Handley Page Heyford ideas

[zenrat]

could be simply inspired by a Gotha UWD

I'm perplexed by the design logic which put the fuselage further from the water then the engines.

[The Rat]

I'm perplexed by the design logic which put the fuselage further from the water then the engines.

Looks sensible to me, it would keep the thrust line more in line with the centre of mass. Something the designer of the Tarant Tabor seemed to miss, if I recall correctly.

[Weaver]

OK then.  Air Pirate Heyford inspired by Porco Rosso and Stop the Pigeon.

Obviously it needs floats.  Or more precisely a single hull mounted below the lower wing.  This would feature an open position at the front with a crew served harpoon gun for spearing the smaller aircraft and yachts it was preying on and a serious engine driven winch to wind them in.  The rear of the hull would also be open with a couple of heavy machine guns on swivel mounts on each side and a dingy on davits across the back.
An additional 2 engines would obviously be needed so push pull nacelles would be in order with large radiators mounted above the engines (just 'cause I like the look).  Walkways with safety rails along the top of the wing and alongside the engines to allow for in flight servicing and repair.
Nose gunner, cockpit and dorsal gun as per usual but add a tail gunner.
Biplane tail and to cap it all add a third wing with another 2 gun positions.
Total crew would be 15.
Captain
Pilot
Nose Gunner
Dorsal Gunner
Tail Gunner
2 Upper Wing Gunners
4 Hull Gunners/Boat Crew
Master Harpoonist
Harpoonists Mate
Chef
Roger the Cabin Boy

Paint would be Black/Red/White splinter pattern with large Skull and Crossbones wherever possible.
It might be necessary to have a mast and crows nest mounted on the top wing.

To build this i'd use 2 Matchbox Heyfords with a 1/25 Revell Hemi Hydro speed boat providing the Hull.


Or maybe I could use A 1/72 Revell Pirate Ship in which case i'd retain the cannons so I could fire broadsides...


If anyone wants to build this feel free.  I'm unlikely to do so as they won't let me have sharp things here and it's hard to build in the jacket where the sleeves tie at the back...

Now you're just being silly..... go on then, get on with it....

[The Wooksta!]

Just painting it in anything other than that awful green would be a start.  Standard WW2 night bomber colours or perhaps desert colours and operating from Habbaniya in '41?  IIRC, that's what I intended with the Heyford I got a few years back, before deciding that it was too much like hard work (Dislike biplanes) and got shot.  Someone on here bought it.

Anyhoo, modernise it a bit?  Proper canopy, Pegasus engines, Halibag Z nose glazing and a Defiant or Blenheim IV mid upper turret (possibly the one from the Anson).  Use it as a heavy bomber trainer.

[NARSES2]

or perhaps desert colours and operating from Habbaniya in '41?  

That's the idea I was talking about at Hendon yesterday  It would look good in desert colours possibly bombing Somalia from a base in Aden.

Love the way that the old photo describes the cockpit canopy as the "pilots enclosure". Sounds much more suited to all those gentleman pilots of the 30's. You stick the working class airman gunner in the dustbin 

Always had a soft spot for the aeroplane I must admit. I like a lot of these mid/late 30's types. Was looking forward to the Valom kit of the Bombay

[aston]

Fabulously eccentric plane. I have one suitably painted (as it looked when included in desperation in the first 1000 bomber raid).

[NARSES2]

Fabulously eccentric plane. I have one suitably painted (as it looked when included in desperation in the first 1000 bomber raid).

Like to see that 

Bombay's were used for casualty evacuation post D-Day (inc full D-Day stripes) and that got me wondering about a Heyford as a air sea rescue spotter/dropper of rescue gear. All white with big red crosses ?

[Dizzyfugu]

Coastal Command colors should also look nice? Not certain if this thing was any good in a gust of seaside wind, though...

And I could imagine an Aluminum Dope version with bright markings?

[jcf]

Coastal Command colors should also look nice? Not certain if this thing was any good in a gust of seaside wind, though...

Your logic escapes me, why would it be more wind sensitive than any other biplane?
From what I've read it was very agile and could be rolled and looped with ease.
The biggest problems it had in service were with the cooling system of the Kestrel
engines.

So zenrat, re: the Hemi-Hydro build, something along the lines of the Dornier RS.III then?

[Weaver]

Love the way that the old photo describes the cockpit canopy as the "pilots enclosure". Sounds much more suited to all those gentleman pilots of the 30's. You stick the working class airman gunner in the dustbin 

Depends on your opinion of pilots, I suppose. It always reminds me of the fact that different areas of a zoo are also called "enclosures", as in "Lion Enclosure", "Monkey Enclosure"......  

[Weaver]

From what I've read it was very agile and could be rolled and looped with ease.

So, pre-war night fighter? Back to those lower wing guns again, a cage <sorry> enclosure for the pilot, elaborate dipole aerials in between the wings and a GIB hunched over a random collection of occasionally functioning valve electronics in a big wooden box in the back?

Or, for something less warlike, how about a display team? Let's say it gets an undeserved bad reputation for some reason and the RAF decides to big it up by putting on a series of displays of how good it is. The three aircraft are stripped of all uneccessary weight (no gunners or guns, streamlined nose) and painted in different but complementary colour schemes: Red with blue and white stripes, blue with red and white stripes and white with blue and red stripes, all stripes being of the same pattern. Think what you could do with different smokes or other effects loaded into those ten individual bomb bays.....

[PR19_Kit]

This heading towards its own Group Build I can see.  

The price of Heyfords on eBay will be climbing before much longer, you mark my words.

[aston]

I'm (fairly) sure I have seen footage, possibly from a Hendon display of maybe three Heyfords doing formation aerobatics ....??

It's a kind of Art Deco plane but not so much as those ugly/amazing big block'n'slab French aircraft of the times ..... like they were designed by Mondrian ..... and should have had square roundels ....

[ericr]

It's a kind of Art Deco plane but not so much as those ugly/amazing big block'n'slab French aircraft of the times ..... like they were designed by Mondrian ..... and should have had square roundels ....

square roundels : the circle's quadrature 
together with a Mondrian pattern (as has been done on a few cars) : excellent idea 

like here



or there (could be used of armour vehicle ...)

[ericr]

Obviously it needs floats.  

yes !

could be simply inspired by a Gotha UWD


I built something like that in the past, painted red

blue, actually ...