__NOTOC__ The Handley Page HP.34 Hare was a British two-seat high-altitude day

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

designed and built at Cricklewood by

Handley Page Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...

. It was designed by Harold Boultbee to meet the requirements of Air Ministry Specification 23/25 for a replacement for the

Hawker Horsley The Hawker Horsley was a British single-engined biplane bomber of the 1920s. It was the last all-wooden aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft, and served as a medium day bomber and torpedo bomber with Britain's Royal Air Force between 1926 and 1935 ...

in the day bomber role,Mason 1994, p.195-196. competing against the

Blackburn Beagle The Blackburn B.T.1 Beagle was a British single-engine, two-seat biplane bomber/torpedo aircraft from 1928. Designed to Air Ministry specifications which led to no contracts for any manufacturer, only one Beagle was built. Development The B.T. ...

Hawker Harrier The Hawker Harrier was an experimental biplane torpedo bomber aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft to a specification issued in the 1920s for the RAF. Development In 1925, the British Air Ministry laid down specifications for a high altitude b ...

Gloster Goring The Gloster Goring was a single-engined two-seat biplane designed to meet 1926 Air Ministry specifications for a day/torpedo bomber. It was not put into production and the one aircraft built served later as an engine testbed. Development Early ...

and

Westland Witch The Westland Witch was an unsuccessful British bomber prototype, first flown in 1928. Only a single aircraft of this type was built. Development The Witch was developed to List of Air Ministry specifications, specification 23/25 for a single-e ...

. The Hare was a conventional

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, with single-bay unequal-span staggered wings, of mixed wood and metal construction (although the specification required that any production aircraft be of all-metal construction). It had a crew of two with the pilot in an open

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 ...

aft of the wing with a gunner/bomb aimer behind him. Only one aircraft was built, with the serial ''J8622''. It was first flown on 24 February 1928, powered by a

Gnome-Rhône 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 tur ...

as the planned Jupiter VIII was unavailable.Barnes 1976, p.269. Testing showed that the aircraft had poor handling and was prone to vibration, and it was modified with a 2 ft (0.61 m) longer

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

and a revised tail, which improved handling. It was decided to modify the aircraft so that it could meet the requirements of Specification 24/25 to replace the Horsely in its other role as a shore-based

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

.Barnes 1976, p.270. The Hare was unsuccessful in meeting both competitions, with the day bomber competition being abandoned in favour of purchasing the more advanced

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...

built to Specification 12/36, while the

requirement was met by the

Vickers Vildebeest The Vickers Vildebeest and the similar Vickers Vincent were two very large two- to three-seat single-engined British biplanes designed and built by Vickers and used as light bombers, torpedo bombers and in army cooperation roles. First flown i ...

.Mason 1994, p.196. It remained in use with 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 ...

as a trials aircraft until 1932. It was then sold for a proposed long-distance flight by J.N. Addinsell and registered ''G-ACEL''. The Hare was flown to London Air Park, Hanworth in 1933 where it was redoped and painted in civilian colours. It never flew again and was scrapped in 1937.Jackson 1973, p.343.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Handley Page Hare
– British Aircraft Directory {{Handley Page aircraft 1920s British bomber aircraft

Hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

Biplanes Sesquiplanes Aircraft first flown in 1928

Specifications

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links