Rarely mentioned in the same context as the Lancaster as a great aeroplane, the Halifax, through successive improvements to the basic design, became a very able support aircraft to the Lancaster.
Like its illustrious partner, the Halifax can trace its origins back to a failed design tendered in 1936/37 against the latest Air Ministry bomber Specifications. In this case, the HP56 which was offered for Specification P13/36 which called for a long-range medium-heavy bomber capable of cruising at 275mph at 15,000ft and defending itself with nose- and tail-mounted powered gun positions. A crew of four was specified (2 pilots (1 acting a navigator, bomb aimer and front gunner!), wireless operator and rear gunner). Handley Page, like Avro, who were offering the Manchester against the same specification, chose the power the aircraft with two Rolls Royce Vulture engines. The company foresaw problems with the supply of these engines, which had not yet been flown, and was allowed to alter the aircraft design to incorporate four Merlin engines. This revised design was known as the HP57 and two prototypes were ordered early in September 1937, although this subsequently increased to 500 aircraft in light of the planned expansion of Bomber Command.
The change of engines benefited the Halifax, as the design was christened, as the Vulture engines of the rival Manchester proved incredibly unreliable, and only 200 of a planned 1500 entered service before Avro’s hand was forced and the Manchester re-engined with four Merlins. This new aircraft, the Lancaster (originally, the Manchester III), went on to far greater success than its ill-fated predecessor.
The first Halifax took to the air on 25 October 1939 from the RAF airfield at Bicester but it was to be almost a year before the second aircraft flew (August 1940). Within two months however, the first production aircraft had flown and barely five weeks later the first squadron to form on the Halifax, No 35, was receiving its initial aircraft at Leeming. The Aircraft was the second of the RAF’s new four-engined ‘heavies’, being preceded by the Stirling by three months into service.
After working up on its new mounts, No 35 Squadron carried out its first operation on the Halifax during the night of 10/11 March 1941 – an attack on Le Havre. The debut was unfortunately marred when one of the aircraft was shot down by an RAF fighter whilst returning to Linton-on-Ouse with the loss of the crew. The following night saw the debut of the Halifax over Germany when two aircraft joined an attack on Hamburg. In June of 1941, No 76 Squadron became the second Halifax unit and within a year a further ten squadrons (all in No 4 Group) had converted to the type.
This first series operations highlighted several weaknesses in the Halifax design, namely a lack of speed, and so Handley Page revised the design, removing the mid-upper turret and exhaust fairings to reduce drag as well as the nose turret which, it was deemed, was underused. A revised nose with a perspex fairing in place of the turret was produced and these aircraft were known (somewhat confusingly) as the Halifax B.II Series 1 (Special). These were superseded by the B.II Series 1A which, equally confusingly, restored the mid-upper turret (albeit a low-drag one) and featured an extended nose which was to become standard on all models as well as higher-powered Merlins. Later versions, still, had rectangular fins in place of the triangular ones of earlier models, and these improved the directional stability of the Halifax, particularly during the bombing run. A full list of the myriad of Halifax Marks and sub-Variants can be found on the specifications page.
With these improvements in place, the Halifax was a far more capable aircraft, and a Halifax became the first aircraft to carry a new bombing aid known as H2S in March 1942. That said, it still suffered from a lack of power from its Merlins which adversely affected its bomb-carrying capability at higher altitudes and a restriction preventing Halifaxes attacking more hazardous targets was imposed in September 1943 until improvements had been made. The next version to enter Bomber Command service was the B.III fitted with Bristol Hercules radial engines, a retractable tailwheel to further decrease drag and either H2S or a mid-upper gun turret. These changes allowed an increase in altitude of some 2,000ft and the restriction on targets was lifted in February 1944.
Subsequent versions of the Halifax had higher-powered Hercules engines and additional fuel tanks, but the aircraft was still inferior to the Lancaster and this was reflected in the higher losses suffered by Halifax squadrons on operations throughout its service life. The final Halifax Bomber Command operation took place during the night of 2nd/3rd May 1945 when aircraft from Nos 171 and 199 Squadrons raided Kiel. Immediately after the war, the Halifax was withdrawn from Bomber Command and declared obsolete at the start of 1946.
