Handley Page Hampden

Medium bomber · Handley Page · United Kingdom

Handley Page Hampden
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer; The original uploader was Bzuk at English Wikipedia., 28 May 2007 (original upload date) (via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Typical crew4
Engines2 × Bristol Pegasus
First flight1936
Number built1,430

Photographs

Operated by 144 Squadron and coded ‘PL-Q’, Hampden Mk.I ‘P1273’ was being delivered to Russia on 5th September 1942 when it was shot down by Bf109s near the Finnish/Russian border. The crew were:- Sergeant H.L.Bertrand (RCAF) - pilot Sergeant K.C.Smth - Navigator Sergeant K.S.Piper – Wireless operator / gunner Sergeant E.D.Blind - Gunner and Corporal G.R.DeForges – Ground crew All five crew bailed out safely and became prisoners of war. This wreckage from P1273 was recovered to the UK in 2002. To the right is a Fraser-Nash FN4A rear turret from an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. Wings Museum, Balcombe, West Sussex, UK 20th August 2020
ⓘ licence & creditAlan Wilson / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engine_and_parts_from_Handley_Page_HP.52_Hampden_Mk.I_(P1273_-_PL-Q)_(with_FN4A_turret)_(50490492776).jpgView source & full licence →
Bristol Pegasus engine from crashed RAF Handley Page HP 52 Hampden, at Luchtoorlogsmuseum Fort bij Veldhuis Genieweg 1 1967 PS HEEMSKERK.
ⓘ licence & creditFlickr user "summer photo hobby" : https://www.flickr.com/photos/79818573@N04 / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bristol_Pegasus_engine_from_crashed_Hampden_Flickr_7326134956.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Handley Page Hp.52 Hampden and Hereford. Hampden Mark Is, AE257 ‘KM-X’ and AE202 ‘KM-K’, of No. 44 Squadron RAF based at Waddington, Lincolnshire, in flight. Both aircraft were lost on raids over Germany, AE257 on the night of 21/22 October 1941 flying to Bremen, and AE202 over Hamburg on 26/27 July 1942.
ⓘ licence & creditDaventry B J (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Handley_Page_Hp.52_Hampden_and_Hereford._CH3478.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Handley Page Hp.52 Hampden and Hereford. Hereford Mark I, L6006, at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where it served with the Special Duties Flight of The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment until July 1940.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Handley_Page_Hp.52_Hampden_and_Hereford._CH155.jpgView source & full licence →
Image from the Charles Daniels Photo Collection album "British Aircraft." SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
ⓘ licence & creditSan Diego Air & Space Museum Archives / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15_Handley_Page_Hampden_(15650368358).jpgView source & full licence →
Image from the Charles Daniels Photo Collection album "British Aircraft." SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
ⓘ licence & creditSan Diego Air & Space Museum Archives / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15_Handley_Page_H.P.52_Hampden_Mk.I_L4159._(15650369808).jpgView source & full licence →
Orthographic projection of w:Handley Page Hampden, with profile details of Hereford variant
ⓘ licence & creditEmoscopes / CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handley_Page_Hampden.pngView source & full licence →
Scale comparison drawing of British WW2 medium bombers
ⓘ licence & creditEmoscopes 20:59, 7 April 2008 (UTC) / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_WW2_medium_bombers_comparison.pngView source & full licence →
From a fascinating set of World War II photos, mainly medium format transparencies and some negatives. See set description for more information.
ⓘ licence & creditwhatsthatpicture from Hanwell, London, UK / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loading_bombs_onto_a_World_War_II_Handley_Page_Hampden_(4821425043).jpgView source & full licence →

About

The Handley Page Hampden was one of the trio of twin-engined bombers — with the Vickers Wellington and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley — with which the RAF went to war in 1939. Designed to the same 1932 day-bomber specification as the Wellington, the prototype flew in June 1936, and No. 49 Squadron at RAF Scampton was among the first to receive it in 1938.

Crews knew it as the “Flying Suitcase” for its narrow, slab-sided fuselage, which packed four men into cramped, separate stations. Powered by two Bristol Pegasus radials, it was nimble for its size but lightly armed and poorly suited to daylight operations against fighters. The Hampden flew in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne before being retired from Bomber Command in late 1942; it then served as a torpedo bomber with Coastal Command. Around 1,430 were built.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Hampden Medium Bomber — World War II Database and Handley Page Hampden — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Engines

Airframes in this database

SerialCodeSquadronFate
AT129 EA-O 49 Lost on operations
P1355 — 83 Unknown