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Handley Page HP.115

1961 COLD WAR X-PLANE

History

After the Second World War (1939-1945), the development of both conventional and extreme aircraft was very popular, not limited to the United States and the Soviet Union, as the European powers were also busy designing entirely new aircraft exam forms. A good example is the Handley Page "HP. 115", which was developed as a delta-wing aircraft to describe the low-speed handling characteristics of a possible future supersonic passenger tugboat.

A true technology demonstrator, the aircraft has been a research platform throughout its career and played a major role in the creation of the famous British-French BAe/Aerospatiale supersonic airliner Concorde.

HP. The 115 is operated primarily in the air by the research arm of the Royal Aircraft Institute (RAE).

Background

By the second half of the 1950s, British researchers had learned that a Mach 2-capable airliner would rely on a delta wing plan, and after considering various substructures of this wing configuration, the "ogival" approach was finally chosen. - A more elegantly sculpted platform with smoother leading edges and straighter trailing edges. To demonstrate its low-speed handling qualities in an airworthy design, the wing was designed to fit a single-seat, single-engine (jet-powered) technology demonstrator, model HP.115, designed by Handley Page.

Meanwhile, Fairey is working on "Delta 2" to demonstrate the high-speed qualities of the same airliner proposal.

In December 1959, after abandoning the idea of ??an unpowered glider form, a contract was signed to cover Handley Page's work on his powered aircraft. The research aircraft will be built using off-the-shelf components to get it into the air as quickly (and cheaply) as possible.

The final design has a very traditional look (with the wings released for pure data use/capture), except for the engine powerplant mounted on the bottom of the vertical tail.

As a delta configuration aircraft, there is no horizontal stabilizer, as the main aircraft occupies the entire horizontal surface area and provides the necessary control, drag and lift characteristics. The single-seat cockpit is traditionally located forward of the slender fuselage, providing the pilot with excellent visibility. Tricycle landing gear configuration for ground operation - legs are fixed and non-retractable in flight to keep operation/maintenance easy. Aside from the location of the engines, one of the more unique aspects of the plane's design is its fuselage, which contracts along the ventral line between the cockpit and the center mass - this is evident when viewing the plane from the side.

Light alloys are used throughout the design, and the wing main aircraft features the ability to swap the leading edge for a different shape for "quick test" purposes. The engine of choice became the Armstrong Siddeley "Viper" ASV. 9 Jet Engines - housed in a streamlined fin-mounted nacelle.

Test

HP. The 115 first flew on August 17, 1961, and the product was displayed for public consumption in various halls of the Farnborough Air Congress from 1961 to 1964. Testing continued largely uninterrupted and fully demonstrated the technologically superior research aircraft.

With the exception of a landing gear failure on November 20, 1964, the active flight phase of this particular aircraft was largely free of any failures. Structural fatigue of the port landing gear element during takeoff (after the roll-off landing test) damaged it and placed it at an awkward angle. Amazingly, after following proper forced landing procedures and using piloting skills, the test pilots returned the test plane to the ground safely and without injury.

This was a relatively minor setback for the aircraft, which remained in maintenance until May 1965.

The sample completed its last recorded flight in August 1973, completing 1,060 test missions - no less than 61 test pilots participated in part of the aircraft's history, paving the way for the classic Concorde .