The Handley Page Hendon was a British

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...

of the 1920s. A two-seat development of Handley Page's earlier single-seat

Hanley Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke- ...

, the Hendon was a single-engine

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

. While six aircraft were purchased by the British Air Ministry for evaluation and trials purposes, no further production ensued and the Hendon did not enter squadron service.

Development and design

While the single-seat Handley Page Hanley had lost to the similar

Blackburn Dart The Blackburn Dart was a carrier-based torpedo bomber biplane aircraft, designed and manufactured by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the standard single-seat torpedo bomber operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) between 192 ...

in fulfilling the requirements for a

carrier-based A carrier-based aircraft (also known as carrier-capable aircraft, carrier-borne aircraft, carrier aircraft or aeronaval aircraft) is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. Carrier-based aircraft must be able to launch ...

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

bomber to equip Britain's

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

, it was recognised by both Handley Page and the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

that a two-seat aircraft would be more useful both for operational purposes and for experimental work. An order was therefore placed on 27 November 1923 for six two-seat derivatives of the Hanley III, designated the Type Ta (later known as the H.P.25) or Handley Page Hendon to meet the requirements of Air Ministry Specification 25/23 for an interim torpedo bomber.Barnes 1976, p.223, 225. The first of the six aircraft to fly, ( serial ''N9724'') flew on 7 July 1924, with the remaining five flying by September. It had a longer fuselage to accommodate the observer, who was provided with a .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun on a

Scarff ring The Scarff ring was a type of machine gun mounting developed during the First World War by Warrant Officer (Gunner) F. W. Scarff of the Admiralty Air Department for use on two-seater aircraft. The mount incorporated bungee cord suspension in el ...

mounting, but initially, was similar to the Hanley III. Tests showed that it was tailheavy when carrying a torpedo, the outer wings being swept back by six degrees to avoid this.Barnes 1976, p.225.

Operational history

The six Hendons were used for extensive trials to investigate various configurations of

leading edge slot A leading-edge slot is a fixed aerodynamics, aerodynamic feature of the wing of some aircraft to reduce the Stall (flight), stall speed and promote good low-speed handling qualities. A leading-edge slot is a spanwise gap in each wing, allowing ai ...

s/ slats. These allowed one aircraft to successfully land on while carrying a torpedo and without using arrestor gear.Mason 1994, p.158. No further production occurred, the development of automatic slots in October 1927 making the Hendon obsolete.

Variants

;Hendon I :Initial configuration. Leading edge slots as Hanley III. Six built. ;Hendon II :Improved slot gear. Three converted. ;Hendon III :Slotted Flaps. One converted from Hendon II.

Specifications (Hendon)

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Barnes, C.H. ''Handley Page Aircraft since 1907''. London:Putnam, 1976. . *Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1994. . *Lewis, Peter. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, Third edition, 1980. .
"The Handley Page “Hendon”"
''

Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

''. 29 July 1926. Page 459–461.

External links

H.P.25 Hendon
{{Handley Page aircraft 1920s British bomber aircraft

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

Carrier-based aircraft