Хэмпден: Британский среднебомбардировщик Второй мировой войны.

British twin engine medium bomber

The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden is a British twin engine medium bomber that was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was part of the trio of large twin engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Vickers Wellington. The Hampden was powered by Bristol Pegasus radial engines but a variant known as the Handley Page Hereford had in line Napier Daggers. The Hampden served in the early stages of the Second World War, bearing the brunt of the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne. When it became obsolete, after a period of mainly operating at night, it was retired from RAF Bomber Command service in late 1942. By 1943, the rest of the trio were being superseded by the larger four engined heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster.

In 1932, the Air Ministry issued Specification B.9/32 seeking a twin engined day bomber with higher performance than any preceding bomber aircraft. Handley Page and Vickers both designed aircraft to meet this specification, the Vickers design became the Wellington. The Handley Page design team, led by George Volkert, drafted a radical aircraft, initially centering upon the politically favoured Rolls Royce Goshawk engine. By mid 1934 development of the Goshawk looked less promising and the Air Ministry relaxed the tare weight (unloaded weight) requirement of the specification, allowing for the use of heavier and more powerful radial engines such as the Bristol Perseus and Bristol Pegasus. According to aviation author Philip J. R. Moyes, the Handley Page design soon found support with the Air Ministry in part because it was judged to represent a fair compromise between range, payload, and speed. On 21 June 1936, the prototype, powered by a pair of Bristol Pegasus P. E.5S(A) engines, conducted its maiden flight from Radlett Aerodrome, Hertfordshire, piloted by Handley Page chief test pilot Major James Cordes. In early 1937, a second prototype, which received the serial number L7271, was completed; this second prototype had several differences from the first, including the pitot tube being repositioned below the fuselage, a more rounded ventral defensive gun position, and a slightly modified nose. L7271 later received a pair of Dagger engines and was accordingly re designated as the HP.53; on 1 July 1937, it performed its first flight after having received the new engines. Another prototype, L4032, was produced to serve as the production standard prototype; on 24 June 1938, the third prototype conducted its maiden flight. Viscountess Hampden's speech invoked "the spirit of John Hampden, the defender of civil liberties" to inspire future crews of his namesake aircraft. L4032 and L4033, which was the second production standard Hampden to be produced, would be later assigned to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. On 20 September 1938, the third production Hampden, designated L4034, following the completion of handling trials conducted by the Central Flying School at Upavon Aerodrome, Wiltshire, become the first aircraft to enter RAF squadron service, being delivered to No. 49 Squadron.

By late 1938, the mass manufacturing plans for the Hampden had been formalised. In addition to Handley Page's own production line, the type was to be built under subcontract by English Electric at its factory in Preston, Lancashire; on 6 August 1938, English Electric was awarded an initial contract to manufacture 75 Hampdens. On 9 August 1940, the first Canadian built Hampden, P5298, made its debut flight; by October 1940, Canadian production had risen to 15 aircraft per month.

The Hampden Mk I had a pilot, navigator/bomb aimer, radio operator and rear gunner. Conceived as a fast, manoeuvrable "fighting bomber", the Hampden had a fixed forward firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine gun in the upper part of the fuselage nose. To avoid the weight penalties of powered turrets, the Hampden had a curved Perspex nose fitted with a manual .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun and a .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K installation in the rear upper and lower positions. The layout was similar to the all guns forward cockpits introduced about the same time in Luftwaffe medium bombers, notably the Dornier Do 17. During the Norwegian Campaign, these guns proved to be thoroughly inadequate for self defence in daylight; the single guns were replaced by twin Vickers K guns, a process led by Air Vice Marshal Arthur Harris of No. 5 Group RAF in 1940. The Hampden had a flush rivetted stressed skin, reinforced with a mixture of bent and extruded sections in an all metal monocoque design. The centre and rear sections were made of two halves, which meant that the sections could be fitted out in part under better working conditions prior to assembly. All possible assembly work was performed at the benches prior to installation upon each aircraft. Each section was built around a main girder spar, leading edge section and trailing edge section. The newest of the three medium bombers, the Hampden was often referred to by aircrews as the "Flying Suitcase" because of its cramped crew conditions, or more plausibly, because of the unusually thin, deep, slab sided and rectangular shape of the fuselage was reminiscent of that of a suitcase.

