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1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Handley Page offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Handley Page at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Handley Page? Wrong! If the Handley Page is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Handley Page then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Handley Page? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Handley Page and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Handley Page wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Handley Page then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Handley Page site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Handley Page, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Handley Page, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
{{Infobox Defunct Company| company_name = Handley Page Limited| company_logo =
image:Handley Page.png| fate = Voluntary liquidation| successor =
Scottish Aviation[1909, [Radlett| products =| num_employees =| parent =| subsid = Handley Page Transport (until 1924)-->Handley Page, Limited was founded by [Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in
1909 in aviation as the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in 1970 in aviation. The company, based at Radlett Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, was noted for producing heavy bombers and large airliners.
History
Frederick Handley Page first experimented with and built several
biplanes and
monoplanes at premises in Woolwich,
Fambridge and
Barking Creek. His company, founded on 17 June 1909, became the first British public company to build aircraft.
In
1912 Handley Page established an aircraft factory at
Cricklewood after moving from Barking. Aircraft were built there and flown from the company's adjacent air field.
World War I
During the World War I Handley Page produced a series of heavy bombers for the Royal Navy to bomb the Germany Zeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by the
Admiralty to produce a
bloody paralyser of an airplane. These aircraft included the Handley Page O/100 of 1915, the Handley Page O/400 of 1918 and the four engined Handley Page V/1500 with the range to reach Berlin. The V/1500 only just reached operational service as the war ended in
1918 in aviation.
In the immediate post-war years, Handley Page modified a number of O/400's to passenger use, which they flew on the London-
Paris route as
Handley Page Transport. The V/1500 was considered too large to be practical at the time, but a number of design features of the V/1500 were later incorporated into a O/400 airframe to produce their first dedicated passenger design, the Handley Page W.8. In 1924 Handley Page Transport merged with two other regional airlines to create Imperial Airways, the UK's first national airline service. Handley Page developed several large biplane airliners, including the 12 luxurious Handley Page H.P.42, for use on
British Empire routes to Africa and India.
Handley Page also paid for the development of what soon became known as the
Handley Page Slat (or slot, see
slats), a small channel cut into the leading edge of the wing to improve airflow at high angle of attack. The design was so successful that licensing fees to other companies was their main source of income in the early 1920s.
In 1929 the airfield at Cricklewood was closed and a new one built at
Radlett, where most aircraft were now to be constructed. However the construction of aircraft at Cricklewood continued until 1964 when the premises were sold to become the Cricklewood trading estate.
World War II
With the
Second World War looming, Handley Page turned back to bomber design and produced the
Handley Page Hampden, which took part in the first British raid on Berlin. In response to government request for heavier, longer ranged aircraft Handley Page produced the HP.56. Powered by twin Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, the latter proved so troublesome that the aircraft was cancelled. The design was however elaborated into the four-engined
Handley-Page Halifax which, after the Avro Lancaster, was the most prolific British heavy bomber. This had been the same development route as the Lancaster, and although the Halifax had a somewhat more protracted development, it soon reached maturity and was considered by some to be to a superior aircraft.
Post-war
After the war the British Government sought tenders for jet bombers to carry the nation's nuclear deterrent. The three types produced were known as the V bombers, and Handley Page's contribution was the Handley Page Victor, a four-engined, crescent-winged design. This aircraft remained in service (as a
tanker aircraft) well beyond the demise of the company which created it.
In 1947 in aviation Handley Page bought some of the assets of the bankrupt
Miles Aircraft company. These assets include existing designs, tools and jigs, and the Miles Reading, Berkshire site at Woodley. The whole operation was
Handley Page (Reading) Ltd the company constituted to buy and operate the assets formed out of the legally alive but otherwise inactive Handley Page Transport Ltd. The most significant of the inherited designs was the Handley Page Herald airliner. Designs coming out of the Reading site were shown by the initials HPR (from "Handley Page (Reading) Limited" )
Demise
Unlike the other large British aircraft manufacturers, Handley Page resisted the Government's pressure to merge into larger entities. By the late 1960s, the British aviation industry was dominated by just two combines;
Hawker Siddeley and the
British Aircraft Corporation.
