The Fairey Hendon was a British

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...

of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, designed by

Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire. Notable for the design of a number of important military a ...

in the late 1920s. The aircraft served in small numbers with one squadron of the RAF between 1936 and 1939. It was the first all-metal low-wing monoplane to enter service with the RAF.Taylor 1974, p. 208.

Development

The Hendon was built to meet the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

Specification B.19/27 for a twin-engine night bomber to replace the

Vickers Virginia The Vickers Virginia was a biplane heavy bomber of the British Royal Air Force, developed from the Vickers Vimy. Design and development Work on the Virginia was started in 1920, as a replacement for the Vimy. Two prototypes were ordered on 13 ...

, competing against the

Handley Page Heyford The Handley Page Heyford was a twin-engine biplane bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Handley Page. It holds the distinction of being the last biplane heavy bomber to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The ...

and Vickers Type 150. The specification required a range of at a speed of , with a bomb load of .Taylor 1974, p. 209. To meet this requirement, Fairey designed a low-winged

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

with a fixed

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynami ...

. The fuselage had a steel tube structure with fabric covering with a pilot, a radio operator/navigator and three gunners, in open nose, dorsal and tail positions. Bombs were carried in a bomb bay in the fuselage centre. Variants powered by either radial engines or liquid-cooled

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...

s were proposed.Taylor 1974, pp. 209–210.Mason 1994, pp. 215–216. Fairey Hendon K1695

The

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

K1695 (which was known as the Fairey Night Bomber until 1934) first flew on 25 November 1930, from Fairey's

Great West Aerodrome The Great West Aerodrome, also known as Harmondsworth Aerodrome or Heathrow Aerodrome, was a grass airfield, operational between 1930 and 1944. It was on the southeast edge of the hamlet of Heathrow, in the parish of Harmondsworth. The Fairey Av ...

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

and was powered by two 460 hp (340 kW)

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...

VIII radial engines.Mason 1994, p.216.Gallop 2005, p.19 The prototype crashed and was severely damaged in March 1931 and was rebuilt with two Rolls-Royce Kestrel VI engines. After trials, 14 production examples named the Hendon Mk.II were ordered. These were built by Fairey's

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

factory in late 1936 and early 1937 and flown from

Barton Aerodrome City Airport is an airport in Barton-upon-Irwell, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester. Formerly known as Barton Aerodrome and City Airport Manchester, It is known by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as Manchester/Barton. The ...

, Manchester. Orders for a further sixty Hendons were cancelled in 1936, as the prototype of the first of the next generation of British heavy bombers—the

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

—had flown and showed much higher performance.Mason 1994, p. 217. The Hendon Mk.II was powered by two

Rolls-Royce Kestrel The Kestrel or type F is a 21 litre (1,300 in³) 700 horsepower (520 kW) class V-12 aircraft engine from Rolls-Royce, their first cast-block engine and the pattern for most of their future piston-engine designs. Used during the interwar pe ...

VI engines. The production Hendon Mk.II included an enclosed

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

for the pilot and navigator.

Operational history

The type was delayed by the crash and a rebuild of the prototype and the Heyford received the majority of the orders to replace RAF heavy bombers, the Hendon coming into service three years later. The only Hendon-equipped unit, 38 Squadron, began operational service at

RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall or RAF Mildenhall is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force (USAF) operations, and ...

in November 1936, replacing Heyfords, later moving to

RAF Marham RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. Later, the Hendons went to 15 Squadron, which was formed from 38 Squadron. The type was soon obsolete and replaced from late 1938 by the

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

. By January 1939, the Hendons had been retired and were then used for ground instruction work, including the radio school at

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...

.Taylor 1974, p. 216.

Variants

; Hendon Mk.I :Prototype, one built ; Hendon Mk.II :Production variant with two Rolls-Royce Kestrel VI engines, 14 built

Operators

** No. 38 Squadron RAF ** No. 115 Squadron RAF ** No. 1 Electrical & Wireless School RAF

Accidents and incidents

Of the 14 Hendon IIs only two were lost in accidents: * December 1937 - ''K5091'' crashed on landing at

* November 1938 - ''K5095'' crashed at

. This accident occurred when two Leading aircraftmen, neither of whom had any flying training, took the aircraft without permission and stalled the aircraft at .

Specifications (Hendon II)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Crosby, Francis. ''The World Encyclopedia of Fighters and Bombers''. London: Lorenz Books * Gallop, Alan. ''Time Flies: Heathrow At 60''. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2005. * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1994. * Taylor, H.A. ''Fairey Aircraft since 1915''. London: Putnam, 1974. * Thetford, Owen. ''Aircraft of the Royal Airforce, 1918–1957''. London: Putnam, 1957. {{Fairey aircraft 1930s British bomber aircraft

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1930 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft