Hampden at Hendon (Off Topic #40)

We were in London this week and I managed to convince Mrs S to take a trip out to the RAF Museum (not sure how I did that) because I wanted to take a look at the Hampden that has recently gone on display. There are very few examples of the Hampden Bomber left and I had never seen one before. My interest in this aircraft is that my father - W/O Dennis Spencer DFC - did his operational training on them in Canada during 1943.

It's a very sleek design and impressive even without wings fitted ("where are the wings?" said Mrs S - good question).

It has a very long thin tail. There are upper and lower gunner positions just above and below the wings.

As a Navigator he was impressed with the excellent visibilty from his position (or 'office' as he called it) in the nose. To me it looked like an incredibly exposed location and one that I personally would never have wished to occupy.

The Navigator's position was in this plexi-glass 'greenhouse' in the front of the aircraft and just below the Pilot's position. The Navigator was also the Bomb Aimer and had a machine gun for forward firing.

See how ridiculously narrow the fuselage is (old git is for scale).

He told me that the fuselage was very narrow hence the nickname 'flying suitcase' but I didn't think it would be this narrow. How he ever managed to crawl back (under the pilot's seat) and up to the observation hatch to take readings with his sextant and then return again whilst in flight baffles me. I'm not very big but I doubt I could even turn around inside the thing. If you were in trouble and had to put on a parachute and find an exit I can't see how it would be possible. Fortunately for him this was never put to the test as by the time he completed training and returned home the Hampden had been declared obsolete.

The rear part of the fuselage has been reconstructed but an original part is displayed next to it that still shows bullet holes from the day the aircraft crashed.

This particular aircraft was recovered from Russia in 1991. Operating from the Shetland Isles it had crashed there in 1942 during a mission to protect an Arctic Convoy. At this point in the restoration only the fuselage has been made good so there are no wings but it's still possible to get a good idea of how the whole aircraft would have looked.

The engine and wheel give a better idea of the size that a fully restored version would be (old git again for scale).

The Beaufighter.

One nice thing for me is that the Hampden is displayed next to the Beaufighter which is the aircraft my father actually did fly operations on.