Unable to compete for Government orders or with large commercial aircraft, Handley Page produced its final notable Handley Page design; the Handley Page Jetstream. This was a small
turboprop-powered commuter aircraft, with a cabin pressurization and a passenger capacity of 12 to 18. It was designed primarily for the United States "feederliner" market.
The Jetstream was too late to save Handley Page, and the company went into voluntary liquidation in March 1970 and was wound up after 61 years trading under the same name. The Jetstream however lived on as a successful product, the design being purchased and produced by Scottish Aviation at Prestwick and later when Scottish Aviation was incorporated into
British Aerospace from 1977.
Products
Designations
Handley Page originally used a letter progression to designate types (i.e.
R,
S,
T etc. ) in combination with a number, that may or may not have been meaningful, to designate sub-types (e.g. the O/100 indicated the type's 100 foot wingspan).In
1924, Handley Page moved to using the letters
HP and a number to indicate the model. Thus the O/400 became the HP.16 and the
Handley Page Type W the HP.18.When the assets of Miles Aircraft were taken over, the latter's Reading design office began using
HPR. (for Handley Page Reading), followed by a number indicates that the design originated in the Reading design office (e.g. the HPR.1 Marathon).
Designs
- Handley Page Type A - monoplane (1910)
- Handley Page Type B - biplane
- Handley Page Type D - monoplane (1911)
- Handley Page Type E - monoplane
- Handley Page Type F - monoplane
- Handley Page Type G - biplane
- Handley Page Type L
- Handley Page Type O - twin engined bomber
- O/100
- O/400
- O/10 airliner
- O/11 airliner
- W/400 airliner
- O/7 bomber
- Handley Page V/1500
- Handley Page Type W airliner
- Handley Page Hanley
- Handley Page Type S
- Handley Page HP.22
- Handley Page Handcross
- Handley Page HP.31
- Handley Page Hamlet
- Handley Page Hinaidi - heavy bomber
- Handley Page Hare
- Handley Page Heyford - biplane heavy bomber
- Handley Page Gugnunc - experimental biplane
- Handley Page H.P.42 - biplane airliner
- Handley Page H.P.43 - three engined biplane bomber transport
- Handley Page H.P.42 - biplane airliner
- Handley Page H.P.51 - prototype bomber transport
- Handley Page Hampden - medium bomber
- HP.53 - bomber design for Sweden - led to the Handley Page Hampden
- Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow - monoplane heavy bomber
- HP.55 - two-engined heavy bomber design
- HP.56 - two-engined heavy bomber design
- Handley Page Halifax - four-engined heavy bomber
- HP.57 Halifax Mk.I
- HP.58 Halifax Mk.II
- HP.59 Halifax Mk.II Series
- HP.61 Halifax Mk.III
- HP.63 Halifax Mk.V / VI / VII
- HP.70
- Halifax Mk.VIII
- Halton - airliner
- HP.71 Halifax Mk.IX
- Handley Page Hastings - military transport
- Handley Page Hermes - airliner
- HP.68 Hermes I
- HP.74 Hermes II
- HP.81 Hermes IV
- HP.82 Hermes V
- Handley Page Manx - tailless research aircraft
- Handley Page Victor - four-engined bomber
- Handley Page HP.88 - Victor research aircraft
- Handley Page HP.115 - delta winged research aircraft
- Handley Page HP.100 - reconnaissance bomber to OR.330
- Handley Page Jetstream - twin-turboprop feederliner
Handley Page (Reading) designs
Sites
{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style=margin-left:10px|-!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"|Site of Cricklewood Factory|-|width="50%"|British national grid reference system:|||-!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"|Site of Radlett Aerodrome|-|width="50%"|
British national grid reference system:|||-|}Radlett Aerodrome was opened in 1929 as a grass aerodrome for Handley Page Civil Aircraft, the runway was extended in 1939 to enable production of
Handley Page Halifax bombers. Most of the towers,
hangars and runways were demolished in the 1970s after the Company was wound up. The M25 Motorway now stands on the south of the site, with
Lafarge now owning the remainder.
