__NOTOC__ The Handley Page HP.32 Hamlet was a British six-passenger monoplane transport designed and built 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 liquidatio ...

.Jackson 1973, p320-321 Only one was built to order of the Air Ministry, first flown with three-engines, later changed to two then back to three engines.

Development

In 1924, the British

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 Stat ...

issued Specification 23/24 for a three-engined six/seven-passenger charter

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ai ...

.Barnes 1976, p.252. Handley Page's design to meet this requirement, the Hamlet, was a high-wing three-engined monoplane with a conventional landing gear and room for six passengers. The wing was fitted with leading edge slots and flaps to give good landing performance.Barnes 1976, p.254. The only Hamlet was built at Cricklewood in 1926, and registered ''G-EBNS''. It was first flown on 19 October 1926 powered by three 120 hp (90 kW) Bristol Lucifer IV three-cylinder radial engines. The Lucifer gave rise to excessive vibration, particularly in the centre engine, causing the pilot's instruments to be unreadable, and after a final flight with Lucifer engines on 25 October 1926, it was modified with a smaller fin and larger rudder and the engines were changed to two 250 hp (187 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Lynx radial engines, with the nose engine replaced by additional baggage space, first flying in this form on 19 May 1927.Barnes 1976, pp.255-257. This modification eliminated the vibration, but the twin-engined variant was underpowered.Barnes 1976, pp.257-258. In March 1928 it was re-engined again with three 150 hp (112 kW)

Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose The Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose is a British five-cylinder radial aero engine produced by Armstrong Siddeley. Developed in the mid-1920s it was used in the Hawker Tomtit trainer and Parnall Peto seaplane amongst others. With a displacement of ...

five-cylinder radial engines although it flew only once in that configuration on delivery to the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

at Farnborough. The aircraft was scrapped in 1929.

Specifications (Lynx-powered)

Handley_Page_Hamlet_3-view_NACA_Aircraft_Circular_No

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * {{Handley Page aircraft 1920s British civil utility aircraft

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Trimotors High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1926