page_title: Handley Page Hampden
section_title: Non-UK service
hierarchical_section_title: Handley Page Hampden / Operational history / Non-UK service
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM caption&#160;: ENGLAND. C. 1942. A HAMPDEN AIRCRAFT OF NO. 455 SQUADRON RAAF AT RAF STATION WIGSLEY STANDING IN FRONT OF A WELLINGTON BOMBER AT A BOMBER COMMAND BASE EARLY IN 1942. PORTION OF A WHITLEY BOMBER AIRCRAFT MAY BE SEEN BEHIND THE WELLINGTON'S STARBOARD WING. THESE THREE TYPES FORMED THE BACKBONE OF BOMBER COMMAND 1939-42. See also&#160;: File:455 Squadron RAAF Hampdens at RAF Wigsley WWII AWM SUK10371.jpg
context_page_description: The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force. It was part of the trio of large twin-engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Vickers Wellington. The newest of the three medium bombers, the Hampden was often referred to by aircrews as the "Flying Suitcase" because of its cramped crew conditions. The Hampden was powered by Bristol Pegasus radial engines but a variant known as the Handley Page Hereford had in-line Napier Daggers.
  The Hampden served in the early stages of the Second World War, bearing the brunt of the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne. When it became obsolete, after a period of mainly operating at night, it was retired from RAF Bomber Command service in late 1942. By 1943, the rest of the trio were being superseded by the larger four-engined heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster.
context_section_description: The Hampden was also used by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), Aviatsiya Voenno-Morskogo Flota (AV-MF: Maritime Military Fleet Aviation) of the Soviet Union and the Swedish Flygvapnet (Air Force).
  The Hampden in RCAF service included the 160 examples manufactured in Canada by the Victory Aircraft consortium. Of the total built, 84 were shipped by sea to Great Britain, while the remainder came to Patricia Bay (Victoria Airport) B.C., to set up No. 32 OTU (RAF) used for bombing and gunnery training. Typical exercises at 32 OTU consisted of patrolling up the West Coast of Vancouver Island at night or flying out into the Pacific to a navigational map co-ordinate, often in adverse and un-forecast inclement weather. Due to attrition from accidents, about 200 "war weary" Hampdens were later flown from the U.K. to Pat Bay as replacements.
  In Operation Orator, during September 1942, the crews of 32 Hampden TB.1 torpedo bombers from No. 144 Squadron RAF and No. 455 Squadron RAAF flew to Northwest Russia, to protect arctic convoy PQ 18 from German surface vessels, such the battleship Tirpitz. The Hampden crews flew from Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands to Vaenga (Vayenga; later known as Severomorsk) in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. This was a hazardous route, often subject to poor weather and spanning more than 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 km), partly over enemy-occupied territory in Norway and Finland. Eight Hampdens were lost or damaged beyond repair en route. 144 and 455 Squadrons flew a small number of sorties from Vaenga. While it was originally intended that the Hampdens would be flown back to Scotland, the prevailing west-east headwinds on such a flight might have pushed the Hampdens beyond their maximum endurance and it was decided to transport the wing's personnel back to Britain by sea and gift the Hampdens to the Soviet Navy.
  Aircrews and mechanics from Maritime Military Fleet Aviation (Aviatsiya Voenno-Morskogo Flota; VMF) were trained by members of 144 and 455 Squadrons, before their return to Britain in October. The 3rd Squadron, 24th Mine-Torpedo Aviation Regiment (24 Минно-торпедный авиаполк; 24 MTAP) operated the "balalaika" – the Russian  nickname for the Hampden, in reference to its unusual shape – until mid-1943, when losses, a lack of replacements and a shortage of spares forced its retirement. 24 MTAP then reverted to the Ilyushin DB-3/Ilyushin Il-4.
  In Sweden, the Flygvapnet assigned an HP.52 to Reconnaissance Wing F 11 at Nyköping for evaluation, under the designation P5. After the war, the aircraft was sold to SAAB where it was used as an avionics testbed.
caption: A RAAF Hampden of No. 455 Squadron at RAF Wigsley, Nottinghamshire, circa 1942
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