References
See also
External links
- British Aricraft Directory entry
- short history of the company written for the Centennial of Flight
- An enthusiast web site dedicated to the company
{{Infobox Defunct Company| company_name = Handley Page Limited| company_logo = image:Handley Page.png| fate = Voluntary liquidation| successor = Scottish Aviation[1909, [Radlett| products =| num_employees =| parent =| subsid = Handley Page Transport (until 1924)-->
Handley Page, Limited was founded by [Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909 in aviation as the
United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into
voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in
1970 in aviation. The company, based at Radlett Aerodrome in
Hertfordshire, was noted for producing heavy bombers and large airliners.
History
Frederick Handley Page first experimented with and built several biplanes and monoplanes at premises in Woolwich, Fambridge and Barking Creek. His company, founded on 17 June 1909, became the first British public company to build aircraft.
In
1912 Handley Page established an aircraft factory at
Cricklewood after moving from Barking. Aircraft were built there and flown from the company's adjacent air field.
World War I
During the
World War I Handley Page produced a series of
heavy bombers for the Royal Navy to bomb the
Germany Zeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by the Admiralty to produce a
bloody paralyser of an airplane. These aircraft included the Handley Page O/100 of 1915, the Handley Page O/400 of 1918 and the four engined
Handley Page V/1500 with the range to reach Berlin. The V/1500 only just reached operational service as the war ended in 1918 in aviation.
In the immediate post-war years, Handley Page modified a number of O/400's to passenger use, which they flew on the London-
Paris route as
Handley Page Transport. The V/1500 was considered too large to be practical at the time, but a number of design features of the V/1500 were later incorporated into a O/400 airframe to produce their first dedicated passenger design, the
Handley Page W.8. In 1924 Handley Page Transport merged with two other regional airlines to create Imperial Airways, the UK's first national airline service. Handley Page developed several large
biplane airliners, including the 12 luxurious Handley Page H.P.42, for use on
British Empire routes to Africa and India.
Handley Page also paid for the development of what soon became known as the
Handley Page Slat (or slot, see slats), a small channel cut into the leading edge of the wing to improve airflow at high angle of attack. The design was so successful that licensing fees to other companies was their main source of income in the early 1920s.
In 1929 the airfield at Cricklewood was closed and a new one built at Radlett, where most aircraft were now to be constructed. However the construction of aircraft at Cricklewood continued until 1964 when the premises were sold to become the Cricklewood trading estate.
World War II
With the Second World War looming, Handley Page turned back to bomber design and produced the
Handley Page Hampden, which took part in the first British raid on
Berlin. In response to government request for heavier, longer ranged aircraft Handley Page produced the HP.56. Powered by twin
Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, the latter proved so troublesome that the aircraft was cancelled. The design was however elaborated into the four-engined Handley-Page Halifax which, after the
Avro Lancaster, was the most prolific British heavy bomber. This had been the same development route as the Lancaster, and although the Halifax had a somewhat more protracted development, it soon reached maturity and was considered by some to be to a superior aircraft.
Post-war
After the war the British Government sought tenders for jet bombers to carry the nation's
nuclear deterrent. The three types produced were known as the
V bombers, and Handley Page's contribution was the Handley Page Victor, a four-engined, crescent-winged design. This aircraft remained in service (as a
tanker aircraft) well beyond the demise of the company which created it.
In
1947 in aviation Handley Page bought some of the assets of the bankrupt
Miles Aircraft company. These assets include existing designs, tools and jigs, and the Miles Reading, Berkshire site at Woodley. The whole operation was
Handley Page (Reading) Ltd the company constituted to buy and operate the assets formed out of the legally alive but otherwise inactive
Handley Page Transport Ltd. The most significant of the inherited designs was the Handley Page Herald airliner. Designs coming out of the Reading site were shown by the initials HPR (from "Handley Page (Reading) Limited" )
Demise
Unlike the other large British aircraft manufacturers, Handley Page resisted the Government's pressure to merge into larger entities. By the late 1960s, the British aviation industry was dominated by just two combines;
Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation.
