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Handley Page Hastings

1948 BERLIN AIRLIFT COLD WAR SUEZ CRISIS

History

After the end of World War II (after 1946), the British military needed a new, state-of-the-art long-distance transport. The Handley Page Aircraft Company responded to the C. 3/44 specification with "Hastings" (H.P. 67), a four-engine tugboat that produced 151 production units from 1947 to 1952.

These are supplied to units of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The RAF used Hastings to replace the ageing Avro York transport fleet, with the last Hastings in service until 1977.

The four-engine configuration installed two engines on each main wing aircraft. Each engine drives a four-bladed propeller in a puller fashion. The main aircraft was designed for the early but eventually abandoned Handlery Page bombers. Through Hastings' efforts, an all-metal construction was used.

The main wing is mounted low on the side of the fuselage, and the tail is fitted with a traditional single-tail fin. Ground operation is carried out by means of a fully retractable "tail" landing gear.

Internally, the aircraft can carry 50 combat-ready soldiers or 30 paratroopers. Instead, the 32 medical stretchers can be staffed or loaded as needed. The cockpit is placed in the usual fashion at the very front of the design, behind a short nose cone. The fuselage is tubular, with a large cargo door on the port side of the tail of the main aircraft.

Engines of choice were 4 x Bristol "Hercules" Type 191 air-cooled radial piston engines. There are five operators.

The earliest Hastings prototypes were shown as early as 1946, and their first flight was recorded on May 7 of that year. Significant issues with control and stalls were evident, forcing design revisions. In October 1948, the first mass-produced model entered service with the RAF, and the first mass-produced model fulfilled the contracted 100 prototypes - known as the "Hastings C. Mk.

1".

Once the Hastings line was introduced, it was used in the "Berlin Airlift" in 1948-1949. In this campaign, the Soviet Union cut humanitarian access to the battered German capital. The Hastings contributed significantly, delivering some 55,000 tons of cargo on the ground to the Berliners and successfully recording the final flight of the October 1949 campaign.

Hastings was used to transport British paratroopers during the Suez Crisis.

At least 6 of the original 100 Hastings C. Mk. 1s were redesigned as weather reconnaissance platforms, operating under the designation "Hastings Met. Mk. 1" (served by Coast Command during the airborne). An additional eight production Hastings C. Mk.

1 models were modified into the "Hastings T. 1" trainer format - this brand (eight) was used by Bomber Command to train future "V-Bomber" jet bomber crews (Aircraft comes with a typical belly mounted radome).

The final Hastings became the "Hastings C. Mk. 2", which had a revised rear wing (higher and lower to further improve stability) and more internal fuel storage (to increase operating range). The engines were changed to the Hercules 106 series, each producing 1,675 horsepower. The C.Mk.

2 has a cruising speed of 290 miles per hour, a range of up to 1,700 miles, and a maximum altitude of 26,500 feet. 43 C. Mk. 2s were produced, with some C. Mk. 1 stock being converted to the new Mk. 2 Standard is "C.Mk 1A".

Hastings C.Mk. 4 becomes a long-range, VIP-centric passenger model.

Nineteen RAF bomber squadrons operate Hastings in various forms. These include 24th, 36th, 47th, 48th, 51st, 53rd, 59th, 70th, 97th, 99th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 151st, 202nd, 242nd, 297th, 511st and Far Eastern Communications Squadron (FECS).

RNZAF received Hastings C. Mk. 3 (HP 95) production. These are based on C. Mk. 2 Production standard but with Bristol Hercules 737 engine. Only got four. The combat squadron consisted of Nos. 40 and 41.

Handlery Page also developed a civilian market model of the same Hastings transport aircraft called "Hermes", but his prototype was lost on December 2, 1945 (during its maiden flight) . Nonetheless, from 1945 to 1951, 29 examples of this type were eventually produced. The series was commissioned on August 6, 1950.