{"id":20955,"date":"2026-08-10T19:23:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T17:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/?page_id=20955"},"modified":"2026-08-10T19:23:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T17:23:40","slug":"handley-page-hampden","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/he\/aircraft\/handley-page-hampden\/","title":{"rendered":"Handley Page Hampden \u2014 History, Specs, Photos &#038; Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"mfam\">\n<style> html{overflow-x:hidden} body.page-id-20955{overflow-x:hidden} body.page-id-20955 h1.entry-title.main_title{display:none} body.page-id-20955 #sidebar{display:none} body.page-id-20955 #left-area{width:100%!important;float:none;padding:0} body.page-id-20955 #main-content .container::before{display:none!important;background:none!important} body.page-id-20955 #main-content .container{padding-top:0} body.page-id-20955 #main-content{background:#fff} #mfam{width:100vw;margin-left:calc(50% - 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.sn{font-family:'Gilroy semiBold';font-size:15.5px;color:#0d1117} #mfam .srcgrid .src .sd{font-size:13.5px;color:#5a6675} @media(max-width:900px){ #mfam .ncards{grid-template-columns:1fr} #mfam .spwrap{grid-template-columns:1fr;gap:24px} #mfam .cstats{grid-template-columns:1fr 1fr} #mfam .relgrid{grid-template-columns:1fr} #mfam .srcgrid{columns:1} #mfam .hero h1{font-size:40px} #mfam .hero .claim{font-size:18px} } <\/style>\n<div class=\"hero\"><img data-opt-id=20313948  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-in-flight.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" class=\"bg\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden twin-engine medium bomber in flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"hero-in\">\n<div class=\"kick\">Aircraft Museum \u00b7 United Kingdom \u00b7 1938\u20131943<\/div>\n<h1>Handley Page Hampden<\/h1>\n<p class=\"claim\">One of RAF Bomber Command&#8217;s three front-line medium bombers in 1939 \u2014 fast, agile and long-legged, but so cramped that its own crews nicknamed it the &#8220;Flying Suitcase,&#8221; and so lightly defended that it was driven from the daylight sky into the darkness.<\/p>\n<div class=\"statstrip\">\n<div class=\"st\">\n<div class=\"sv\">~410 km\/h<\/div>\n<div class=\"sl\">Max speed<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"st\">\n<div class=\"sv\">~1,900 km<\/div>\n<div class=\"sl\">Range<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"st\">\n<div class=\"sv\">4<\/div>\n<div class=\"sl\">Crew<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"st\">\n<div class=\"sv\">~1,430<\/div>\n<div class=\"sl\">Built<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"chips\">\n<div class=\"wrap\"><span class=\"chip\"><b>Role<\/b> Medium bomber \/ mine-layer \/ torpedo-bomber<\/span><span class=\"chip\"><b>Era<\/b> World War II (1938\u201343)<\/span><span class=\"chip\"><b>Engines<\/b> 2\u00d7 Bristol Pegasus radial<\/span><span class=\"chip\"><b>Origin<\/b> United Kingdom (Handley Page)<\/span><span class=\"chip\"><b>Status<\/b> Retired \u2014 no airworthy survivor<\/span><a href=\"#faq\" class=\"chip cta\">Want to see what you actually CAN fly?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">The Story<\/div>\n<h2>The Handley Page Hampden: the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; that went to war in 1939<\/h2>\n<p class=\"lead\">When Britain went to war in September 1939, RAF Bomber Command&#8217;s daylight striking force rested on three twin-engine medium bombers: the Vickers Wellington, the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and the Handley Page Hampden. The Hampden was the newest and, in some ways, the most promising of the three \u2014 fast, nimble, and able to carry a useful bomb load a long way. It was also the strangest to look at, and the cruellest to fly in.<\/p>\n<p>The Hampden was the work of a design team under Gustav Lachmann at Handley Page, answering the same 1932 Air Ministry specification (B.9\/32) that produced the Wellington. Where Barnes Wallis gave the Wellington its basket-weave geodetic structure, Handley Page chose a radically different shape: a deep but extraordinarily narrow fuselage \u2014 barely wider than a man&#8217;s shoulders in places \u2014 tapering into a slim tail boom that carried a twin-finned tail. From the side it looked purposeful and fast; head-on it was almost absurdly thin. The crew of four were strung out nose-to-tail inside that slender body, unable to change places or reach one another in flight.<\/p>\n<p>That layout earned the aircraft its enduring nicknames. To its crews it was the &#8220;Flying Suitcase,&#8221; for the cramped, boxed-in feeling of its stations; others called it the &#8220;Flying Panhandle,&#8221; the &#8220;Flying Tadpole&#8221; or the &#8220;Flying Frying Pan,&#8221; all playing on the odd bulbous-nose-and-thin-tail profile. The jokes were affectionate, but they described a real operational weakness: a wounded pilot could not be relieved, an injured gunner could not be reached, and each man fought his own small battle in isolation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pquote\">&#8220;The Hampden handled beautifully \u2014 light on the controls, quick to manoeuvre for a bomber. But you sat locked in your own little compartment, and if things went wrong there was often nothing anyone else could do for you.