[MoMo]

Mo ,that sounds like a cool piece of history, plus I love those big old machines. Keep it well painted and looked after so future generations will know that once many years ago Great Britain was a great engineering nation.

Mo just think how many of those great men where Scots born and bred.
Jim

It is still there in full working order, maintained by the Clyde Port Authority. But now surrounded by Yuppie flats!

[MoMo]

( The name of the aforementioned crane is " TITAN "! )

How's this for a useless piece of kit? It was out the game before it started, and was really quite an ugly plane to boot!

MoMo

When WWII broke out, the RAF had 226 HP 52 Hampden bombers at its disposal. The type was designed to a specification similar to the more well-known Vickers-Wellington ”Wimpy” two-engine bomber. The Hampden was the result of designing a bomber that would be able to carry a heavy bomb-load and at the same time be fast and manoeuvrable. The aircraft also had a considerable range. The Hampden never became a success in active service. The narrow fuselage limited the field of fire of the machine guns and made the working conditions aboard the aircraft very cramped for a crew of four. The fuselage was not more than 1 meter at its widest point. No wonder the Hampden was nicknamed ”the flying panhandle”. The aircraft was armed with machine-guns in ventral, dorsal and nose positions and also had a single fixed forward-firing gun. This armament showed itself far from adequate to defend the aircraft.
The HP 52 Hampden was further developed. The most important was the change of engines to more powerful types. The first version had engines of 710 hp, which later was changed to 1000 hp. Despite these efforts, the Hampden was relegated to second-line duties in 1942. It finished its career as a minelayer and a trainer aircraft for two more years.
One modified Handley Page Hampden, designated by the manufacturer as HP 53 Suecia, found its way to the Swedish Air Force. The purpose of the purchase was to evaluate the type against the German Junkers Ju 86 bomber. The contract of the HP 53 was signed in May, 1935, but the aircraft was not delivered until September, 1938. A second HP 53 was also purchased, but this contract was later cancelled.
The Swedish variant got the Air Force designation P 5 (P = Provflyplan, ”Trial aircraft”). It was powered by two 9-cylinder radial Bristol Pegasus XXIV engines, each delivering 1010 hp

RAF P5436
Manufactured: 1942
2 1000 hp Bristol Pegasus XVIII engines
Maximum speed: 254 mph
Empty weight: 11,780 lbs.
Loaded weight: 18,756 lbs.

P5436 was one of the Canadian-built Hampdens. It survived only 100 hours of flying time before crashing near Patricia Bay, on November 15th, 1942, while engaged in torpedo dropping practice. The pilot made the error of turning at low speed and altitude, causing the aircraft to fall into a "stabilized yaw", a known Hampden flaw. The aircraft quickly sank 600 feet to the bottom.

The 4 man crew was more fortunate, as the pilot of a passing Stranraer flying boat had seen the mishap, and they were plucked out of the water, with very minor injuries, within minutes.

In the 1980's, CMF salvaged the remains of Hampden AN136 from Mt. Tuam on Saltspring Island, and a later N132 from a mountaintop near Ucluelet. Our underwater recovery crew was aware of P5436, but the exact location continued to elude SONAR and underwater cameras. In 1985, some detective work into wartime RCAF files pin pointed the depth of the wreck, and this was almost immediately rewarded by some beautiful SONAR views of a complete Hampden!

Although fairly complete and mostly intact, the aircraft was badly corroded, damaged, and very fragile, making for a difficult salvage operation that was carried out by a remote controlled submarine aided by video camera. Considering that more than 44 years were spent in salt water, some small components were in magnificent shape. The compass worked, there was air in the tires and greased bearings and drive chains moved freely.

The difficult and costly salvage operation was carried out by Jerry Olsen and his crew of C-LOST (Canadian Lake and Ocean Salvage Team), the Thompson Family of Tillicum Towing of Pender Harbour and International Submarine Engineering who loaned the tech equipment.

Restoration work has been moving along, driven mainly by volunteer Fred Gardham, who worked on Hampdens in the local aviation industry during WWII... and who had even logged one flight in P5436 following repairs.

The fuselage tailplanes and outer wing panels have been rebuilt, using in addition some vital components from the other two Hampden crash sites.

Up to 1985, there was no Hampden's preserved for future generations to see. Now, not only has CMF nearly completed the cosmetic restoration of one, but also in mid-1991 a second airframe in reasonable condition, was recovered from a crash site in Russia, and returned to the U.K. for restoration.

