United Kingdom: Warplanes of the Second World War preserved: Handley Page Hampden and Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Hampden, and Halifax
The aim of this website is to locate, identify and document Warplanes from the Second World War preserved in the United Kingdom. Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these aircraft to provide and update the data on this website. Photos are by the author unless otherwise credited. Any errors found here are by the author, and any additions, corrections or amendments to this list of Warplane Survivors of the Second World War in the United Kingdom would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at hskaarup@rogers.com.
Warplanes of the Second World War preserved in the UK, including captured German and Japanese warplanes, are listed on separate pages on this web site.
(SDA&SM Photo)
Handley Page Hampden Mk. I (Serial No. P1344). This Hampden was recovered from a crash-site in Russia in 1991 and is being reconstructed at the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, Shifnal, Shropshire. During the Second World War, it served with No. 144 Squadron RAF, part of Coastal Command. In September 1942, the squadron was transferred to the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia to help protect the Arctic convoys. While in transit over Finland, P1344 accidentally flew close by a German airfield and was shot down by two scrambled Messerschmitt Bf 109s. It crashed in a wooded area of the Kola Peninsula, three crew members were killed and two taken prisoner. After its recovery by another party, the RAF Museum gained ownership of the aircraft in 1992. It was reported in 2016 that, with the help of volunteers, work on the fuselage could be completed by 2018.
(Alan Zomerfeld Photo)
(Rachel Semlyen Photo)
(Craig Sunter Photos)
Handley Page Halifax B Mk. II (Serial No. HR792). The Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, Yorkshire, on the site of the Second World War airfield, RAF Elvington, has a fully restored aircraft re-constructed from a fuselage section of HR792 and parts from other aircraft including the wings from an RAF Hastings. It is painted to represent Halifax (Serial No. LV907), "Friday the 13th" from No. 158 Squadron RAF on the port side and "N - Novembre" of 347 "Guyenne" Squadron, Free French Air Force, (NP763), on the starboard side (RAF Elvington was the home of the only two French heavy bomber squadrons in Bomber Command).
Handley Page Halifax B Mk. VII (Serial No. PN323), front fuselage. Imperial War Museum, London.
(Alan Wilson Photos)
Handley Page Halifax B Mk. II (Serial No. W1048), "S for Sugar" of No. 35 Squadron RAF. On the night of the 27/28 April 1942, W1048 was taking part in a raid on the German battleship Tirpitz - its first operational flight. It was hit by anti-aircraft fire after releasing the four 1,000-pound (450 kg) mines it carried and the pilot made a successful belly landing on the frozen surface of Lake Hoklingen. The crew escaped to Sweden with the help of the Norwegian resistance, except for the Flight Engineer who remained behind because of a broken ankle and was taken prisoner. Within hours, the aircraft sank through the ice into 27 metres (89 ft) of water. In the summer of 1973, it was recovered from the lake by a team of divers from the RAF and a Norwegian diving club, and was transported to the UK on a British Army Landing craft tank. It is displayed in its "as recovered" condition in the Bomber Command display at the Royal Air Force Museum London, Hendon, apart from the nose turret which had already been restored.
