Handley Page HP.66??

[JFC Fuller]

Apparently the wings used on the Hastings were originally designed for an aircraft designated the HP.66 that was designed to B.27/43. Does anyone have any details or drawings beyond the below from the PRO Kew, AVIA 15/1925:

It was ultimately, after a number of proposed configurations, decided that the HP.65/66 would be equipped with the "ideal nose" (as installed on the Lincoln and mandated for production Windsors) with a twin .50 cal Boulton Paul Type F nose turret, a twin 20mm (Bristol B.17 as used on the Lincoln) mid-upper turret and single 20mm guns in the outer engine nacelles (similar to the Windsor configuration). One letter suggests that the mid-upper turret was itself later replaced with a barbette. One major problem with the design was that with the enlarged bomb-bay doors the H2S system could not realistically be located in the lower-mid position. Furthermore the undernose position had apparently been ruled out as unacceptable for all of the heavy bombers.

The HP.65/66 were basically just an extension of the earlier Halifax IV design that also used a long span wing, Merlin 60 series engines and a fully retracting undercarriage (fully retracting tail wheel abandoned due to design difficulties, in fact the HP.65 was to use the bomb floor designed for the Halifax IV.

Also, Google books suggests that Aeronautics Volume 15-17 may have a piece on the HP.66.

 

[Stargazer]

The way I understand it, the Halifax family was to breed a new bomber offspring, the Hastings. Two variants were considered: the H.P.65 Halifax IV (later called Hastings), a heavy bomber for the Far East designed to Spec. B.14/43, while the H.P.66 was to be the Hastings B.1 designed to Spec. B.27/43 (Operational Requirement OR.149) in 1944, an extended span variant of the above. There was also a 1945 variant of this project, designated H.P.69 (and designed to the same spec), which was supposed to be the Hastings B.2, but I do not have the specifics of that one. Eventually the Hastings was only produced as a military transport (C.1, C.1A, C.2 to C.5), a bomber trainer (T.5), and a weather recce aircraft (Met.1). An H.P. 89 Hastings VI military transport variant was also abandoned. Could someone add to the above?

 

[PMN1]

From Tony Butler’s ‘British Secret Projects, Fighters and Bombers 1935 – 1950

In June 1943 proposals were made by Handley Page to develop the Halifax into a much more capable high-speed heavy bomber called the HP.65 Super Halifax….

….The aircraft had a new low-drag high aspect ratio wing with an extended wingspan of 113ft, new Hercules 38 turbo-supercharged engines and a new undercarriage, all fitted to a standard Halifax III fuselage and tail unit but with the bomb bay rearranged to take a maximum size of 12,000lb with the doors closed…..

….All the internal fuel (2,500 gallons) was carried in integral tanks built into the main wing….

….There were two twin 0.5” defensive turrets plus the Halifax’s standard nose gun. A maximum operational altitude of 30,500ft was quoted at 66,500lb weight while cruise speed would be 285mph and range 3,710 miles. The top speed quoted by Handley Page, 350mph at 27,000ft was revised by RDT to 326mph at 26,000ft while the maximum operational height was 27,000ft.


In order to save some time, this was abandoned and the HP.66 took its place, this was a more basic change to the standard Halifax. This had the same wingspan as the HP.65 with a wing area of 1,408 square ft (compared to 1,162 square feet for standard Halifax). Fitted with Hercules 100 engines it was proposed to call this the Hastings MkI, while a version with turbo-blower exhausts would become the Hastings MkII. A back up arrangement was available with Merlin 65’s in cylindrical nacelles. Twin 0.5” machine guns would be housed in upper, tail and nose turrets and remotely controlled 20mm cannon would be fitted in the outer engine nacelles.

The all-up weight was 70,000lb, a maximum load of 14,000lb of bombs could be carried and the top speed was 321mph at 27,050ft; maximum internal fuel was 1,802 gallons.

 

[Stargazer]

Nothing on the HP.66, but here's the HP.65 "Super Halifax", scanned from the reference book on the subject of British combat types and projects from the World War II era and a bit more. It contains a precise description of each of the two projects.

