The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, the Hastings was the largest transport plane ever designed for the service.

Development of the Hastings had been initiated during the Second World War in response to Air Staff Specification C.3/44, which sought a new large four-engined transport aircraft for the RAF. Early on, development of a civil-oriented derivative had been prioritised by the company, but this direction was reversed following an accident. On 7 May 1946, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight; testing revealed some unfavourable flight characteristics, which were successfully addressed via tail modifications. The type was rushed into service so that it could participate in the Berlin Airlift; reportedly, the fleet of 32 Hastings to be deployed during the RAF operation delivered a combined total of 55,000 tons (49,900 tonnes) of supplies to the city.

As the RAF's Hastings fleet expanded during the late 1940s and early 1950s, it supplemented and eventually replaced the wartime Avro York, a transport derivative of the famed Avro Lancaster bomber. RAF Transport Command operated the Hastings as the RAF's standard long-range transport; as a logistics platform, it contributed heavily during conflicts such as the Suez Crisis and the Indonesian Confrontation. A handful were also procured by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) to meet its transport needs. Beyond its use as a transport, several Hastings were modified to perform weather forecasting, training, and VIP duties. A civilian version of the Hastings, the Handley Page Hermes, was also produced, which only achieved limited sales. Hastings continued to be heavily used by RAF up until the late 1960s, the fleet being withdrawn in its entirety during 1977. The type was succeeded by various turboprop-powered designs, including the Bristol Britannia and the American-built Lockheed Hercules.

Development

Amid the latter years of the Second World War, the Air Ministry formulated and released Air Staff Specification C.3/44, which defined a new long-range general purpose transport to succeed the Avro York, a transport derivative of the Avro Lancaster bomber. British aviation company Handley Page made its own submission to meet C.3/44, the corresponding design being designated H.P.67. According to aviation periodical Flight International, the H.P.67 was an extremely aerodynamically clean design, as well as being relatively orthodox in terms of Handley Page methodology. On 7 May 1946, the first of two Hastings prototypes (TE580) made its maiden flight from RAF Wittering. Flight testing soon demonstrated some issues, including lateral instability and relatively poor stall warning behaviour. To rectify these problems, both the prototypes and the first few production aircraft were urgently modified and tested with a temporary solution: a modified tailplane with 15° of dihedral, and the installation of an artificial stall warning system. These changes enabled the first production aircraft, designated Hastings C1, to enter service during October 1948.

thumb|One of the two Hastings prototypes

The Royal Air Force (RAF) had initially placed an order for 100 Hastings C1s; however, the last six were manufactured as weather reconnaissance versions, referred to as the Hastings Met. Mk 1, while seven other aircraft were subsequently converted to this standard. These weather reconnaissance aircraft were stripped of their standard interiors, the space being instead occupied by meteorological measuring and recording equipment, along with a galley and wardroom to improve crew comfort during routine flights of up to nine hours. A total of eight C.1 aircraft were later converted to Hastings T5 trainer configuration, which was used by RAF Bomber Command as a replacement for the Avro Lincoln at their Bombing School at RAF Lindholme. The conversion involved the installation of a large ventral radome; each aircraft could carry three trainee bomb aimers in a training section above the radome. The rear cabin retained a secondary passenger/cargo carrying area, giving it a limited transport capacity as well. a further modified VIP transport variant, which was fitted with more fuel capacity to provide a longer range than standard aircraft, became the HP.94 Hastings C4.

By the end of production, 147 aircraft had been manufactured for the RAF; an additional four Hastings were built for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), which gave a total of 151 aircraft.

Design

thumb|Cockpit, Handley Page Hastings

The Handley Page Hastings was a large purpose-built four-engine transport aircraft. It was furnished with several modern features, such as a Messier-built fully retractable undercarriage, which was operated hydraulically, and unprecedented stowage space for an RAF transport aircraft. Roughly 3,000 cubic feet of unrestricted area was used to house various cargoes or passengers. The frames are typically Z-section units using intercostal plate members, but the wing box makes use of larger I-section structures; these support a metal sheet covering that is rivetted directly onto stringer flanges. The maximum external diameter of 11 ft is maintained for a lengthy portion of the fuselage's length, running both fore and aft of the wing. In order that the Hastings could carry loads too large for its interior, such as Jeeps and some artillery pieces, strong fixture points are present on the underside of the fuselage for the fitting of an under-fuselage carrier platform. The engines drove de Havilland-built hydromatic four-blade propellers, which could be individually feathered if required. according to aviation historian Paul Jackson, the 32 Hastings deployed during the operation had delivered a total of 55,000 tons (49,900 tonnes) of supplies, during which two aircraft had been lost.

thumb|View of [[London, Kiribati from an RAF Hastings, 1956, during the Grapple nuclear testing program.]]

