Handley Page Type O
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| Handley Page Type O | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Handley Page O/400 lands at RAF Andover, 1918 | |
| Type | Bomber |
| Manufacturer | Handley Page |
| Maiden flight | December 1915 |
| Retired | 1921 |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary users | Royal Air Force RNAS |
| Number built | 600 |
The Handley Page Type O was an early bomber aircraft used by Britain during World War I. At the time, it was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. It was built in two major versions, the Handley Page O/100 (H.P.11) and Handley Page O/400 (H.P.12).
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[edit] History
When Britain entered the War in August 1914 the Royal Air Force had not yet been formed and the British Army and the Royal Navy were competing for control of aircraft production. Handley Page, then established around five years, offered their services to both the army and the navy, but past difficulties over a contract to manufacture BE.2a aircraft had led to some friction with the War Office and Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. In the climate of inter-service rivalry it was natural that what the army disdained the navy would take up with alacrity, and the Director of the Navy's Air Department, Captain Murray Sueter, was quick to take up Handley Page's offer. Early drafts of coastal patrol models internally designated M/200 and MS/200 (for their 200 hp engines) were discussed, but Seuter's technical advisor, Harris Booth, favoured a large seaplane for coastal patrol and dockyard defence, capable also of bombing the German High Seas Fleet at its base in Kiel, and a prototype (AD Seaplane Type 1000) had already been commissioned from J Samuel White & Co. of Cowes.
The threat posed by German Zeppelin bombers seemed very real, and the Admiralty had been given the task of defending Britain from air attack, something for which it was completely unprepared. Since the difficulty of intercepting the Zeppelins themselves was an unknown quantity, the Admiralty decided to focus on a strategy of attacking their bases and factories instead. In practice, this proved difficult, given the limitations in range of the aircraft of the day and the small bomb loads they could carry. It was clear that in order to be effective, the Royal Naval Air Service needed a much larger aircraft. Commander Samson had called urgently from Flanders for "a bloody paralyser" to hold back the German advance on Antwerp, a phrase which was relayed and became the nickname of the O/100. Against this background, then, a specification was issued in December 1914 for a long-range patrol bomber.
Handley Page responded with an enormous biplane with a wingspan of 100 feet (30 m) (the original source of the O/100 designation). The first prototype flew on December 7 1915 and featured a glazed cockpit and extensive armour around the crew compartment and engines. The aircraft proved somewhat underpowered, so the glazing and armour were deleted on the second prototype that flew the following April and formed the basis for series production of the machine. In August, sufficient O/100s were available to form an operational squadron that was based in France by the end of 1916. Their first combat came on the night of March 16, 1917 when they were sent in to bomb a railway junction. A total of 46 of the O/100s were built.
The success of the type prompted the development of an uprated version with more powerful engines and other refinements, designated the O/400. First flying in 1918, over 400 were supplied before the Armistice. Another 107 were licence-built in the USA by the Standard Aircraft Corporation (out of a total order of 1,500 by the air corps). In service, the O/400s could carry a new 1,650 lb (750 kg) bomb and were deployed in force, with up to 40 aircraft participating in a raid. A single O/400 also served with 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps in the Middle East.
After the war, O/400s remained in British service until replaced by the Vickers Vimy towards the end of 1919. About 10 war-surplus aircraft were converted for civilian use in the UK and India by Handley Page's pioneering airline, Handley Page Transport. A final few bombers were manufactured for China's army under the designation O/7.
The legacy of the aircraft was such that for many years after the war, any large aircraft came to be called a "Handley Page" in Britain. Furthermore, the aircraft plays a prominent part in the short story Turnabout by William Faulkner; the story provides an insider's view of what it was like to fly the Type O in combat.
The importance of the Type O to the company cannot be underestimated, establishing the firm as a maker of large multi-engine aircraft as well as establishing an uneasy relationship with the defence ministry which is credited by former employees as the reason why no Halifax was placed in preservation, and for the greater prominence given to the Avro Vulcan over the (technically superior) Victor[citation needed].
Prior to 1924, Handley Page used an alphabetical system for aircraft designations and thus, the Type O followed the Type M and Type N. Nevertheless, the Type O aircraft are very frequently misnamed as "Handley Page 0/100" and "0/400" in publications, the numeral "0" replacing the letter "O". Curiously, Handley Page had previously conspicuously avoided using the designation "Type I", presumably to avoid confusion with the numeral "1" but apparently neglected to consider that "O" would create a similar problem.
[edit] Variants
- O/7 - Export version for China.
- O/100 - Original version - Two 260 hp Rolls Royce Eagle II engines. (Four prototypes, 42 Production).
- O/400 - More powerful version - Two 360 hp Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engines. (554 produced.)
[edit] Specifications (O/400)
Data from The British Bomber since 1914[1]
General characteristics
- Crew: 4 or 5
- Length: 62 ft 10¼ in (19.16 m)
- Wingspan: 100 ft (30.48 m)
- Height: 22 ft (6.71 m)
- Wing area: 1,648 ft² (153 m²)
- Empty weight: 8,502 lb ()
- Max takeoff weight: 13,360 lb (6,073 kg)
- Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII piston, 360 hp () each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 84.7 knots (97.5 mph, 157 km/h)
- Range: 608 nm (700 mi, 1,120 km)
- Service ceiling: 8,500 ft ()
- Rate of Climb: 23 min to 5,000 ft
- Endurance: 8 hours
Armament
- Five 0.303 in Lewis guns (2 on nose Scarff ring, 2 on dorsal position and 1 at ventral hatch)
- Up to 2000 lbs of bombs
[edit] Operators
[edit] Civil
- The Government of China.
- Handley Page Air Transport.
- Indo Burmese Transport.
- Imperial Airways.
[edit] Military
[edit] References
- ^ Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0 85177 861 5.
- Barnes, C. H., Handley Page Aircraft since 1907 (Putnam, 1976)
[edit] Related content
Related development
Comparable aircraft
Designation sequence
L/200 – M/200 – N/80 – O/400 – P/320 – R/200 – S/400 - V/1500
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