Handley Page Hampden

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

The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the
Royal Air Force (RAF). It was one of a trio of then-large twin-engine bombers
procured for the RAF, the other two being the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and
Vickers Wellington. The newest of the three medium bombers, the Hampden, was
often referred to by aircrews as the "Flying Suitcase" because of its cramped
crew conditions.

The Hampden served in the early stages of Second World War, bearing the brunt of
the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin
and the first 1,000-plane raid on Cologne. As the war went on, it became clear
that the Hampden was unsuited to combat missions in the modern air war and,
after a period of mainly operating at night, it was retired from RAF Bomber
Command service in late 1942.

While the Hampden was powered by Bristol Pegasus radial engines, a short-lived
variant known as the Handley Page Hereford instead featured in-line Napier
Daggers.

The Hampden Mk I had a crew of four: pilot, navigator/bomb aimer, radio operator
and rear gunner. Conceived as a fast, manoeuvrable, "fighting bomber", the
Hampden had a fixed .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine gun in the forward
fuselage. To avoid the weight penalties of powered turrets, the Hampden had a
curved Perspex nose fitted with a manual .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun
and a .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K installation in the rear upper and lower
positions. The layout was similar to the all-guns-forward cockpits introduced
about the same time in the Luftwaffe's own medium bombers, notably the Dornier
Do 17. During the Norwegian Campaign, these guns proved to be thoroughly
inadequate for self-defence for daylight raids; in response, the single guns
were rapidly replaced by twin Vickers K guns under a retrofit program
spearheaded by Commadore Arthur Harris of RAF Bomber Command during 1940.


Role
Medium bomber

Manufacturer
Handley Page

Designer
Gustav Lachmann

First flight
21 June 1936

Introduction
1938

Retired
1943

Primary users
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Soviet Naval Aviation
Royal Australian Air Force

Produced
1936–1941

Number built
1,430


In September 1938, No. 49 Squadron received the first Hampdens; by the end of
the year, both 49 and 83 Squadrons at RAF Scampton had re-equipped with the
type.[15] A total of 226 Hampdens were in service with ten squadrons by the
start of the Second World War, with six forming the operational strength of 5
Group of Bomber Command based in Lincolnshire.

With the outbreak of war in 1939, Hampdens were initially used to perform armed
aerial reconnaissance missions, observing German naval activity during
daylight.[17] However, despite its speed and manoeuvrability, the Hampden proved
to be no match for Luftwaffe fighters; in December 1939, Bomber Command is
claimed to have concluded to have discarded the belief that aircraft such as the
Hampden could realistically operated by day and instead chose to predominantly
deploy them under the cover of darkness during nighttime operations. During
1940, Hampdens of 5 Group conducted 123 nighttime airborne leaflet propaganda
missions, losing only a single aircraft in the process.

Almost half of the Hampdens built, 714, were lost on operations, taking with
them 1,077 crew killed and another 739 missing. German flak accounted for 108,
one hit a German barrage balloon, 263 Hampdens crashed because of "a variety of
causes" and 214 others were classed as "missing". Luftwaffe pilots claimed 128
Hampdens, shooting down 92 at night. Guy Gibson spent most of the first two
years of his wartime service flying Hampdens and his book Enemy Coast Ahead
(1946) gives a strong flavour of the trials and tribulations of taking these
aircraft into action.

Specifications (Hampden Mk I)

General characteristics
Crew: 4 (pilot, navigator/bomb aimer, radio operator/dorsal gunner, ventral
gunner)
Length: 53 ft 7 in (16.32 m)
Wingspan: 69 ft 2 in (21.09 m)
Height: 14 ft 11 in (4.55 m)
Wing area: 668 sq ft (62.1 m2)
Empty weight: 12,764 lb (5,789 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 22,500 lb (10,206 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Pegasus XVIII 9-cylinder radial engine, 1000 hp (754
kW)at 3,000 feet (910 m) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 247 mph (215 knots, 397 km/h) at 13,800 ft (4,210 m)
Cruise speed: 206 mph (179 knots, 332 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,580 m)
Range: 1,720 mi (1,496 nmi, 2,768 km) (Max fuel and 2,000 lb (910 kg) bombs, 206
mph (332 km/h))
Service ceiling: 19,000 ft (5,790 m)
Rate of climb: 980 ft/min[37] (300 m/min)

Armament

Guns:
1 × fixed forward firing .303 in (7.7 mm) M1919 Browning machine gun in nose
3–5 Vickers K machine guns: one flexibly mounted in the nose, one or two each in
dorsal and ventral positions

Bombs: 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) bombs or 1 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo or mines



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