"Bomber Command during World War II examples being Sergeant Ronald Lewis serving as a wireless operator/air gunner aboard a No. 51 Squadron RAF Armstrong Whitworth Whitley was shot down on 20 July 1940, and Sergeant Gerald Tickner serving as mid upper gunner aboard a No. 640 Squadron RAF Handley Page Halifax shot down on 13 September 1944. A ""Main Force"" heavy bomber squadron was commanded by an officer holding the rank wing commander who was usually a pilot by trade. Known as ""the CO"", or commanding officer, he had several flight commanders who reported to him. These men usually held"
"firms within the London Aircraft Production Group, Fairey Aviation, and Rootes Motors. Because of this scheme and other initiatives, the Halifax was manufactured by a variety of aviation companies at sites across the British isles. The Halifax was produced in large numbers during the war: of the 10,018 heavy bombers produced in Britain between 1940 and 1944, 4,046 were various models of the Halifax – in excess of 40%. In all, 6,178 Halifaxes were built, the last delivered in April 1945. At the peak, 41 separate factories and dispersed units were involved in production, along with 600 subcontractors and 51,000"
"In response to a 1936 government request for heavier, longer ranged aircraft, Handley Page tendered the HP.56 design powered by twin Rolls-Royce Vultures and this was ordered, along with what became the Avro Manchester. However the Vulture proved so troublesome that – years before the engine was abandoned by Rolls-Royce in 1940 – the Air Staff decided that the HP.56 should be fitted with four engines instead. Therefore, before reaching prototype stage, the HP.56 design was reworked into the four-engined HP.57 Halifax. The Halifax became the second most prolific British heavy bomber of the war after the Avro Lancaster (itself"
"British heavy bombers, the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax, dropped 608,612 long tons (681,645 short tons) and 224,207 long tons (251,112 short tons) respectively. The RAF entered World War II with no heavy bomber of its own in service; the biggest available were long-range medium bombers such as the Vickers Wellington, which could carry up to of bombs. While the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax became its primary bombers by 1941, in early 1940, the RAF entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Air Corps to acquire 20 B-17Cs, which were given the service name Fortress I."
"the service name ""Halifax"" upon its acceptance. This name followed the practice of naming heavy bombers after major towns – in this case, Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In September 1941, a production Halifax Mk.I participated in an official naming ceremony of the type, officiated by Lord Halifax and Lady Halifax. Series production of the Halifax began at Handley Page's factory at Cricklewood and at English Electric's site in Samlesbury, Lancashire. In order to speed up production, Handley Page implemented several new manufacturing techniques, including two pioneering approaches: photo-lofting and split construction. In the latter capacity, each Halifax"
"The Handley Page design was altered at the Ministry to a four-engine arrangement powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; the rival Avro 679 was produced as the twin-engine Avro Manchester which, while regarded as unsuccessful mainly due to the Vulture engine, was a direct predecessor of the famed Avro Lancaster. Both the Lancaster and the Halifax would emerge as capable four-engined strategic bombers, thousands of which would be built and operated by the RAF and several other services during the War. On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13"
"defend against the increasing Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command offensive against Germany. On 1 June 1942, Rumpelhardt was promoted to ""Unteroffizier"" (corporal). That night, he and Schnaufer claimed their first aerial victory on their thirteenth combat mission flown. Nominally this was the RAF's second 1,000 bomber raid against Germany, although the attacking force actually numbered 956 aircraft. They shot down a Handley Page Halifax south of Louvain in Belgium. The aircraft probably was a Halifax from No. 76 Squadron piloted by Sergeant Thomas Robert Augustus West, which was shot down at 01:55 on 2 June 1942 and crashed at"
"in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces. Various improved versions of the Halifax were introduced, incorporating more powerful engines, a revised defensive turret layout and increased payload. It remained in service with Bomber Command until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing. Additionally, specialised versions of the Halifax were developed for troop transport and paradrop operations. Following the end of the Second World War, the RAF quickly phased the Halifax out"
"In 1937/1938, two squadrons of the new Bristol Blenheim bomber arrived, followed in 1939 by two more squadrons with Spitfires and Avro Anson support aircraft, forming the No. 1 Camouflage Unit RAF. The aircraft were used for training, with no operational sorties being flown from the field. Later in 1939, having been built in Cricklewood just before war broke out, the first prototype Handley Page Halifax was taken by road to RAF Bicester and assembled in secret there before the company's chief test pilot Major Jim Cordes and flight test observer E A 'Ginger' Wright made its first flight on"
"of service, after the type was succeeded in the strategic bombing role by the Avro Lincoln, an advanced derivative of the Lancaster. During the post-war years, the Halifax was operated by the Royal Egyptian Air Force, the French Air Force and the Royal Pakistan Air Force. The type also entered commercial service for a number of years, used mainly as a freighter. A dedicated civil transport variant, the Handley Page Halton, was also developed and entered airline service. 41 civil Halifax freighters were used during the Berlin Airlift. In 1961, the last remaining Halifax bombers were retired from operational use."
