Fairey Hendon

Barry, 14.03.2011 17:54 The Hendon flew with No38 Squadron and a detachment forming the nucleus of 115 Squadron. It was withdrawn from use in January 1939 when some of the aircraft were barely 2 years old. You see that even some 70 years on our civil servants and politicians are no different now to what they were then. reply

Barry, 14.03.2011 17:52 The Hendon flew with No38 Squadron and a detachment forming the nucleus of 115 Squadron. It was withdrawn from use in Januaery 1939 when some of the aircraft were barely 2 years old. You see that even now some 70 years on our civil servants and politicians are no different now to what they were then. reply

Geoff Trenholme, e-mail, 25.06.2010 23:19 Firstly the span in feet is incorrect 31.0 metres is not 102'8", but 101'9" anyway pedantics aside - This was designed to a 1927 specification and there were handling problems because it was a monoplane, all other submissions being biplanes that the RAF and ministry understood. The performance was way ahead of the biplane design chosen for volume production (H.P. Heyford) The later Heyfords offered maximum range 920 miles, the Hendon 1360 miles. Maximum Speed Heyford I 138 MPH, the improved II & III 154 mph, The Hendon 155 mph but only ever in Mk.1 as no further development. Max altitude Heyford 21,000 Ft, Hendon 21,400 Ft. So although a better aircraft it's monoplane design had handling that was not acceptable to an airforce used to biplanes. So another advanced design was delayed due to official ignorance until it had become obsolete. A similar story to the Westland Whirlwind Fighter - a mosquito before it's time !! Even the Mosquito was a private venture as the ministry were not interested ... until !!! reply

Sean Rumley, e-mail, 29.03.2010 21:24 While we know that there was a problem in the thirties with aero engine manufacturers trying to up the power of their engines to match the ever more exotic aircraft designs, I must admit that I have never seen a more seemingly(and actually!)underpowered aeroplane in my life...how on earth did it even get off the ground!? reply

John Hyde-Smith, e-mail, 12.09.2007 22:50 The Fairey Hendon has an extraordinary history. Development to the point where it could be considered for squadron service took more than 6 years, so that by the time it did enter service (end 1936) it was already hopelessly outdated and obsolete. There were clearly very serious problems with it, a major one must have been getting off the ground! This aeroplane was only slightly smaller than the Avro Lancaster but it had only two engines of 600 h.p. each, in other words the Lancaster had more power in one of its four engines than the Hendon had in total. Would anyone have tried a take-off with a Lancaster with only one engine running? I think not, and yet in essence this was what a take-off with the Hendon involved. No wonder the R.A.F. operated only 14 of them for no more than 2 years. reply

Jakub Marszalkiewicz, e-mail, 10.11.2006 06:11 I think that it would be the basement of designing of Avro Lancastrian - shape was very similar. reply