Hastings continued to provide transport support to British military operations around the globe through the 1950s and 1960s, including dropping supplies to troops opposing Indonesian forces in Malaysia during the Indonesian Confrontation. During early 1968, the Hastings was withdrawn from RAF Transport Command, by which point it has been replaced by the American-built Lockheed Hercules and British-built Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy, both being newer turboprop-powered transports. The Hastings T.Mk 5 remained in service as radar trainers well into the 1970s; the variant was used for other purposes as well during this time, such as the occasional transport, air experience, and search and rescue missions.

  • TG511 (T5) on display in the National Cold War Exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum Midlands, England.
  • TG517 (T5) on display at the Newark Air Museum, Newark, England.
  • TG528 (C1A) on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England.
  • NZ5801 (C.3) 1952. Nose/Cockpit section only of RNZAF military transport is preserved at Auckland, New Zealand's Museum of Transport and Technology along with engines, props and an undercarriage assembly, which is functional for display purposes.
  • 26 September 1949 — Hastings TG499 crashed after the belly pannier detached and struck the tail mid-flight; all three crew on board died.
  • 20 December 1950 — Hastings TG574 lost a propeller in flight, which penetrated the fuselage and killed the co-pilot. The aircraft diverted to Benina, Libya, and attempted an emergency landing, during which it flipped onto its back. A total of five out of the seven crew were killed, but the 27 passengers (all 'slip' crews returning) survived.
  • 19 March 1951 — Hastings WD478 stalled on takeoff at RAF Strubby in Lincolnshire; three crew died.
  • 16 September 1952 — Hastings WD492 experienced a whiteout and crashed at Northice, Greenland. Three servicemen were injured during the incident, but all the crew were safely recovered by USAF Rescue at Thule.
  • 12 January 1953 — Hastings C1 TG602 crashed in Egypt after takeoff from RAF Fayid when both elevator and the tailplane broke away; all five crew and four passengers died.
  • 22 June 1953 — Hastings WJ335 stalled and crashed on takeoff at RAF Abingdon after the elevator control locks had been left engaged. All six crew died.
  • 23 July 1953 — Hastings TG564 crashed on landing at RAF Kai Tak with one fatality on the ground and the aircraft completely burnt out. Flight was outward bound for a casualty evacuation operation from Korea to the United Kingdom.
  • 2 March 1955 — Hastings WD484 stalled and crashed on takeoff at RAF Boscombe Down due to the elevator controls being locked; all four crew died.
  • 9 September 1955 — Hastings NZ5804 lost power on three engines due to multiple birdstrikes and crashed just after takeoff from Darwin, Australia. 25 crew and passengers survived.
  • 13 September 1955 — Hastings TG584 lost control attempting to overshoot at RAF Dishforth in North Yorkshire and crashed; five died.
  • 9 April 1956 — Hastings WD483 undercarriage collapsed on landing and crashed at landing. No fatalities.
  • 29 May 1959 — Hastings TG522 stalled and crashed on approach to Khartoum Airport, Sudan, after engine failure. All five crew died, 25 passengers survived.
  • 1 March 1960 — Hastings TG579 crash-landed in the sea 1.5 miles east of RAF Gan, Maldives, in a violent tropical storm. All six crew and 14 passengers survived.
  • 29 May 1961 — Hastings WD497 stalled and crashed in Singapore after an engine lost power; 13 died.
  • 10 October 1961 — Hastings WD498 stalled and crashed on takeoff from RAF El Adem, Libya, after the pilot's seat slid back. Seventeen of the 37 occupants died.
  • 17 December 1963 — Hastings C.1A TG610 engine failure during 'roller' landing at Thorney Island, Sussex. Aircraft ran into, and destroyed, a radio servicing building, killing one of the occupants and injuring four. The crew was uninjured.
  • 6 July 1965 — Hastings C.1A TG577, departing from RAF Abingdon on a parachute drop, crashed at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, with the loss of 41 lives. The cause was metal fatigue of two of the elevator bolts.
  • 4 May 1966 — Hastings TG575 was written off when the undercarriage collapsed landing at RAF El Adem, Libya.

Specifications (Hastings C.2)

thumb|Hastings C.1

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • The history of all the Handley Page Hastings Serial Numbers