Shipbucket

Excellent additions.
The later Hermes marks with their longer fuselages certainly looked better proportioned.
Its a shame that Handley Page invested so much effort in the myriad of proposals and variants for the Hermes and Hastings and that success eluded them. Perhaps it was a case of tinkering too much to get something optimal from the basic design which was probably constrained by its Halifax origins.

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

Hi. Only with this sheet and Sheepster´s explanations, I am able to see the Halifax ancestry in an aircraft like Hermes or Hastings. Thanks!

This is a really thorough collection. Keep it up!

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Drawings signed both (Miklania) and (M.Morris)

H.P.82 Hermes V

Ordered and completed simultaneously with the initial piston engined H.P.81 Hermes IV, were two prototype turbo-prop H.P.82 Hermes V. These aircraft were not a continuation of the Hermes III design, but a new development of the Hermes IV.



The Hermes V was basically a Hermes IV with new engines and nacelles. Deicing was planned to be from heat exchangers from the engines, but as the output was insufficient, the first prototype reverted to the deicing sleeves fitted to the Hermes IV.
The second prototype differed from the first by being fitted with the double slotted flap, designed originally for the Constellation-replacement designs, and being fitted with a new thermal de-icing system.
The Hermes V was the largest and fasted turbo-prop airliner, but ongoing problems with the engines and exhausts led to the crash of the first aircraft which was unrepairable and written off. The technology of the engine systems was just too unreliable (the propellers were limited to 10 hours in service) for the Hermes V to be a viable airliner.



As the Theseus engines were the weakness of the Hermes V, having a high fuel consumption, low reliability and doubtful production status, an alternate engine was essential. Several variants were investigated, with two reaching design status. With the Napier Eland engine, the design became the Hermes VA, and an enlarged version with Proteus engines becoming the Hermes VB.
The VB was designed as the heaviest Hermes, fitted with large diameter propellers (requiring taller landing gear), increased wingspan and an enlarged tail.
With the development of the Britannia interest in the turbo-prop Hermes waned and the designs were not progressed.

H.P.90 Hermes I

With the success of the Hastings, in 1948 HP looked to restart work on the initial short-body Hermes.



Rather than being a continuation of the Hermes design however, HP took the track of rather civilianising the Hastings. One of the initial test Hastings C.1 aircraft was allocated to be the prototype and commenced the certification test programme, to be the H.P.90 Hermes IA. Feeding on the design work already commenced that would lead to the Hermes IV, a second version with the developed civilian engine layout was proposed as the Hermes IB.
Lack of interest led to the Hermes I being dropped as a civilian project, however HP advanced the design to become the military H.P.94 Hastings IIA VIP transport, later renamed the Hastings C.4.

H.P.91 Hermes VI

With the overweight problems of the initial Hermes IV becoming apparent, in 1947 preliminary design began on a lightweight Hermes, using the single wing spar already proposed for the H.P.85.



The initial design was the H.P.91 Hermes VI, to be fitted with up-rated Hercules 783 engines.
However on 18 March 1949 official support for the Hermes VI was withdrawn and the project stopped.

H.P.92 Hermes VII

A second lightened Hermes variant was also proposed, using the Rolls Royce Griffon engine.



The H.P.92 Hermes VII was investigated for comparison with the DC-4M Argonaut. The Griffon installation showed advantages over the Hercules, provided a low-drag radiator could be developed. But in December 1948 Rolls Royce was too committed to military production, and so the civil Griffon was dropped. With no engine the Hermes VII was abandoned.

Keep up the excellent work!

With the development of the H.P.80 Victor, HP stopped work on the design family that started with the "bloody paralyser" of 1914. A family that alternated models between bombers and transports, and with many of its individual aircraft being simultaneously designed for and able to successfully complete both roles successfully. Quite probably no other manufacturer has been able to take a single design and continue developing it successfully for such a length of time, and over such a phenomenal change in technology.
And still, I am amazed that HP could be designing the Hastings at the same time as designing the Victor - not just manufacturing but still at the design stage. Putting enormous effort in to trying to produce a commercially successful Hermes, effort which could perhaps have been better served on the civil Victor derivatives.

Thanks for indulging me, been quite an interesting research project.

I feel rather indulged by You.
But actually was thinking that this thread will be crowned with the Victor (it was quite heavy after all).