Handley Page H.P.57 Halifax

George Sveinbjornson, e-mail, 21.02.2012 05:32 My uncle was a bomb aimer on this aircraft and flew 35 missions between 1943 and 1945. I believe he said he was with 76 squadron with the RCAF. On return from a bombing run he said the pilot often let him take over the controls so he could get a bit of sleep. At times the crew would sit on their parachutes as this gave them better protection from flack. He said the nazis didn't like the Halifax very much, a testimony to their effectiveness. reply

Clipper, 01.08.2011 06:22 How long did your father serve? I was a tail gunner with 427 in 1943. We flew Mad Dog for twelve ops before I lost my leg. The Halibag was tough, for some reason we had a Boulton-Paul twin-gun turret for our bombardier Smudge in addition to our standard four-gun turrets. I don't think any other plane had that configuration, and the erks got rid of it after op No. 3. I think that pissed Smudge off, he liked the turret. The single Vickers always seemed to be knocking him on the old block when he was at his Mickey Mouse. reply

Fraser Hoare, e-mail, 05.05.2011 10:31 My Father was a Pilot in 427(RCAF)and flew these for a couple of years on the Northern Europe raids out of Leeming. reply

Barry, 21.02.2011 17:14 Like it's more famous contempory, the Avro Lancaster, the "Halibag" was first designed to take two Rolls Royce Vulture engines fortunately a decision was made to use four Rolls Roce Merlins. Under specification P13 /36 the gross weght was set at 26,300lb which was to grow in the fullness of time to 68000lb. This plane was as stable and as reliable a plane as anyone could wish. The early marks, MkI and MkII gave away eventually to the definitive Bristol Hercules powered MkIII. Later marks were used by coastal command and transport command. The transport model was the C.VIII which featured a quick change 8000lb cargo pannier in place of the bomb bay with seating for 11 passengers. This in turn led to the post war Halton transport illustrated in the photo above. The final mission in RAF service was by a GR VI ex Gibraltar in March 1952 with the L'Armee de l'Air phasing out their B.VI at about the same time. reply

James Bowles, e-mail, 21.12.2010 03:15 My Father in-law( Edward Moorecroft) was a rear tail gunner in a Halifax reply

Mike Young, e-mail, 12.12.2010 06:52 My father was a Flight Engineer on Halifax II's and V's with 518 Met. Squadron operating from Tiree in the Hebrides. He considered it to be the "Queeen of the skies". reply

Ben May, e-mail, 07.09.2010 21:19 I flew as flight engineer on Mk. 3 Halifaxes in 1944-45 and as far as I am concerned it was a first class aircraft. We used to synchronise the engines by looking through the overlapping props and taping the C.S.U.(constant speed unit)lever until the shadow was stationary. Unlike the Lancaster (which I also served on)it was a nice warm aircraft with it's air-cooled engines. Anyone from No. 420 Sqdn. still around ? reply

Graham, e-mail, 08.12.2009 18:26 My father flew as a tail gunner in the Halifax and tells me that the Hercules engines when synchronised sounded better than the merlins!!! reply

paul scott, e-mail, 09.09.2009 21:14 Yes, Lester, probably the best sounding engine of WW2 - certainly the best performer in my opinion - as you know, it transformed the P51 100%. reply

radek, e-mail, 11.02.2009 17:23 oooh man....sound of pure power of victory....love that.. reply

Lester, e-mail, 08.09.2008 00:18 Having heard the sweet music of a single Merlin in a P-51, I can't imagine what four of them must sound like. reply