Handley Page HP.111

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! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-size: large; padding-bottom: 0.3em;" | HP.111 ! Role ! National origin ! Manufacturer
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 * Transporter tanker
 * United Kingdom
 * Handley Page Limited

! Designer
 * Reginald Stafford

! First flight

! Introduction ! Retired

! Primary user ! Produced ! Number built
 * Royal Air Force
 * 0

The 'Handley Page HP.111' was the planned military version of a passenger and cargo aircraft of the also planned civilian passenger jet Handley Page HP.111C, which was based on the bomber Handley Page Victor.

History
The Handley Page HP.111 was a military cargo plane and the HP.111C a planned civilian commercial aircraft version of the British bomber Handley Page Victor. This was in response to the British Ministry of Supply's demand in 1952 for a new aircraft suitable for both military and civilian long-range operations. Civilian models of the V-Bombers Vickers Valiant and Avro Vulcan were also planned for the same contract. The Vickers V-1000 won the competition, but ultimately none of these designs would be completed.

With the development of the bomber Handley Page Victor, Handley Page took up the idea of ​​a Victor-based passenger aircraft called HP.97. This should have two continuous pressure body on top of each other, so that the fuselage cross-section had an 8-like shape. The upper deck housed the cockpit and a continuous passenger compartment. Through a spiral staircase, the lower deck should be accessible, in which was located in front of the wing roots of the cargo hold. In the lower deck behind the wing roots were the passenger toilets, galley, retirement seats for stewards, cloakroom and a lounge. Depending on the level of development, the project had tanks at the wing tips or tanks under the wings (like the bomber).

With the request of the British Ministry of Supply the draft of the HP.97 was revised and presented in May 1958 as HP.111. The troop transporter was to be equipped throughout the upper deck and the lower deck (behind the wing roots) with seats that were mounted against the flight direction. The lower deck was also suitable for freight transport, the cargo could be deposited by a rear gate in flight. Some pictures of the HP.111 also show the HP.111 with an air refueling probe. The HP.111 was also offered for the civil market under the designation HP.111C. On the one hand, it was intended as a full freighter, although without a rear loading ramp, but with large side cargo doors in the upper deck and the rear lower deck. On the other hand, the HP.111C was also offered as a passenger machine, but now only with the passenger compartment in the upper deck; the lower deck in front of and behind the wing roots was designed as a pure cargo space. To take account of the greater weight, each of the two main landing gear would have been provided with a further, third axis. This would have had the HP.111V 12 wheels per main landing gear.

The Handley Page HP.111 would have been powered by either Bristol Olympus or Rolls-Royce Conway engines. However, pre-orders for the Handley Page HP.111 never came. The Vickers V-1000 competition sample chosen for the production was never completed and its civilian version Vickers VC7 was not realized either. BOAC itself had greater interest in the Boeing 707 than in the civil aircraft projects of the British industry.

Versions

 * HP.96 First proposal for a Victor-based troop transport
 * HP.97 First proposal for a Victor-based civilian passenger aircraft
 * HP.111 Military Freighter and Troop Carrier
 * HP.111C Civil version of the HP.111

Weblinks

 * Picture HP.97
 * Modell of the HP.111 with Air to Air Refuling prob