"first types being the Bristol Blenheim. Production included an RAF heavy bomber, the Handley Page Halifax. These were built at a shadow factory at Speke Airport near Liverpool and at Blythe Bridge in Staffordshire from 1941 to 1943. Rootes also manufactured military vehicles, based on the Humber and Commer. Rootes had a rare lapse of business judgement shortly after WWII. When he visited the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg to evaluate it for war reparations, he opined that it – and the Beetle – had no value. Following the war, Rootes also sponsored satellite manufacturing operations around the world, notably in"
"No. 9 Group RAF. By the end of the war, over 2,000 Halifaxes had been built and flown from Samlesbury. In 1942, English Electric took over D. Napier & Son, an aero-engine manufacturer. Along with the shadow factory, this helped to re-establish the company's aeronautical engineering division. Post-war, English Electric invested heavily in this sector, moving design and experimental facilities to the former RAF Warton near Preston in 1947. This investment led to major successes with the Lightning and Canberra, the latter serving in a multitude of roles from 1951 until mid-2006 with the Royal Air Force. At the end"
"employees, with one Halifax completed every hour. The first English Electric-built aircraft was flown from Salmesbury on 15 August 1941. The first production standard Halifax, the Mk.I, had a 22 ft (6.7 m) long bomb bay as well as six bomb cells in the wings, providing a bomb capacity of 13,000 lb (5,900 kg). Defensive armament consisted of two .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in a Boulton Paul Type C nose turret, with an additional four in a Boulton Paul Type E tail turret. Some aircraft included two additional .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns in"
"the Mk A IX paratroop transport, which had space for up to 16 paratroopers and their equipment. A transport/cargo version of the Halifax was also produced, known as the ""Handley Page Halton"". The Handley Page Halifax was a British four-engined heavy bomber. The aircraft was a mostly orthodox design, a mid-wing monoplane with a tail unit featuring twin fins and rudders. The Halifax featured all-metal construction with a smooth, stressed skin covering the majority of the exterior surfaces; the flight control surfaces were an exception, being fabric-covered instead. The slab-sided fuselage contained a 22-foot bomb bay, which contained the majority"
"with 49 Sqn in September 1938. The Handley Page Halifax, of which he was responsible for the design, first flew on 25 October 1939. In early 1944, 1,200 Halifaxes were produced in six months. Two-fifths of Britain's heavy bombers in World War II were Halifaxes. It entered service with 35 Sqn on 23 November 1940 at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, carrying out its first night-raid on 11 March 1942 over Le Havre. Most of the Halifaxes flown from England were with the RCAF in North Yorkshire as No. 6 Group RCAF. He married Violet Elizabeth Haley, of Hurlingham, on 21 July 1928"
"was built from various sub-assemblies. Surface panels were flush-riveted, although the application of the matt black night bomber camouflage probably negated its benefit. Handley Page built the assemblies and components at Cricklewood and the aircraft were assembled and flown from Radlett Aerodrome; the first production aircraft flew from Radlett on 11 October 1940. The sizeable production run envisioned required the involvement of several external parties in addition to Handley Page. The resulting ""Halifax Group"" was established to oversee the manufacturing programme, comprising English Electric (who had previously been a valued contributor in the production of the Handley Page Hampden), various"
"bombers and brought into operational service the bombers usually associated with attacks on German targets in Europe. From November 1940 the four-engined Halifax was introduced, followed by the four-engined Stirling in January 1941 and the under-powered twin-engined Manchester (which had relatively brief operational service before being replaced by the world-famous Lancaster) in February 1941. In November 1941, the fast twin-engined Mosquito light bomber was introduced and finally in March 1942 the four-engined Avro Lancaster came into service. The Vickers Wellington continued in service with RAF Bomber Command in Europe into 1943 although the squadrons were being converted to four-engined bombers."
"had produced a line of automobiles. The Renault plant, subsequently, began to build trucks, tanks and aero engines for the Axis war effort. In 1942, the Royal Air Force (RAF) launched a massive low-level bombing raid at the Billancourt plant, the largest number of bombers in a single mission to that point in the war. The Renault factory and surrounding area including a B.F. Goodrich tire plant, was severely damaged, along with heavy civilian casualties. When the Renault factory was rebuilt in 1943, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) stationed in England, launched another raid by Boeing B-17 Flying"
"RAF heavy bombers of World War II such as the Handley Page Halifax (until its Mk II Series I (Special) version omitted the nose turret), Short Stirling and Avro Lancaster typically had three powered turrets: rear, mid-upper and nose. (Early in the war, some British heavy bombers also featured retractable, remotely-operated ventral (or mid-under) turret. The rear turret mounted the heaviest armament: four 0.303 inch Browning machine guns or, late in the war, two AN/M2 light-barrel versions of the US Browning M2 machine gun as in the Rose-Rice turret. The tail gunner or ""Tail End Charlie"" position was generally accepted"
"Aircraft Group. Under Handley Page, another Hertfordshire-based aeroplane manufacturer contracted to the Air Ministry, these groups produced the Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber. As a result, by the end of the war Leavesden Airfield was, by volume, the largest factory in the world. The two planes were both critical successes for Britain during the conflict. Due to the high priority placed on aircraft production, large numbers of workers were drafted with little experience or training in aircraft production, with over half the workforce eventually being female. As part of constructing the aircraft factory an airstrip was created, first so the"
"November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of them at night. Arthur Harris, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command, described the Halifax as inferior to the rival Lancaster, in part due to its inability to carry larger individual bombs such as the 4,000 pound ""Cookie"" blast bomb. Nevertheless, production of the Halifax continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also flown"
"the end of the year, a full mock-up of the design was assessed; production of a pair of ""HP57"" prototypes commenced in March 1938. Further design modifications resulted in the definitive aircraft, now considerably enlarged and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines. Such was the promise of the new model that, in January 1938, the RAF chose to place their first production order for the type, ordering 100 Mk.I Halifaxes ""off the drawing board"", at which point the serials which had already been assigned to HP56 were switched to HP57. The first prototype was built at Handley Page's facility"
"essentially a four-engine development of the Manchester). Although in some respects (such as crew survivability) better than the Lancaster, the Halifax suffered in terms of altitude performance and was redeployed toward the end of the war as a heavy transport and glider tug, with several variants being specifically built as such, including the HP.70 Halton. After the war, the British Government sought tenders for jet bombers to carry the nation's nuclear deterrent. The three types produced were known as the V-Bombers, and Handley Page's contribution was the HP.80 Victor, a four-engined, crescent-winged design. This aircraft remained in service (as a"
"was a core part of the bombing offensive against Germany and its Axis allies. By the end of 1943, No. 4 Group had been entirely equipped with the Halifax, and would continue to operate the aircraft til the end of the war. The No. 6 Group of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) also adopted the Halifax around the same time, and would to on to operate it in each of its 14 squadrons, although it was never solely equipped with the type. At its peak strength, Bomber Command operated a total of 76 Halifax-equipped squadrons. While the early-built models"
"from after take off"" but the other returned safely having dropped its two 500lb and six 250 lb bombs successfully. By February 1942 the Whitleys were replaced by the Handley Page Halifax. The squadron continued for the next thirty-six months to fly night sorties (including the thousand bomber raids) over Germany. In 1944 the squadron attacked rail targets in France in preparation for the invasion. On 8 March 1945 the squadron was transferred to Transport Command and in September 1945 re-equipped with Consolidated Liberators. Based as RAF Bassingbourn. Its main role was the return of troops and POWs from India."
"the group was the production of Handley Page Halifax bombers for the RAF, ammunition, gun parts, armoured vehicles and spare parts for vehicles. The group was led by London Transport from their works at Chiswick, Aldenham Works and the new De Havilland factory at Leavesden, Hertfordshire, which had a large purpose-built factory and airfield (construction of both was authorised on 10 January 1940) for production, assembly and flight testing of completed Halifax bombers. The following list of eight members of the London Aircraft Production Group was published in March 1945: This includes LAPG members with factories at Preston, Speke and"
"Halifax, Manchester, Wellington and Hampden bombers, were sent against targets in Mannheim. The raid, which came at the same time as an attack on St. Nazaire, was described as 'nuisance raids' by the Germans. On 9 August 1943, nine RAF aircraft were lost in an attack against the city. A key target for the raid was the Badische chemical works. The plant ran for three miles along the banks of the Rhine. Heavy cloud lead to defenders shining searchlights into the clouds in an effort to silhouette the bombers. Bomber crews reported seeing fires almost 100 miles away. The largest"
"Frederick Handley Page Sir Frederick Handley Page, CBE, FRAeS (15 November 1885 – 21 April 1962) was an English industrialist who was a pioneer in the aircraft industry and became known as the father of the heavy bomber. His company Handley Page Limited was best known for its large aircraft such as the Handley Page 0/400 and Halifax bombers and the H.P.42 airliner. The latter was the flagship of the Imperial Airways fleet between the wars and remarkable at the time for having been involved in no passenger deaths. He is also known for his invention, with Gustav Lachmann, of"
"bombs. 1,833 aircraft were lost. By 1947, the majority of Halifax bombers were deemed to be surplus and scrapped. The Halifax remained in widespread service with Coastal Command and RAF Transport Command, Royal Egyptian Air Force and the ""Armée de l'Air"" until early 1952. The Pakistan Air Force, which had inherited a number of Halifax bombers from the RAF, also continued to operate them and become the last military user of the type, retiring the last aircraft in 1961. In September 1997 Halifax 57 Rescue of Canada excavated Halifax LW682 from a bog near the River Dender in Belgium. The"
"Hercules-powered Halifax was available in quantity and quickly proved to have superior performance in the face of German fighter defences. Early on, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, was scathing in his criticism of the Halifax's performance in comparison to the new Avro Lancaster, primarily of its bomb-carrying capability: an average Halifax was calculated to drop 100 tons of bombs in its lifetime, compared to a Lancaster's 154. Harris continued to have a poor opinion of the Halifax, despite the fact that later Hercules-engined machines had lower loss rates and higher crew survival rates after abandoning the"
"Handley Page Hampden The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was part of the trio of large twin-engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining 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 was powered by Bristol Pegasus radial engines but a variant known as the Handley Page Hereford had in-line Napier Daggers. The Hampden served in the early stages of the Second World"
"over 2,000 people lost their jobs. After the French capitulation in 1940, Louis Renault refused to produce tanks for Nazi Germany, which took control of his factories. He produced trucks instead. On 3 March 1942, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) launched 235 low-level bombers at the Billancourt plant, the largest number aimed at a single target during the war. of bombs were dropped on the plant and the surrounding area, causing extensive damage along with heavy civilian casualties. Renault resolved to rebuild the factory as quickly as possible, but bombardments continued a year later, on 4 April, this time"
"Phyllis (Elizabeth ""Buffy""), on 10 December 1921 (m. Winfield, d. 1987), and Patricia (Mary), on 14 June 1923 (d. 1992). His nephew was Geoffrey Page, a World War 2 fighter ace. His positions included: Frederick Handley Page Sir Frederick Handley Page, CBE, FRAeS (15 November 1885 – 21 April 1962) was an English industrialist who was a pioneer in the aircraft industry and became known as the father of the heavy bomber. His company Handley Page Limited was best known for its large aircraft such as the Handley Page 0/400 and Halifax bombers and the H.P.42 airliner. The latter was"