Handley Page Hastings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Hastings

The Handley Page H.P.67 Hastings was a British troop-carrier and freight
transport aircraft designed and built by the Handley Page Aircraft Company for
the Royal Air Force. At the time, it was the largest transport plane ever
designed for the RAF, and it replaced the Avro York as the standard long-range
transport.

Handley Page's answer to meet Air Staff Specification C.3/44 for a long-range
general purpose transport was the H.P.67. It was an all-metal low-wing
cantilever monoplane with a conventional tail unit. It had all-metal tapering
dihedral wings, which had been designed for the abandoned HP.66 bomber
development of the Handley Page Halifax, and a circular fuselage suitable for
pressurisation up to 5.5 psi (38 kPa). It had a retractable undercarriage and
tailwheel. The Hastings was powered by four wing-mounted Bristol Hercules 101
sleeve valve radial engines. In service, the aircraft was operated by a crew of
five and could accommodate either 30 paratroopers, 32 stretchers and 28 sitting
casualties, or 50 fully equipped troops.

A civilian version of the Hastings was developed as the Handley Page Hermes. The
Hermes prototypes were given priority over the Hastings but that programme was
put on hold after the prototype crashed on its first flight on 2 December 1945
and the company concentrated on the military Hastings variant. The first of two
Hastings prototypes (TE580) flew at RAF Wittering on 7 May 1946. Tests showed
that the aircraft was laterally unstable and that it had poor stall warning
capabilities. The prototypes and first few production aircraft were subject to a
series of urgent modifications and testing to resolve these problems. A
temporary solution was found by modifying the tailplane with 15° of dihedral,
while being fitted with synthetic stall warning. This allowed the first
production aircraft (Hastings C1) to enter service in October 1948.

The RAF initially ordered 100 Hastings C1s but the last six were built as
weather reconnaissance versions as the Hastings Met. Mk 1, and seven other
aircraft were converted to this standard. Eight C1 aircraft were later converted
to Hastings T5 trainers which were used for training the V bomber crews, three
at a time.

While tail modifications introduced to the C1 allowed it to enter service, a
more definitive solution was the fitting of an extended-span tailplane, which
was mounted lower on the fuselage. These changes, together with the fitting of
additional fuel tanks in the outer wing, resulted in the C Mk 2, while a further
modified VIP transport, fitted with yet more fuel capacity to give a longer
range became the C Mk 4.

A total of 147 aircraft were built for the Royal Air Force and four for the
Royal New Zealand Air Force, a total of 151.


Role
Transport aircraft

Manufacturer
Handley Page

First flight
7 May 1946

Introduction
September 1948

Retired
1977 (RAF)

Primary users
RAF
RNZAF

Produced
1947 – 1952

Number built
151

Variants
Handley Page Hermes

The Hastings was rushed into service because of the Berlin Airlift, with No. 47
Squadron replacing its Halifax A Mk 9s with Hastings from September to October
1948, flying its first sortie to Berlin on 11 November 1948. The Hastings fleet
was mainly used to carry coal, with two further squadrons, 297 and 53 joining
the airlift before its end. A Hastings made the last sortie of the airlift on 6
October 1949, the 32 Hastings deployed delivering 55,000 tons (49,900 tonnes) of
supplies for the loss of two aircraft.

One hundred Hastings C.Mk 1 and 41 Hastings C.Mk 2 were built, and they served
both on Transport Command's long-range routes and as a tactical transport until
well after the arrival of the Bristol Britannia in 1959. An example of the
latter use was during the Suez Crisis when Hastings of 70, 99 and 511 Squadrons
dropped paratroopers on El Gamil airfield.

Hastings continued to provide transport support to British military operations
around the globe through the 1950s and 60s, including dropping supplies to
troops opposing Indonesian forces in Malaysia during the Indonesian
Confrontation. The Hastings was retired from Royal Air Force Transport Command
in early 1968 when it was replaced by the Lockheed Hercules. The Met Mk.1
weather reconnaissance aircraft were used by No. 202 Squadron RAF at RAF
Aldergrove, Northern Ireland from 1950 until the Squadron was disbanded on 31
July 1964, being made obsolete by weather satellites. The Hastings T.Mk 5
remained in service as radar trainers well into the 1970s, even being used for
reconnaissance purposes during the Cod War in the winter of 1975—76, finally
being retired on 30 June 1977.

Specifications (Hastings C.2)

General characteristics
Crew: five (pilot, co-pilot, radio-operator, navigator and flight engineer)
Capacity:
50 troops or
35 paratroops or
32 stretchers and 29 sitting wounded
20,311 lb (9,213 kg) maximum payload

Length: 81 ft 8 in (24.89 m)
Wingspan: 113 ft 0 in (34.44 m)
Height: 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Wing area: 1,408 sq ft (130.8 m2)
Aspect ratio: 9.08:1
Airfoil: NACA 23021 at root, NACA 23007 at tip
Empty weight: 48,472 lb (21,987 kg) (equipped, freighter)
Max takeoff weight: 80,000 lb (36,287 kg)
Fuel capacity: 3,172 imp gal (14,420 l; 3,809 US gal)
Powerplant: 4 × Bristol Hercules 106 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial
engines, 1,675 hp (1,249 kW) each
Propellers: 4-bladed de Havilland constant speed, 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m) diameter

Performance
Maximum speed: 348 mph (560 km/h; 302 kn) at 22,200 ft (6,800 m)
Cruise speed: 291 mph (468 km/h; 253 kn) at 15,200 ft (4,600 m) (weak mixture)
Range: 1,690 mi (1,469 nmi; 2,720 km) (maximum payload), 4,250 mi (3,690 nmi;
6,840 km) (maximum fuel, 7,400 lb (3,400 kg) payload)
Service ceiling: 26,500 ft (8,100 m)
Rate of climb: 1,030 ft/min (5.2 m/s)
Time to altitude: 26 minutes to 26,000 ft (7,900 m)
Take-off run to 50 ft (15 m): 1,775 yd (5,325 ft; 1,623 m)
Landing run from 50 ft (15 m): 1,430 yd (4,290 ft; 1,310 m)




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