 

[robunos]

From 'Putnam's 'Handley Page', pp. 408-411 :-


"
The Halifax itself had by no means reached the end of its development
potential and in June 1943 Volkert proposed a ‘Super-Halifax’, having a
greater bomb-load and capacity, longer range, higher cruising speed and
better operational height than existing types. This improvement was to be
achieved by combining the standard Halifax III fuselage (with larger bomb-
doors and a stronger bomb-floor) with low-drag high aspect ratio wings,
turbo-supercharged powerplants and a revised low-drag landing gear.
Designated H.P.65, the new bomber featured a NACA 66 series laminar
flow wing profile and the 113-ft span wing (aspect ratio 11) tapered
uniformly from centreline to tip; it was to be constructed round a single
spar at 40 per cent chord, using heavy-gauge skin free from waviness and
with rivet lines as far as possible chordwise only; in this it resembled the
Davis wing of the Consolidated Liberator, which Handley Page Ltd had
briefly fostered early in the war. All four powerplants were to be in nacelles
on the 55-ft span centre-section, to which 29-ft outer wings were attached.
The wing structure incorporated integral fuel and oil tanks lined with
flexible bags, also leading-edge deicing by hot air from the powerplants.
The Hercules 38 exhaust-turbo-supercharged engines were to have leading-
edge duct entries for carburettor air intakes, oil coolers and intercoolers,
and the single-leg twin-wheeled main landing gear was to be totally
enclosed when retracted, the tailwheel also being retractable. The fuselage
was standard, being modified only in respect of the wing-root attachments,
larger bomb-doors and the stronger bomb-floor, which could take bombs
up to 12,000 lb without a detachable carrier, these being completely
enclosed within the bomb-doors. The armament proposed was a Boulton
Paul Type T dorsal turret and a B-P Type D tail turret, each with two 0.5-in
Browning guns. There was no provision for a ventral turret, but the
standard Halifax Ill nose with a K-type ‘scare-gun’ was retained. With a
nominal fuel capacity in the wings of 2,500 gallons, the H.P.65 was
estimated to cruise at 240 mph at 20,000 ft for 3,710 miles and to attain a
maximum speed of 350 mph at 27,200 ft.
By October 1943, it was apparent that Hercules 38 engines were unlikely
to reach production status and furthermore that very comprehensive
jigging and tooling would be needed to manufacture the single-spar wing to
laminar flow’ tolerances; at a meeting with the firm to discuss this
problem, N. E. Rowe (DTD) suggested that the H.P.65 should be
abandoned in favour of a conventional two-spar wing having a 55-ft span
centre-section to which standard extended Halifax outer wings could be
attached. Since the required freedom from waviness could not be attained
with existing production techniques, the slightly lower efficiency of a wing
with a nearly rectangular centre-section would be insignificant. Details of
this project were further discussed with DTD and DOR on 27 November,
1943, when the design was registered as H.P.66 and defined by specification
B.27/43. Three prototypes were ordered and on 21 January, 1944, the name
‘Hastings’ was proposed by the firm; the first two prototypes, with
Hercules 100, would be Hastings B.Mk. 1 and the third, when fitted with
exhaust-turbo-blown HE-15MT powerplants, would be Hastings B.Mk.2
with the new type number H.P.69. As an insurance, Merlin 65s, in
cylindrical RAE ‘idealised’ powerplants interchangeable with Hercules,
were also envisaged for the H.P.66, following trial installations (with four-
blade airscrews) in Halifax 11 DG296 and Halifax III LV795; these had
already been standardised for the Avro Lincoln and Vickers Windsor. It
was hoped that production of 200 Hastings bombers would follow on at
Radlett after delivery of the 1,440th production Halifax, due in May 1945,
but in April 1944 priority was transferred to 200 Halifax A.IX transports
urgently needed by the Airborne Forces in Europe, so the H.P.69 was
shelved, although the two H.P.66 prototypes remained on order. With the
arrival of VJ-Day, the B.27/43 long-range bomber was no longer needed
and emphasis was switched to the H.P.67 transport, to which the name
Hastings was also transferred."





cheers,
Robin.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Here

Nothing on the HP.66, but here's the HP.65 "Super Halifax", scanned from the reference book on the subject of British combat types and projects from the World War II era and a bit more. It contains a precise description of each of the two projects.

Here's a 3-view drawing of the Handley Page HP.66 from page 136 of British Secret Projects 4: Bombers 1935-1950. A few differences from the HP.65 can be seen in this drawing, including a hemispherical radome-like extension below the rear fuselage aft of the wing's trailing edge.