&#8221;<span>\u2014 A characterisation drawn from wartime Hampden aircrew accounts collected by RAF and museum historians<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the air the Hampden was genuinely good. Its two Bristol Pegasus radial engines gave it a top speed and agility that flattered a bomber; pilots enjoyed throwing it around, and it was often described as the nearest thing Bomber Command had to a large fighter. But the design had bought that performance partly by keeping the aircraft light and slim, and it had paid for it in defence. The Hampden&#8217;s armament was a handful of hand-aimed rifle-calibre machine guns in nose, dorsal and ventral positions, with wide blind spots \u2014 especially to the rear and below \u2014 that German fighter pilots quickly learned to exploit.<\/p>\n<p>The consequences came fast. Early daylight anti-shipping and armed-reconnaissance sorties over the North Sea in 1939 ran into Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Bf 110s, and on several occasions Hampden formations were savaged \u2014 most infamously on 29 September 1939, when a formation was almost wiped out. Like the Wellington and the Whitley, the Hampden was quietly withdrawn from unescorted daylight operations and sent to work by night. In the darkness it found its real war: night raids on German targets, including early attacks associated with the first RAF raids on Berlin in August 1940, leaflet sorties, and above all the long, cold, dangerous business of mine-laying \u2014 &#8220;gardening&#8221; \u2014 in enemy coastal waters, a task at which the Hampden became a mainstay.<\/p>\n<p>It was in these months that the Hampden earned its place in RAF legend. Two of its crewmen won the Victoria Cross: Flight Lieutenant Roderick &#8220;Babe&#8221; Learoyd of No. 49 Squadron, for a low-level attack on the Dortmund\u2013Ems Canal on the night of 12 August 1940, and Sergeant John Hannah of No. 83 Squadron, an eighteen-year-old wireless operator\/air gunner who fought a raging fire in his aircraft on the night of 15\/16 September 1940 and became the youngest airman ever to receive the decoration.<\/p>\n<p>By 1942 the Hampden was obsolescent as a bomber, outclassed by the four-engine &#8220;heavies&#8221; now coming into service. Bomber Command flew its last Hampden operation in September 1942. But the aircraft found a second career with Coastal Command: a torpedo-carrying version, the Hampden TB Mk I, served in the anti-shipping role off Norway and further afield \u2014 and in one of the war&#8217;s stranger episodes, dozens of them were flown to northern Russia in 1942 to help protect the Arctic convoys, with the survivors handed over to the Soviet Navy. Roughly 1,430 Hampdens were built in all, including a substantial batch produced in Canada. Today not one intact original survives from service; every Hampden you can see has been recovered from a crash site and painstakingly rebuilt.<\/p>\n<div class=\"expwrap\">\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">01<\/span><span class=\"exh\">Where the Handley Page Hampden came from: specification B.9\/32 and the twin-bomber generation<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>The Hampden was born from Air Ministry Specification B.9\/32, issued in the early 1930s for a twin-engine day bomber of good performance. The same requirement gave rise to the Vickers Wellington; the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley came from a separate night-bomber specification. Together these three types formed the backbone of RAF Bomber Command&#8217;s medium-bomber force at the outbreak of war in 1939.<\/p>\n<p>Handley Page&#8217;s answer, designed by a team led by the German-born aerodynamicist Gustav Lachmann, first flew as the HP.52 prototype on 21 June 1936. It entered RAF service in 1938, with No. 49 Squadron among the first to re-equip. From the start the Hampden was pitched as a fast, manoeuvrable bomber that could look after itself \u2014 a philosophy that made sense against the fighters of the mid-1930s but was already being overtaken by the fast monoplane fighters, cannon armament and radar-directed defences of the war that was coming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">02<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The Handley Page Hampden&#8217;s shape: why it became the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221;<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>The Hampden&#8217;s most striking feature was its fuselage. To keep drag and weight down, Handley Page made the crew nacelle deep but extremely narrow \u2014 in places only around three feet wide \u2014 and then tapered it sharply into a slender tail boom carrying twin fins and rudders. The result was fast and distinctive, but brutally cramped. The four crew members were arranged in single file: pilot, then the navigator\/bomb-aimer in the glazed nose, with the wireless operator\/upper gunner and the lower gunner further aft. None could swap positions in flight, and the tight tunnels between stations meant a wounded man was effectively trapped where he sat.<\/p>\n<p>Crews responded with gallows humour, coining the nicknames that stuck to the aircraft forever \u2014 &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; above all, but also &#8220;Flying Panhandle,&#8221; &#8220;Flying Tadpole&#8221; and &#8220;Flying Frying Pan,&#8221; all riffing on the fat-nosed, thin-tailed silhouette. The names were fond, but they pointed at a genuine flaw. The layout that made the Hampden slim and quick also made it a difficult place to fight for survival when it was hit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">03<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The Handley Page Hampden&#8217;s fatal weakness: light defensive armament and the daylight killing grounds of 1939<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>Pre-war RAF doctrine held that a fast bomber flying in tight formation could defend itself against fighters with its own guns. The Hampden was built to that theory, and the theory failed. Its defensive armament was a small number of hand-operated .303-inch (rifle-calibre) machine guns in the nose, dorsal and ventral positions, initially often single guns, later paired. These had limited traverse and left serious blind spots, particularly astern and below \u2014 exactly the angles from which German fighters preferred to attack.