Unable to compete for Government orders or with large commercial aircraft, Handley Page produced its final notable Handley Page design; the
Handley Page Jetstream. This was a small
turboprop-powered commuter aircraft, with a
cabin pressurization and a passenger capacity of 12 to 18. It was designed primarily for the United States "
feederliner" market.
The Jetstream was too late to save Handley Page, and the company went into
voluntary liquidation in March 1970 and was wound up after 61 years trading under the same name. The Jetstream however lived on as a successful product, the design being purchased and produced by Scottish Aviation at Prestwick and later when Scottish Aviation was incorporated into British Aerospace from 1977.
Products
Designations
Handley Page originally used a letter progression to designate types (i.e.
R,
S,
T etc. ) in combination with a number, that may or may not have been meaningful, to designate sub-types (e.g. the O/100 indicated the type's 100 foot wingspan).In 1924, Handley Page moved to using the letters
HP and a number to indicate the model. Thus the O/400 became the HP.16 and the
Handley Page Type W the HP.18.When the assets of Miles Aircraft were taken over, the latter's Reading design office began using
HPR. (for Handley Page Reading), followed by a number indicates that the design originated in the Reading design office (e.g. the HPR.1 Marathon).
Designs
- Handley Page Type A - monoplane (1910)
- Handley Page Type B - biplane
- Handley Page Type D - monoplane (1911)
- Handley Page Type E - monoplane
- Handley Page Type F - monoplane
- Handley Page Type G - biplane
- Handley Page Type L
- Handley Page Type O - twin engined bomber
- O/100
- O/400
- O/10 airliner
- O/11 airliner
- W/400 airliner
- O/7 bomber
- Handley Page V/1500
- Handley Page Type W airliner
- Handley Page Hanley
- Handley Page Type S
- Handley Page HP.22
- Handley Page Handcross
- Handley Page HP.31
- Handley Page Hamlet
- Handley Page Hinaidi - heavy bomber
- Handley Page Hare
- Handley Page Heyford - biplane heavy bomber
- Handley Page Gugnunc - experimental biplane
- Handley Page H.P.42 - biplane airliner
- Handley Page H.P.43 - three engined biplane bomber transport
- Handley Page H.P.42 - biplane airliner
- Handley Page H.P.51 - prototype bomber transport
- Handley Page Hampden - medium bomber
- HP.53 - bomber design for Sweden - led to the Handley Page Hampden
- Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow - monoplane heavy bomber
- HP.55 - two-engined heavy bomber design
- HP.56 - two-engined heavy bomber design
- Handley Page Halifax - four-engined heavy bomber
- HP.57 Halifax Mk.I
- HP.58 Halifax Mk.II
- HP.59 Halifax Mk.II Series
- HP.61 Halifax Mk.III
- HP.63 Halifax Mk.V / VI / VII
- HP.70
- Halifax Mk.VIII
- Halton - airliner
- HP.71 Halifax Mk.IX
- Handley Page Hastings - military transport
- Handley Page Hermes - airliner
- HP.68 Hermes I
- HP.74 Hermes II
- HP.81 Hermes IV
- HP.82 Hermes V
- Handley Page Manx - tailless research aircraft
- Handley Page Victor - four-engined bomber
- Handley Page HP.88 - Victor research aircraft
- Handley Page HP.115 - delta winged research aircraft
- Handley Page HP.100 - reconnaissance bomber to OR.330
- Handley Page Jetstream - twin-turboprop feederliner
Handley Page (Reading) designs
Sites
{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style=margin-left:10px|-!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"|Site of Cricklewood Factory|-|width="50%"|
British national grid reference system:|||-!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"|Site of Radlett Aerodrome|-|width="50%"|
British national grid reference system:|||-|}Radlett Aerodrome was opened in 1929 as a grass aerodrome for Handley Page Civil Aircraft, the runway was extended in 1939 to enable production of
Handley Page Halifax bombers. Most of the towers, hangars and runways were demolished in the 1970s after the Company was wound up. The M25 Motorway now stands on the south of the site, with Lafarge now owning the remainder.
References
See also
- Hedley Hazelden - Handley Page test pilot
External links
- British Aricraft Directory entry
- short history of the company written for the Centennial of Flight
- An enthusiast web site dedicated to the company