Handley Page vliegtuigen: boeken - historie en techniek

Handley Page - Forty Years on 1909-1949

Handley Page began manufacturing aeroplanes in a small factory in Barking, Essex in 1909. Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) as the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company.
Sir Frederick declined to allow his company to be merged into the two large 'forced marriages' of aircraft manufacturing companies in the 1960s. It failed to survive alone, and went into voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in 1970.

During the First World War Handley Page produced a series of heavy bombers for the Royal Navy to bomb the German Zeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by the Admiralty to produce a "bloody paralyser of an aeroplane".
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.

The real success of the Company came during the Second World War with the magnificent and robust Halifax bomber. In all, more than 6,000 of them were produced, or more than 40 per cent of Britain's total heavy-bomber power. In the bombing operations alone, approximately 76,000 sorties were flown and nearly a quarter of a million tons of bombs were dropped on to enemy targets. Bomber Command had no less than seventy-six Halifax squadrons in action at the time of its peak strength.

This is the first modern edition of what was originally the 1949 Handley Page corporate marketing book.

Bloody Paralyser : The Giant Handley Page Bombers of the First World War

In 1915, the biggest plane ever seen in Britain took flight for the first time, a twin-engine monster with a 100-foot wingspan, designed to be a 'Bloody Paralyser' to the Germans.

This book tells the story of the largest British bomber of the First World War and the men who flew them. Operating mainly at night, the Handley Page bombers attacked German and German-occupied towns and cities, disrupting the enemy's industry and crippling its war effort.
The men that flew in the 'Bloody Paralysers' were the forerunners of the crews of Bomber Command in the Second World War and now their story is told in their own words. The book contains a wealth of unpublished material and photographs documenting these mighty bombers.

Handley Page Halifax Manual (1939 onwards) - An insight into the design, construction and operation (Haynes Aircraft Manual)

The Halifax became the second of the new generation of four-engine heavy bombers to enter service with RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War. It flew its first offensive operation in March 1941 and by 1944 it had become the exclusive equipment for Bomber Command's 4 Group and 6 (Canadian) Group, as well as being used in smaller numbers by 100 (Bomber Support) Group.

The RAF's four-engine Halifax bomber flew on most of the main raids over Germany in the Second World War, as well as in operations from Italy, in North Africa and the Far East, and after the war on the Berlin Air Lift.

Jonathan Falconer reviews the design and operation of the Halifax and offers a detailed close-up look at its construction. Fascinating insights into the recovery and restoration of Halifax airframes include the RAF Museum's Mk II (W1048) and the superb A Mk VII (NA337) in the National Air Force Museum of Canada.

Klik hier voor meer informatie over de Haynes Aircraft Manuals

Halifax Squadrons of World War 2 (Osprey)

The second of Britain's four-engined bombers to enter frontline service, Handley Page's Halifax has forever lived in the shadow of Avro's superb Lancaster. However, it was a Halifax which became the first RAF 'heavy' to drop bombs on Germany when No 35 Sqn raided Hamburg on the night of 12/13 March 1941.
Between 1941-45, the Halifax completed some 75,532 sorties with Bomber Command alone [compared with the Lancaster's 156,000], not to mention its sterling work as both a glider tug and paratroop carrier with the Airborne Forces, maritime patrol mount with Coastal Command and covert intruder with the SOE.

Contents: Introduction - Origins of the Halifax - Halifax Goes to War - Breaking the Back of the Reich - Pathfinder Force - SOE Halifaxes - No 100 Group - Airborne Forces and Transport - Coastal Command - The End - Appendices.

Victor Units of the Cold War (Osprey)

Of the three jet bombers that formed the RAF's V-Force in the early years of the Cold War, the Victor was perhaps the most technologically advanced. First flown on 24 December 1952, the Victor entered service in B 1 configuration in November 1957.
Further improvements were introduced with the B 2, which was optimized for high altitude. Most B 2s were equipped to carry the Blue Steel stand-off missile, but eight were modified in the strategic reconnaissance role because the Victor 2 was then the longest-ranging aircraft in the RAF.

The Victor ceased to be a low-level bomber after the nuclear mission was taken over by the Royal Navy's Polaris submarine force in the late 1960s. Thereafter, Victor 1s and 2s continued in frontline service as airborne tankers, supporting operations such as the Falklands War and the Gulf War until the last Victor flight took place on 30 November 1993.