on shipping and what they needed was a 'stand-off' capability.  Hence big guns mounted in aircraft. I got to thinking of how to convert a Hampden into an anti-shipping variant, I think I'll go with a pair of 40mm...and then have Merlin engines.]<

Ya mean like THIS?:



Actually, my 1/72 "Handley-Page Helvetican" is made from a 1/96 (FROG) Hampden intended as a bomber-destroyer. It would work for shipping, too. The wings are Mosquito (same planform as Hampden), and the pointy spinners are from some P-38. My "fighter" version is d**ned skinny, though!!

[kitnut617]

Along those lines SR, (very nice BTW, it's got a very 'Russian' look to it.),  I'm thinking a solid nose with four .303's like a Mosquito, and the two 40mm's inside the bomb bay firing through blast tubes in the lower part of the nose.

[sequoiaranger]

Yeah, a FULL-SIZED Hampden should be able to accommodate a pair of 40mm side-by-side (angled down slightly? or in a cupola?).

I'll be awaiting its completion!