<\/p>\n<p>The reckoning came in the first weeks of the war. Hampdens flying daylight sweeps and anti-shipping strikes over the North Sea met Bf 109s and Bf 110s and suffered severely; on 29 September 1939 a formation of No. 144 Squadron Hampdens was almost annihilated. The lesson, shared with the Wellington and Whitley, was blunt: unescorted medium bombers could not survive by day against modern fighters. The Hampden was pulled back to night operations, where its weak armament mattered far less and its speed and range could still be put to use.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\" style=\"background:#f6f8fb;border-top:1px solid #e2e7ee;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Design &#038; Engineering<\/div>\n<h2>How the Handley Page Hampden was built \u2014 speed and agility bought at a price<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ncards\">\n<div class=\"ncard\">\n<div class=\"n\">01<\/div>\n<h3>The narrow &#8220;suitcase&#8221; fuselage<\/h3>\n<p>A deep but very slim crew nacelle \u2014 barely wider than a man in places \u2014 tapering into a slender tail boom. Fast and distinctive, but so cramped the four-man crew could not change places or reach a wounded comrade in flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ncard\">\n<div class=\"n\">02<\/div>\n<h3>Bristol Pegasus power<\/h3>\n<p>Two Bristol Pegasus nine-cylinder radial engines of around 980\u20131,000 hp each gave the Hampden a high top speed and fighter-like handling \u2014 pilots reckoned it the most manoeuvrable large aircraft they had flown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ncard\">\n<div class=\"n\">03<\/div>\n<h3>Hand-aimed guns, wide blind spots<\/h3>\n<p>Defence rested on a few hand-held .303-inch machine guns with poor traverse and gaps astern and below. Adequate against 1930s biplanes, hopeless against Bf 109s \u2014 which is what drove the Hampden out of the daylight sky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"expwrap\">\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">04<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The Handley Page Hampden&#8217;s structure and crew stations: four men in single file<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>The Hampden was an all-metal, stressed-skin monoplane with a mid-set wing, retractable undercarriage and the twin-finned tail characteristic of many Handley Page designs. Its handling qualities were widely praised: light, responsive controls and a good turn of speed made it feel more like an oversized fighter than a bomber, and it was cleared for manoeuvres few contemporaries would attempt.<\/p>\n<p>The price was paid inside. The crew of four \u2014 pilot, navigator\/bomb-aimer, wireless operator\/upper gunner and lower (ventral) gunner \u2014 occupied separate, tightly enclosed stations along the narrow fuselage. There was no room to move between them once airborne. If the pilot was hit, no one could take the controls; if a gunner was wounded, he could not easily be reached or relieved. This isolation, more than any single statistic, defined what it was like to go to war in a Hampden, and it is the human core of the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; nickname.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">05<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The Bristol Pegasus engines and the Hampden&#8217;s fighter-like performance<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>Power came from two Bristol Pegasus air-cooled radial engines \u2014 the same well-proven family that powered the Wellington and the Short Sunderland \u2014 driving three-blade propellers. In the definitive Hampden Mk I these were Pegasus XVIII units of roughly 980 to 1,000 horsepower each. They gave the aircraft a maximum speed usually quoted at around 410 km\/h (255 mph), with some sources citing figures up to about 426 km\/h (265 mph), and a range with a useful bomb load of roughly 1,900 kilometres.<\/p>\n<p>Those numbers made the Hampden fast for a 1939 medium bomber, and combined with its light controls they produced genuinely sparkling handling. Crews and test pilots repeatedly described it as the most manoeuvrable large aircraft of its day. A closely related variant, the Handley Page Hereford, used Napier Dagger inline engines instead of the Pegasus; the Dagger proved troublesome and the Hereford was relegated largely to training, leaving the Pegasus-powered Hampden as the definitive service aircraft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">06<\/span><span class=\"exh\">Variants of the Handley Page Hampden: the Mk I, the torpedo TB Mk I and the Hereford<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>The main service version was the Hampden Mk I bomber, built by Handley Page, by English Electric, and by the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium in Canada. Across all builders roughly 1,430 aircraft were completed (some references give figures around 1,430\u20131,432), with the Canadian line contributing about 160.