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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0871.PDF
APRIL 23RD, T942 FLIGHT 399 THE HALIFAX without interest to note that the wing span is the same as that of the O / 400 of 1915, and the two wing areas also the same within a little. But whereas the O/400 had a loaded weight of 14,000 lb., the Halifax at full load weighs something like 60,000 lb. Apart from the change to all-metal construction which has taken place, it is this increase in wing loading which has made the Halifax and Short Stirling bombers possible; and it is fair to say that in making this high wing loading possible the Handley Page Company has taken a prominent par/t. The lift slot and the slotted iMp were products of this company, anjti although the former is not used on the Halifax, the research and development work carried out in con nection with it have borne fruit in directions which have benefited design as a whole. Even with such aids to high wing loadings, the heavy bomber of to-day would not have been feasible but for the vast improvement in flying technique and piloting skill which has grown up since the days of the O/400. In examining the Handley Page Halifax down to the minutest detail, as we have been privileged to do, thanks to the courtesy of the Handley Page Company and the Ministry of Aircraft Production, two things in particular impress us; they appear contradictory but are not so in fact. One is that the tremendous task of first producing thousands of drawings and scores of jigs, without which the aircraft could not be produced at all, has been possible, so that actual production can be, and is, on quite a large scale. The other is that, for an aircraft which has to carry the complexity of equipment which an inspection of the Halifax discloses, the primary structure is remark ably simple. The only complication in the machine is that which is due to the nature of the equipment. No compli- The Halifax, at full speed, flies with its tail slightly up, as the wings are set at a fairly large angle .on the fuselage so as to obtain the necessary ground angle without the need for a very stilty undercarriage. cation is caused by the structure having to carry its stresses as such. The function of the Halifax being to carry the greatest possible bomb load the longest possible distance, with suffi cient speed to get to distant targets during the darkness of night, the general characteristics were determined by the fact that no aircraft engine was available, two units of which would lift the desired load at the necessary speed. The machine had, therefore, perforce to be a four-engined type. That introduced complication number one. Not only had engine instruments and controls to be quadrupled, but the fuel system became more involved owing to the fact that any and all engines had to be capable of being fed from any and all tanks, and a greater quantity of fuel had to For ease of production the structure of the Halifax is divided into a number of units, as shown diagrammatically in this view. The fuselage roof on the centre-section is known as the "covered waggon."
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