Only one VC was awarded to a Halifax pilot. Pilot Officer Cyril Barton of No 578 Squadron was posthumously honoured after bringing his stricken aircraft back to England from the Nuremburg raid of 30th/31st March 1944. The aircraft could not be coaxed back to base and Barton was forced to crash-land. He unfortunately lost his life but the remaining members of the crew survived.
The aircraft did see service in other RAF Commands; with Coastal Command the Halifax soldiered on until March 1952 when No 224 Squadron finally retired its last aircraft and with Transport Command, Halifaxes flew many missions with Airborne Forces after the war and some were converted to carry a pannier tank for cargo in the bomb-bay and fitted out to carry 11 passengers. Including all marks, a total of 6,176 Halifaxes were built for the RAF.
Services in the Post-War World
When the war ended in Europe, almost overnight the Halifax was declared obsolete and withdrawn from main force bomber squadrons. Aircraft were ferried by their crews or by volunteer pilots wanting to make their last flight in the type, to collection airfields where they sat unwanted until contractors began to dismantle them in January 1946. From the airframe, only the engines were detached and stored. For No 4 and 6 Group squadrons, Rawcliffe or No 29 Maintenance Unit, High Ercall, was the final resting place for this bomber, unloved by the Air Staff from Harris down, but nurtured and respected by the crews that had flown it.
But not all Halifaxes disappeared. Those in No 38 Group repatriated POWs from Europe, alongside hundreds of Lancasters assigned the task. No 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit at Elsham Wolds began training in February 1945 and had an establishment of 12 Halifax Mk IIIs, plus Horsas. Improved Mk VIIs soon followed, all brand new, and trials continued with the unit moving to North Luffenham in December 1946, but it was to last for only 12 more months before it too was closed.
Much work with the Army was the lot of some of the surviving Halifaxes. Typical was the role of the Airborne Transport Development Centre (AATDC) at Brize Norton which in July 1946 experimented with drops of the Short Term Supply Container from PP217. Other work involved drops of guns and jeeps and more Horsa tows using A. IXs RT814 and RT816.
Flying Training Command also held on to the Halifax. At Shawbury, the Empire Air Navigation School retained B. IIIs such as NA243, ‘276 and ‘279 alongside five modified B. VIs (PN188, ‘203, ‘206, ‘207 and RG352). No 1 Radio School at Cranwell had three B. VIs (RG874, ‘875 and ‘876), and the Empire Radio School at Debden operated its well-known B. VI RG815 `Mercury’ which, in May 1946, flew a demonstration tour of overseas air forces including those of Iraq, India, New Zealand and Australia.
Coastal Command too retained Halifaxes, both for maritime patrol where it supplemented the Lancaster MR force, and keeping them with the long-range meteorological units. Now no longer hunting German U-Boats, No 518 Sqn flew Mk IIIs from March 1945 until GR. VIs replaced them a year later and in October the squadron was renumbered 202 Sqn but retained the aircraft until May 1951. The last Halifax flight with the Command was flown on March 17, 1952, when RG841 of 224 Sqn flew a final sortie from Gibraltar.
Second to None
To the public, the Halifax was the highly capable stablemate of the Lancaster and together, the two four-engine machines were hailed as the fearsome harbingers of doom aimed at laying waste all that was evil within the Third Reich. But the day of the Halifax proved worth waiting for.
New engines, a strengthened structure and modified aerodynamics gave the aeroplane the performance that had been promised two years earlier. The Mk III proved faster than the Lancaster and could climb quicker; by late-1944, Halifax losses dropped below those of the Lancaster, even though the former often outnumbered the latter on some of the big raids. Total figures for Bomber Command were 2,236 Halifax losses against 3,936 Lancasters.
Those who flew and maintained the Halifax were largely loyal to the type, particularly the Canadians who operated 15 squadrons. Its early difficulties overcome, the design was found ideal for other tasks – towing gliders, carrying troops, stuffing the fuselage full of electronics to spook the enemy, anti-submarine patrollers, spy dropping and in the post-war world, flying early civil air routes around Europe and helping to sustain Berlin against the Russians.
