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Handley Page Hanley

1922 GOLDEN AGE X-PLANE

History

Before the end of 1920, the Air Ministry issued a new requirement for a carrier-based fighter jet capable of providing aerial torpedoes for the Royal Air Force's Fleet Aviation (FAA). So far the Sopwith "Cuckoo" has filled this role, but this design originated in the fighting of the First World War (1918) and has come to an end in terms of performance and technology (about 232 built in total) . The new torpedo bomber must have inherent carrier capability - as aircraft carriers have proven to be the future of naval warfare - to carry an 18-inch torpedo under its belly and provide the performance and low-speed handling required of such aircraft British bomber builder Handley Page started working on his "Hanley" prototype, and his main rival would be rival Blackburn, who soon developed their "Dart" torpedo launch platform at the same time]

Handley Page products are known internally as "Type T" and are named "Hanley" while retroactively designated "HP.19". The contract calls for the construction of a total of three airworthy, single-seat, single-engine prototypes, powered by Napier "Lion" engines.

The engine is in the nose and the cockpit is directly aft. The pilot sits aft in an open-air cockpit and under the upper wing panels. The wing layout uses a traditional upper and lower non-staggered biplane with full length slots (along the leading edges of both wings to slow the aircraft), parallel support struts and triple cabins.

The wings are also designed to fold up to store the vehicle when needed. The hull then tapers towards the stern and is attached with a monoplane rudder with two horizontal planes. The landing gear consists of a supported two-wheeled main landing gear located below the central mass and a simple tail for ground operation.

The overall building is mainly composed of wood.

When completed, the aircraft will have an overall length of 33.3 feet, a wingspan of 46 feet, and a height of 14.1 feet. Curb weight reaches 3,640 lbs, with a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) approaching 6,445 lbs.

Power is provided by a Napier Lion IIB series 12-cylinder water-cooled engine producing 450 hp and turning a two-bladed propeller in the nose. Performance includes a top speed of 116 mph and a service cap of up to 15,000 feet.

The "Hanley One" prototype made its maiden flight on January 3, 1922, but subsequent tests soon revealed a design problem: limited visibility outside the cockpit (a common failure of first-generation biplanes) , performance is generally lacking and low speed processing is considered bad. The original prototype was later damaged during a landing operation, but was salvaged using completely new wing components (including updated control surfaces) to become the "Hanley II".

The Hanley II first took to the skies in December 1922, and the revised design improved performance to some extent, but did not address low-speed handlinga feature common to all navy/carrier aircraft levels, and it was important. This led to a third prototype being developed as the "Hanley III" which brought improved aerodynamics and improved wing control slots, the latter solving the handling issues but by this time the FAA had moved to the competition type, Blackburn The Dart torpedo bomber (detailed elsewhere on this page).

118 of them were built and flew with the FAA between 1922 and 1933.

The two-seat Handley Page "Hendon" became a related development of the single-seat Hanley, but this eventually abandoned aircraft program resulted in only six prototypes, which made their first flight in 1924.