Shipbucket

The Handley Page H.P. 111C strategic transport aircraft which lost out to the Shorts Belfast for political reasons but was the Air Staff's favoured choice. It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Conway 42 engines.
The first Victor-based airliner version was the H.P. 97, similar except for a double-bubble fuselage rather than the circular fuselage of the H.P. 111C. The H.P. 111C was designed in May 1958. In a commercial role the 111C could carry 147 passengers on the upper deck and 50 on the lower deck with cargo ahead of the wing. This load was London-New York with one stop or 133 passengers could be carried non-stop. Handley Page gave some thought to fitting the P&W JT3-D3 instead of the Conways. A cabin mock-up was built for BOAC to look at. With hindsight a commercial 111C makes little sense given the bulk of the aircraft designed for freight and probably less than ideal economics. The 747 may have made it from a military load-lugger to an airliner but it had superior engine technology. But as an RAF transport it just might have proved more useful than the Belfast, but probably still too costly to maintain beyond 1975 when Britain's world role was firmly in decline and strategic transports looked superfluous.

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Amazing!

Why can't we have anything nice.

Simply Spiffing Old Bean, another gem - but where do you get them

Don't worry Bill I've got plenty of line drawings on my hard drive waiting to be drawn!
My next project is 1260-ish pixels long and flies at high supersonic speeds...

My other query about the HP.111C above is the airbrakes, they are clearly marked on the drawings I've seen but somehow I doubt a transport would use them as much as the Victor (they look much bigger than the Victor's airbrakes too), the extra drag of the bigger airframe would surely mean lower speeds, but they might have been handy for positioning when flight refuelling (as a receiver).

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

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Worklist:
- Victorian Navy - LINK
- ROC/Taiwan - 中華民國空軍 / 陸軍航特部 / 海軍航空兵 - LINK
- RHKAAF / HKGFS - 皇家香港輔助空軍 / 政府飛行服務隊
- Gunbucket - LINK

天滅中共全黨死清光!

Great work Darth. One of the odder turret-fighter proposals...

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Perhaps its designer was drunk when he designed it,such an odd look.

Nice job Darth ... the Force is strong in this one.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

The Handley Page H.P.100 circa 1964

The H.P.100 was Handley Page's submission for OR.330. This canard delta wing aircraft was designed to cruise at Mach 2.5 at 65,000ft (zoom capability to 100,000ft). Titanium construction would have been used and the aircraft was powered by twelve RB.121 jet engines! It was designed to fly 5,000nm without flight refuelling (6,020nm with refuelling). A retractable visor was fitted for good visibility on landing. Four crew would be carried (2 pilots and 2 navigators), the Red Drover SLAR was fitted in the fuselage. Handley Page foresaw the later addition of a bomber capability (as happened when the Avro 730 was selected) and a powered-bomb or ballistic missile could be carried externally beneath the fuselage. A mock-up was built, the H.P.100 was the favoured submission, the Avro 730 had slightly more range but otherwise both types were equally as good but the Air Staff felt that Avro would deliver on time so the 730 was finally selected. As we know even had the H.P.100 been selected it wouldn't have progressed through 1957 but this was one impressive aircraft.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft