- Handley Page
Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Handley Page Limited
company_
fate = Voluntary liquidation
successor =Scottish Aviation
foundation =17 June 1909
defunct = March 1970 [Not dissolved until 03 June 2001 [http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/e52a31b38405acf86142020e577f1d55/compdetails Companies House] ]
location =Cricklewood ,Radlett
industry = Aviation
key_people =Frederick Handley Page
products =
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = Handley Page Transport (until 1924)Handley Page, Limited was founded by
Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909 as theUnited Kingdom 's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went intovoluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in 1970. The company, based atRadlett Aerodrome inHertfordshire , was noted for producing heavy bombers and large airliners.History
Frederick Handley Page first experimented with and built several
biplane s andmonoplane s at premises inWoolwich ,Fambridge andBarking Creek . His company, founded on17 June 1909 , became the first British public company to build aircraft.In 1912 Handley Page established an aircraft factory at
Cricklewood after moving from Barking. Aircraft were built there and flown from the company's adjacent air field.World War I
During the First World War Handley Page produced a series of
heavy bomber s for theRoyal Navy to bomb the GermanZeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by theAdmiralty to produce a "bloody paralyser of an airplane". These aircraft included the O/100 of 1915, the O/400 of 1918 and the four engined V/1500 with the range to reach Berlin. The V/1500 only just reached operational service as the war ended in 1918.In the immediate post-war years, Handley Page modified a number of O/400's to passenger use, which they flew on the
London -Paris route as Handley Page Transport. The V/1500 was considered too large to be practical at the time, but a number of design features of the V/1500 were later incorporated into a O/400 airframe to produce their first dedicated passenger design, the W.8. In 1924 Handley Page Transport merged with two other regional airlines to createImperial Airways , the UK's first national airline service. Handley Page developed several largebiplane airliners, including the 8 luxuriousHandley Page H.P.42 , for use on Imperial routes to Africa and India.Handley Page also paid for the development of what soon became known as the Handley Page Slat (or slot, see
slats ), a small channel cut into the leading edge of the wing to improve airflow at high angles of attack. The design was so successful that licensing fees to other companies was their main source of income in the early 1920s.In 1929 the airfield at Cricklewood was closed and a new one built at
Radlett , where most aircraft were now to be constructed. However the construction of aircraft at Cricklewood continued until 1964 when the premises were sold to become the Cricklewood trading estate.World War II
With the
Second World War looming, Handley Page turned back to bomber design and produced the HP.52 Hampden, which took part in the first British raid onBerlin . In response to government request for heavier, longer ranged aircraft Handley Page produced the HP.56. Powered by twinRolls-Royce Vulture engines, the latter proved so troublesome that the aircraft was cancelled. The design was however elaborated into the four-engined HP.57 Halifax which, after the Lancaster, was the most prolific British heavy bomber. This had been the same development route as the Lancaster, and although the Halifax had a somewhat more protracted development, it soon reached maturity and was considered by some to be to a superior aircraftFact|date=March 2007.Post-war
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 atanker aircraft ) well beyond the demise of the company which created it.In 1947 Handley Page bought some of the assets of the bankrupt
Miles Aircraft company. These assets include existing designs, tools and jigs, and the Miles Reading site at Woodley. The whole operation was Handley Page (Reading) Ltd the company constituted to buy and operate the assets formed out of the legally alive but otherwise inactiveHandley Page Transport Ltd. The most significant of the inherited designs was the Herald airliner. Designs coming out of the Reading site were shown by the initials HPR (from "Handley Page (Reading) Limited" )Demise
Unlike the other large British aircraft manufacturers, Handley Page resisted the Government's pressure to merge into larger entities. By the late 1960s, the British aviation industry was dominated by just two combines;
Hawker Siddeley and theBritish Aircraft Corporation .Unable to compete for Government orders or with large commercial aircraft, Handley Page produced its final notable Handley Page design; the Jetstream. This was a small
turboprop -powered commuter aircraft, with a pressurised cabin and a passenger capacity of 12 to 18. It was designed primarily for theUnited States "feederliner " market.The Jetstream was too late to save Handley Page, and the company went into
voluntary liquidation in March 1970 and was wound up after 61 years trading under the same name. The Jetstream however lived on as a successful product, the design being purchased and produced byScottish Aviation atPrestwick and later when Scottish Aviation was incorporated intoBritish Aerospace from 1977.ites
Radlett Aerodrome was opened in 1929 as a grass aerodrome for Handley Page Civil Aircraft, the runway was extended in 1939 to enable production of Halifax bombers. Most of the towers,hangar s and runways were demolished in the 1970s after the Company was wound up. The M25 Motorway now stands on the south of the site, with Lafarge Aggregates now owning the remainder.Products
Designations
Handley Page originally used a letter progression to designate types (i.e. "R", "S", "T" etc. ) in combination with a number, that may or may not have been meaningful, to designate sub-types (e.g. the O/100 indicated the type's 100 foot wingspan).In 1924, Handley Page moved to using the letters "HP" and a number to indicate the model. Thus the O/400 became the HP.16 and the W.8 the HP.18.When the assets of Miles Aircraft were taken over, the latter's Reading design office began using "HPR." (for Handley Page Reading), followed by a number indicates that the design originated in the Reading design office (e.g. the HPR.1 Marathon).
