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Handley Page Halifax Mk II Series 1

Aircraft & Exhibits, 27 MAR 1942-27 APR 1942, London, Hangar Five, 73/A/1113

This Halifax served with No. 102 Squadron. On 27 April 1942, it flew its first operational mission – an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz that was moored in a Norwegian fjord. Damaged by anti-aircraft artillery, the aircraft made a forced landing on a frozen lake. One of the crew suffered a broken ankle and was taken prisoner. The other five, with the help of the Norwegian resistance, escaped to neutral Sweden. W1048 sank to the bottom of the fjord where it remained for the next 31 years.

Handley Page Halifax B.Mk.II on display at RAF Museum London, (C) RAF Museum/Iain Duncan / RAF Museum

Handley Page Hastings T.5

Aircraft & Exhibits, MAR 1948-AUG 1977, Cosford, Hangar Four, 85/A/9

The Handley Page Hastings replaced the Avro York as the Royal Air Force’s standard long-range transport from 1948. Two squadrons of the new aircraft served alongside the Avro York throughout the Berlin Airlift, flying vital supplies into the city during the Soviet blockade.

Handley Page Hastings T.5 on display at Cosford, © RAF Museum/Iain Duncan

Fairey Delta 2

Aircraft & Exhibits, FEB 1956-SEP 1967, Cosford, Hangar Two, 85/A/10

In the late 1940s Britain was trailing far behind in supersonic aircraft design. To try to retrieve matters the Ministry of Supply issued a specification for a supersonic research aircraft, and Fairey set about meeting this with a delta-winged aircraft designed for investigation into flight and control at transonic and supersonic speeds.

Fairey FD2 on display at RAFM Cosford., © RAF Museum/Iain Duncan