What of the 4-man crew of the P5436? We have traced down members of the RCAF and RAAF, who died in Canada and Australia in recent years. The other two were RAF, and one is thought to have visited Pat Bay in the mid-1980's. We are still searching for them.

General Information

The Handley Page Hampden was not a great aircraft, however, it served Bomber Command with Distinction during the dark early days of WWII, after which it was relegated to Coastal Command and as a crew trainer at various Operational Training Units. At the end of the war, no complete or partial Hampden aircraft were retained for museum display.

Of 1430 Hampdens manufactured, 160 were built in Canada by the "Victory Aircraft" consortium of 3 Ontario and 3 Quebec aircraft companies as an "educational project" to build up the Canadian aircraft industry and expertise for building the 4-engined Short Stirling bomber. Of the 160 built, 84 were shipped by sea to Britain, while the remainder came to Patricia Bay (Victoria Airport) B.C., to set up No.32 OTU (RAF). Due to heavy attrition from accidents, a number of "war weary" Hampdens were later flown from the U.K. to Pat Bay as replacements.

Typical exercises at 32 OTU consisted of patrolling up the West Coast of Vancouver Island at night or flying out into the Pacific to a navigational map coordinate, often in adverse and unforecast weather.

The four-seat Hampden was the last of the twin-engine medium bombers to go into service during the expansion of Bomber Command in the late 1930's.

Of all-metal construction, the fuselage had a distinctive deep fore-body housing the crew, and a relatively slender tail-boom carrying the tailplane and twin fins and rudders, a configuration that lead to the nicknames "Flying Panhandle" and "Flying Suitcase". Maximum bomb load was 4,000 lb., stowed internal in the fuselage beneath the wings.

The prototype was powered by two Bristol Pegasus PE.55a engines, but production Hampdens had two 1,000 hp Pegasus XVIIIs. The went into service in August 1938 with No. 49 Squadron (RAF).

During operations, the Hampden proved to have serious deficiencies, particularly in its defensive armament, which consisted of five 0.303 inch machine guns. The fixed forward firing gun proved almost useless and the single guns in the nose, dorsal and ventral positions had limited transverse, leaving a number of blind spots. In addition, the cramped conditions led to crew fatigue on long flights, and it was almost impossible for crew members to gain access to each others cockpit in an emergency. Losses during early daylight raids were very heavy.

To improve the defensive armament, the dorsal and ventral positions were each fitted with twin Vickers K machine-guns. In addition, armor plate was installed and flame-damping exhaust pipes were fitted for night flying. Thus modified, the Hampden did useful work in Bomber Command's night offensive from 1940 to 1942, taking part in the RAF's first raid on Berlin and in the famous 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne.

A variant of the Hampden was the Hereford, powered by two 1,000 hp 16-cylinder H-type Napier Dagger engines. It went into service in 1940, was relegated to bomber crew training duties.

Several overseas RCAF squadrons flew the Hampden, as a bomber and torpedo-bomber.

Photo: John Inksater

[MoMo]

Was George Formby an asset to the British War Effort, or was he the Germans' Secret Weapon?

[Shamrock]

Oh! Mr. Woo!! George Formby was a big influence on the late great Beatle George Harrison who was a great 'banjo' player in his day. In the 'Concert for George' tribute Joe Brown finishes with a beautiful ukulele piece.

If Corgi did a Sights & Sounds BOB Spitfire you could have Vera Lynne singing "The White clifs Of Dover"!!

[jim]

Ciffs of Dover?
I remember that book ,
Accident on the cliffs by Eileen Dover!

Hey Do you remember Old mother Riley?

[TopHat]

I thought it was, "The Revenge of MoMo" by Ben Dover....

[jim]

Originally Posted by TopHat

I thought it was, "The Revenge of MoMo" by Ben Dover....

No

that was Ben Doon and Phil Mcavity!

[Shamrock]

Paddy Finucane disliked intensely the Canadian singer Deanna Durbin and his squadron mates used to wind him up by repeatedly playing her on the gramaphone while on disperal. One day he 'lost the rag', picked up the disc and broke it in to little pieces as he was wont to do with ME-109s.

I'd say your'e more of a Gracie Fields man Jim

[jim]

Originally Posted by Shamrock

I'd say your'e more of a Gracie Fields man Jim

No way, she was a Lancashire lass, war of the roses and all that, nah , Andrew sisters yes.

[Shamrock]

Grew up on Glenn Miller as my Dad is a huge fan. He used to listen to him during the war on AFN (American Forces Network) on a small wireles set when Miller's Army Air Force Band would be broadcast in concert.