Designs
*Type A / HP.1 - monoplane (1910)
*Type B / HP.2 - biplane
*Type D / HP.4 - monoplane (1911)
*Type E / HP.5 - monoplane
*Type F / HP.6 - monoplane
*Type G / HP.7 - biplane
*Type L / HP.8
*Handley Page HP.14 -
*Type O / HP.16 - twin engined bomber
** O/100
** O/400
*** O/10 airliner
*** O/11 airliner
*** W/400 airliner
** O/7 bomber
*V/1500
*Type W airliner
**W8 / HP.18 / HP.26 Hamilton
**W9 / HP.27 Hampstead
* W10 / HP.30 Hyderabad
* HP.19 Hanley
* Type S / HP.21
* HP.22
* HP.25 Hendon
* HP.28 Handcross
* HP.31 Harrow
* HP.32 Hamlet
* HP.33 / HP.35 / HP.36 Hinaidi - heavy bomber
* HP.34 Hare
* HP.38 / HP.50 Heyford - biplane heavy bomber
* HP.39 Gugnunc - experimental biplane
* H.P.42 - biplane airliner
* H.P.43 - three engined biplane bomber transport
* H.P.45 - biplane airliner
* H.P.51 - prototype bomber transport
* H.P.52 Hampden - medium bomber
* HP.53 - bomber design for Sweden - led to the HP.52 Hereford
* H.P.54 Harrow - monoplane heavy bomber
*HP.55 - two-engined heavy bomber design
*HP.56 - two-engined heavy bomber design
*Halifax - four-engined heavy bomber
** HP.57 Halifax Mk.I
** HP.58 Halifax Mk.II
** HP.59 Halifax Mk.II Series
** HP.61 Halifax Mk.III
** HP.63 Halifax Mk.V / VI / VII
** HP.70
***Halifax Mk.VIII
***Halton - airliner
** HP.71 Halifax Mk.IX
* HP.67 Hastings - military transport
*Handley Page Hermes - airliner
**HP.68 Hermes I
**HP.74 Hermes II
**HP.81 Hermes IV
**HP.82 Hermes V
* HP.75 Manx - tailless research aircraft
* HP.80 Victor - four-engined bomber
* HP.88 - Victor research aircraft
* HP.115 - delta winged research aircraft
* HP.100 - reconnaissance bomber to OR.330
* HP.137 Jetstream - twin-turboprop feederlinerHandley Page (Reading) designs
* HPR.1 Marathon - airliner
* HPR.2 - basic trainer
* HPR.3 Herald airliner
* HPR.5 Marathon - engine test bed
* HPR7 Dart Herald - airlinerSee also
*
Hedley Hazelden - Handley Page test pilotReferences
External links
* [http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/companypage.php?ID=15 British Aricraft Directory entry]
* [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Handley-page/Aero51.htm short history of the company written for the "Centennial of Flight"]
* [http://www.handleypage.com An enthusiast web site dedicated to the company]
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