Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow

The Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow was a British heavy bomber of the 1930s built by Handley Page and used by the Royal Air Force, being used for most of the Second World War as a transport. It was a twin-engine, high-wing monoplane with a fixed undercarriage.

Development
The H.P. 54 Harrow was the production version of the earlier Handley Page H.P.51 design, itself a monoplane conversion of the three-engined Handley Page H.P.43 biplane. The two monoplanes were both designed by Dr. G.V. Lachmann. Initially Handley Page intended to offer the H.P.51 to Air Ministry specification C.26/31 for a bomber-transport, then saw the H.P.54 as a more likely winner. In the end neither type was a candidate for C.26/31, since in June 1935 the Air Ministry, anxious to expand and modernise the RAF wrote specification B.29/35 around the Harrow, emphasising its bomber role though retaining its transport capability. In August 14 months before the first Harrow flew, the Ministry put in an order for 100 aircraft. Powered by Bristol Pegasus X engines of 830 hp (620 kW), the first Harrow flew on 10 October 1936 from Radlett. The Harrow was designed to have powered nose, dorsal and tail turrets, and carried a bomb load of 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) under the cabin floor.

Operational history
The first Harrow was delivered to No. 214 Squadron RAF on 13 January 1937, with all 100 delivered by the end of the year, with five bomber squadrons of the RAF being equipped with the Harrow. The Fleet Air Arm ordered 100 Harrows but Handley Page lacked the production capacity to supply them. Despite being fitted with cabin heating by steam boilers using exhaust heat, the Harrow gained a reputation of being a cold and draughty aircraft owing to the turret design. As the delivery of more modern bombers increased, the Harrow was phased out as a front-line bomber by the end of 1939, but continued to be used as a transport. 271 Squadron was formed on 1 May 1940 with a mixture of Harrows, Bristol Bombays and impressed civil aircraft. While the other aircraft equipping 271 squadron were replaced by Douglas Dakotas, it retained a flight of Harrows (sometimes nicknamed "Sparrows" due to their new nose fairings to give a more streamlined fuselage ) as transports and ambulance aircraft until the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Harrows were used occasionally to operate risky flights between England and Gibraltar, two being lost on this route. Harrows were used to support the Allied forces in their advance into Northwest Europe, being used to evacuate wounded from the Arnhem operation in September 1944. Seven Harrows were destroyed by a low level attack by Luftwaffe fighters of JG 26 and JG 54 on Brussels-Evere airfield as part of Operation Bodenplatte, the German attack on allied airfields in North West Europe on 1 January 1945, leaving only five surviving Harrows. These were eventually retired on 25 May 1945.

The Harrow also served in a novel operational role at the height of the German night Blitz against Britain in the winter of 1940-1941, with six Harrows equipping No. 420 Flight RAF (later to become No. 93 Squadron RAF ) which used lone Harrows to tow Long Aerial Mines (LAM) into the path of enemy bombers. The LAM was an explosive charge on the end of a long cable. This unorthodox tactic was credited with the destruction of six German Bombers or 4-5, depending on the source The experiment was however judged of poor value and the planned deployment of Douglas Havocs in the LAM role cancelled. Nine Harrows were also used by 782 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm as transports. After flight refuelling trials, three Harrows were operated by Flight Refuelling Limited. They were used to refuel Short Empire Flying Boats on transatlantic services, two were based in Gander, Newfoundland and one based in Foynes, Ireland. In 1940, the two aircraft based at Gander were impressed into service with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Variants

 * Harrow Mk.I
 * Powered by two 830 hp (620 kW) Bristol Pegasus X engines, 19 built.


 * Harrow Mk.II
 * Powered by two 925 hp (690 kW) Pegasus XX engines, 81 built.

Operators

 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * Royal Canadian Air Force
 * Royal Air Force
 * No. 37 Squadron RAF
 * No. 75 Squadron RAF
 * No. 93 Squadron RAF
 * No. 115 Squadron RAF
 * No. 214 Squadron RAF
 * No. 215 Squadron RAF
 * No. 271 Squadron RAF
 * No. 420 Flight RAF
 * No. 1680 Flight RAF
 * Fleet Air Arm
 * 782 Naval Air Squadron
 * Flight Refuelling Limited
 * Flight Refuelling Limited