Tell Me About The Handley Page Halifax
Discussion
With all this talk of the Lancaster at the moment, I thought another similar, but slightly less fondly-remembered, Second World War bomber deserved its own thread.
My Great Grandfather was an RAF Pilot who, I had always been told, flew Lancasters during WWII. He was killed in a mid-air collision with another RAF aircraft in poor visibility on return from a mission over Münster in late 1944. My Grandmother has a box of everything to do with her dad's life, with much information on his time during War.
It was only when this was loaned to me for a few days that I started to gather information and do some research where I learned that, in actual fact, it was not a Lancaster that he flew, but a Handley Page Halifax. My Grandmother was surprised she had been wrong for all those years, but was happy I had managed to find out some more information on the accident.
Obviously I have looked the aircraft up on Wikipedia etc., but I'm sure you PHers can recall some interesting facts and stories that aren't readily available on Google!
From what I've read, it was generally regarded as being inferior to the Lancaster, but was quite similar in terms of the design. Whatever, it must have been decent enough - Halifaxes carried my Great Grandfather and his Crew back and forth to Germany many times before the tragedy that later occurred. I'd love to find out some more.
My Great Grandfather was an RAF Pilot who, I had always been told, flew Lancasters during WWII. He was killed in a mid-air collision with another RAF aircraft in poor visibility on return from a mission over Münster in late 1944. My Grandmother has a box of everything to do with her dad's life, with much information on his time during War.
It was only when this was loaned to me for a few days that I started to gather information and do some research where I learned that, in actual fact, it was not a Lancaster that he flew, but a Handley Page Halifax. My Grandmother was surprised she had been wrong for all those years, but was happy I had managed to find out some more information on the accident.
Obviously I have looked the aircraft up on Wikipedia etc., but I'm sure you PHers can recall some interesting facts and stories that aren't readily available on Google!
From what I've read, it was generally regarded as being inferior to the Lancaster, but was quite similar in terms of the design. Whatever, it must have been decent enough - Halifaxes carried my Great Grandfather and his Crew back and forth to Germany many times before the tragedy that later occurred. I'd love to find out some more.
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