Fairey Hendon

Heavy Night-Bomber

United Kingdom | 1936

"An interwar night bomber design for Britain, the Fairey Hendon saw a short service life span from 1936 until 1939 - restricted by the crash of its prototype."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 06/24/2016 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

Air Ministry Specification B.19/27 of 1927 was eventually fulfilled (more or less) by two competing products - the Handley Page Heyford and the Fairey Hendon. The requirement called for a heavy, twin-engined night-bomber capable of 115 mile per hour speeds while carrying a 1,546lb war load out to 920 miles. While the Hendon was officially declared the winner (beating out submissions from Avro, Bristol and Vickers), delays in the product forced the Air Ministry to also accept the Handley Page Heyford - the Heyford went on to be produced in greater numbers than the winning Hendon.

The Fairey Hendon offered the RAF their first all-metal, low-wing monoplane bomber (the Heyford was a biplane, the last such aircraft adopted by the service). Design work resulted in a true interwar design with a mix of modern qualities and those taken from a by-gone era of flight - open-air cockpits, fixed, spatted main landing gear legs, etc... Each wing was given an engine installation and the tail unit incorporated a twin-rudder approach. Internally, a steel tube framework was constructed and covered over in fabric. The crew number five and included a pilot, radioman/navigator and three dedicated machine gunners - single 7.7mm guns were fitted to a nose, dorsal and tail position. The bomb load totaled 1,660lb and held in a centrally-located bay.

The prototype aircraft was designated "K1695" and operated under the internal name of "Fairey Night Bomber" during a portion of its development. A first-flight was had on November 25th, 1930 over Heathrow and this example carried Bristol "Jupiter VIII" series air-cooled radial piston engines of 460 horsepower each. However, on a March 1931 test flight, the prototype crashed which severely hampered development - prompting officials to look at bringing the competing Handley Page Heyford to fruition. Heavily damaged, the prototype was rebuilt and now flew with 2 x Rolls Royce Kestrel VI engines in place of the Bristol fits seen earlier.

In this form, the bomber passed its testing phase and an order for fourteen of the type was formulated. As the prototype was recognized as "Hendon Mk.I", the production models became "Hendon Mk.II" and appeared from 1936 until 1937 (these finally featured enclosed crew positions). By this time attention had turned to the more modern Armstrong Whitworth Whitley heavy bomber then in development and set to outshine both the Hendon and Heyford in their roles. As such, an order for sixty Hendons was cancelled and these rerouted to the purchase of the Heyfords as interim measures.

No.38 Squadron became the sole operator of Hendons in November 1936, succeeding the Heyford stock. As with the Heyford, the Hendon was declared obsolete before World War 2 and were themselves succeeded by Vickers Wellington bombers from late-1938 onward. Formal retirement met the line in early 1939 at which point the Hendons joined the Heyfords as training / instructional instruments.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Fairey Hendon Mk.II Heavy Night-Bomber.

2 x Rolls-Royce Kestrel VI V12 liquid-cooled inline piston engines developing 600 horsepower each.
Propulsion

152 mph
245 kph | 132 kts
Max Speed

21,407 ft
6,525 m | 4 miles
Service Ceiling

1,361 miles
2,190 km | 1,183 nm
Operational Range

940 ft/min
287 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Fairey Hendon Mk.II Heavy Night-Bomber.

5
(MANNED)
Crew

60.8 ft
18.52 m
O/A Length

101.7 ft
(31.00 m)
O/A Width

18.7 ft
(5.70 m)
O/A Height

12,798 lb
(5,805 kg)
Empty Weight

20,062 lb
(9,100 kg)
MTOW

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Fairey Hendon Heavy Night-Bomber .

STANDARD:
1 x 7.7mm Lewis Machine Gun in nose position
1 x 7.7mm Lewis Machine Gun in dorsal position
1 x 7.7mm Lewis Machine Gun in ventral position

OPTIONAL:
Up to 1,660 lb of bombs carried.

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Fairey Hendon family line.

Hendon - Base Series Name

Hendon Mk.I - Prototype; single example completed; originally fitted with Bristol Jupiter VIII engines until prototype crashed and was rebuilt with Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines instead.

Hendon Mk.II - Production model; fitted with Rolls-Royce Kestrel VI engines; fourteen aircraft completed.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Fairey Hendon. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 15 Units
Contractor(s): Fairey Aviation - UK

[ United Kingdom ]

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Image from the Public Domain.

Going Further...
The Fairey Hendon Heavy Night-Bomber appears in the following collections:

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