|
|
|
|
|
A Brief History of the Company.
Frederick (later Sir Frederick) Handley Page first experimented with and built several biplanes and monoplanes at premises in Woolwich, Fambridge and Barking Creek, before settling on works at Cricklewood in North London and Radlett Aerodrome, Hertfordshire. His company, Handley Page Ltd, became the first public company to build aircraft when it was founded on 17th June 1909. Few of his early projects were memorable, in spite of unusual names like Bluebird, Antiseptic and Yellow Peril, until he embarked on the O/100 in 1911, then the largest aircraft built in Britain. Used primarily as a heavy night bomber, the O/100 featured folding wings, an enclosed cabin with bullet-proof glass and armour protection, and engines mounted in armoured nacelles. Improvements to the O/100 resulted in the O/400, powered by twin 360hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, of which more than 450 were built in the UK in 1918/19. Some of these made useful interim 10-seat civil transports after the Armistice. The O/400 conversion led to the construction of the company's first purely civil transports, the W8, W9 and W10. Featuring an open cockpit for the pilot and an enclosed cabin for 15 passengers, the W8 made its first flight on 4th December 1919, followed on 1st October 1925 by the three-engined W9 (only one built), and the W10, reverting to two engines, that same year.
Imperial Airways' requirement for a larger aircraft for specific sections of the Empire Route was met with the HP42, an all-metal biplane with the first enclosed cockpit and accommodation for up to 24 passengers. First flown in November 1930, the HP42 served until the advent of war, when the company's production reverted entirely to military bombers. These include the four-engined Halifax and Hampden, along with the Hereford, Harrow and Heyford twin bombers. The twin-engined Hyderabad and Hinaidi night bombers had already entered RAF service in the early 1930s. Long before the war ended, several transport designs were on the drawing board, including the Hastings, first flown on 25th April 1947 with four 1,675hp Bristol Hercules engines and capable of carrying 50 fully-equipped troops, and the four-engined Hermes, the first modern British airliner after the war, which made its first flight on 3rd December 1945. Twenty-five of the improved Hermes IV entered service with BOAC in August 1950. In the interim, converted Halifax bombers, some later known as the HP70 Halton I, were pressed into service with BOAC and other airlines. Handley Page also took over production of the Miles Marathon at Woodley Aerodrome, Reading, Berkshire, under the HPR1 Marathon designation, setting up a separate organisation, Handley Page (Reading) Ltd on 5th July 1948. In subsequent years, Handley page built a number of research aircraft to investigate supersonic flight, new wing shapes and tail-less configurations, some of which were incorporated in the Victor bomber, test flown for the first time on 24th December 1952. This long-range, four-engined bomber, the last of the three V-bombers to enter RAF service, had an unusual 'crescent' wing, hydraulically-operated air brakes and a braking parachute in the tail cone. A total of 50 high-wing, short-haul HPR7 Dart Herald airliners were built between 1959 and 1968, and the smaller 18-seat HP137 Jetstream was also put into large-scale production at Radlett. But the high cost of developing this aircraft forced Handley Page into voluntary liquidation on 8th August 1969, and, on 1st June 1970, one of Britain's best known aircraft manufacturers ceased to exist. The Jetstream was later redeveloped by British Aerospace into a successful regional aircraft.
|
|
|
|
|