In September 1938, No. 49 Squadron received the first Hampdens; by the end of the year, both 49 and 83 Squadrons at RAF Scampton had re equipped with the type. A total of 226 Hampdens were in service with ten squadrons by the start of the Second World War, with six forming the operational strength of 5 Group of Bomber Command based in Lincolnshire. With the outbreak of war in 1939, Hampdens were initially used to perform armed aerial reconnaissance missions, observing German naval activity during daylight. However, despite its speed and manoeuvrability, the Hampden proved to be no match for Luftwaffe fighters; in December 1939, Bomber Command is claimed to have discarded the belief that aircraft such as the Hampden could realistically operate by day and instead chose to predominantly employ them under the cover of darkness during nighttime operations. On 25 August 1940, Hampdens from various squadrons participated in the RAF's first bombing raid on Berlin. Almost half of the Hampdens built, 714, were lost on operations, with 1,077 crew killed and 739 reported as missing. German Flak accounted for 108, one hit a German barrage balloon, 263 Hampdens crashed because of "a variety of causes" and 214 others were classed as "missing". Luftwaffe pilots claimed 128 Hampdens, shooting down 92 at night. The last Bomber Command sorties by Hampdens were flown on the night of 14/15 September 1942 by 408 Squadron, RCAF against Wilhelmshaven. After being withdrawn from Bomber Command in 1942, it operated with RAF Coastal Command until 1943 as a long range torpedo bomber (the Hampden TB Mk I with a Mk XII torpedo in an open bomb bay and a bomb under each wing) and as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

The Hampden was also used by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), Aviatsiya Voenno Morskogo Flota (AV MF: Maritime Military Fleet Aviation) of the Soviet Union and the Swedish Flygvapnet (Air Force). The Hampden in RCAF service included the 160 examples manufactured in Canada by the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium. Of the total built, 84 were shipped by sea to Great Britain, while the remainder came to Patricia Bay (Victoria Airport) B. C., to set up No. 32 OTU (RAF) used for bombing and gunnery training. Typical exercises at 32 OTU consisted of patrolling up the West Coast of Vancouver Island at night or flying out into the Pacific to a navigational map co ordinate, often in adverse and un forecast inclement weather. Due to attrition from accidents, about 200 "war weary" Hampdens were later flown from the U. K. to Patricia Bay as replacements. In Operation Orator, during September 1942, the crews of 32 Hampden TB.1 torpedo bombers from No. 144 Squadron RAF and No. 455 Squadron RAAF flew to Northwest Russia, to protect arctic convoy PQ 18 from German surface vessels, such the battleship Tirpitz. The Hampden crews flew from Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands to Vaenga (Vayenga; later known as Severomorsk) in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. This was a hazardous route, often subject to poor weather and spanning more than , partly over enemy occupied territory in Norway and Finland. Eight Hampdens were lost or damaged beyond repair en route. 144 and 455 Squadrons flew a small number of sorties from Vaenga. While it was originally intended that the Hampdens would be flown back to Scotland, the prevailing west–east headwinds on such a flight might have pushed the Hampdens beyond their maximum endurance and it was decided to transport the wing's personnel back to Britain by sea and gift the Hampdens to the Soviet Navy. Aircrews and mechanics from Maritime Military Fleet Aviation (Aviatsiya Voenno Morskogo Flota; VMF) were trained by members of 144 and 455 Squadrons, before their return to Britain in October. The 3rd Squadron, 24th Mine Torpedo Aviation Regiment (24 Минно торпедный авиаполк; 24 MTAP) operated the "balalaika" – the Russian nickname for the Hampden, in reference to its unusual shape – until mid 1943, when losses, a lack of replacements and a shortage of spares forced its retirement. 24 MTAP then reverted to the Ilyushin DB 3/Ilyushin Il 4. In Sweden, the Flygvapnet assigned an HP.52 to Reconnaissance Wing F 11 at Nyköping for evaluation, under the designation P5. After the war, the aircraft was sold to SAAB where it was used as an avionics testbed.

The HP Hampden had a featured role in The Big Blockade, a 1941 Second World War propaganda film showing "blockade" bombing and its effects on the German war industry, with Michael Rennie and John Mills as two of its four man crew.