<\/p>\n<p>The most important derivative was the Hampden TB Mk I, a torpedo-bomber conversion for Coastal Command that could carry an 18-inch aerial torpedo in a modified bomb bay for anti-shipping strikes. The Handley Page Hereford was a Hampden airframe fitted with Napier Dagger engines; its unreliable powerplant confined it mostly to training duties. Sub-variants and field modifications improved the defensive armament over time \u2014 replacing single guns with twin mountings \u2014 but never fully cured the aircraft&#8217;s defensive shortcomings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Full Specifications<\/div>\n<h2>Handley Page Hampden Mk I specifications and cost<\/h2>\n<p style=\"max-width:70ch;color:#333b47\">Figures below are for the Pegasus-powered Hampden Mk I and are drawn from established reference works. Wartime figures vary between sources, so contested values are flagged as estimates.<\/p>\n<div class=\"spwrap\">\n<table class=\"spec\">\n<caption>Airframe &#038; performance<\/caption>\n<tr>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<td>Twin-engine medium bomber \/ mine-layer \/ torpedo-bomber<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Crew<\/th>\n<td>4 (pilot, navigator\/bomb-aimer, wireless operator\/upper gunner, lower gunner)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Length<\/th>\n<td>16.33 m (53 ft 7 in)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Wingspan<\/th>\n<td>21.08 m (69 ft 2 in)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Height<\/th>\n<td>4.55 m (14 ft 11 in) <span class=\"estflag\">sources vary ~4.4\u20134.6 m<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Max speed<\/th>\n<td>~410 km\/h (255 mph) at altitude <span class=\"estflag\">estimate \u2014 some sources up to ~426 km\/h (265 mph)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Range<\/th>\n<td>~1,900 km (1,180 mi) with bomb load; ferry range considerably greater <span class=\"estflag\">varies by load<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Service ceiling<\/th>\n<td>~5,790 m (19,000 ft) <span class=\"estflag\">estimate<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>First flight<\/th>\n<td>21 June 1936 (HP.52 prototype)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Entered service<\/th>\n<td>1938 (RAF; No. 49 Squadron among the first)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Number built<\/th>\n<td>~1,430 (all builders, incl. ~160 in Canada) <span class=\"estflag\">sources give ~1,430\u20131,432<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table class=\"spec\">\n<caption>Powerplant, armament &#038; cost<\/caption>\n<tr>\n<th>Engines<\/th>\n<td>2 \u00d7 Bristol Pegasus XVIII nine-cylinder air-cooled radials<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Power<\/th>\n<td>~980\u20131,000 hp each <span class=\"estflag\">estimate<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Defensive armament<\/th>\n<td>4\u20136 \u00d7 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns in nose, dorsal &#038; ventral positions (hand-aimed; single, later twin) <span class=\"estflag\">varies by build<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Offensive load<\/th>\n<td>Up to ~1,814 kg (4,000 lb) of bombs or sea mines; or one 18-inch torpedo (TB Mk I)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Unit cost<\/th>\n<td>Not reliably recorded (WWII)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cost per flight hour<\/th>\n<td>Not applicable \u2014 no airworthy example exists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Programme cost<\/th>\n<td>Not reliably recorded (WWII)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Surviving airworthy aircraft<\/th>\n<td>None \u2014 all survivors are recovered wrecks, rebuilt for static display<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<div class=\"expwrap\">\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">07<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The Handley Page Hampden&#8217;s operating costs: why no cost-per-hour figure exists today<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>Wartime British aircraft were not costed in a way that converts neatly into a modern cost-per-flight-hour number, and no reliable programme accounting for the Hampden survives in comparable form. Unit prices quoted for other 1930s\u201340s RAF types are inconsistent and are not usefully recorded for the Hampden, so we record its unit and programme cost honestly as &#8220;not reliably recorded (WWII).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More fundamentally, there is no Hampden flying anywhere in the world, and no airworthy airframe to operate. The handful of surviving examples are composites rebuilt from recovered wrecks for static museum display. With no operator, no maintenance schedule and no fuel bill, any &#8220;cost per hour&#8221; figure would be pure invention \u2014 so we list it as not applicable. If you want to know what flying a genuine historic military jet actually costs today, MiGFlug&#8217;s live pricing is the place to look.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">08<\/span><span class=\"exh\">How many Handley Page Hampdens were built \u2014 and how many were lost<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>Production is usually given as roughly 1,430 aircraft (some references cite 1,430 to 1,432), built by Handley Page at Cricklewood, by English Electric, and by the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium in Canada, which contributed on the order of 160 machines. That made the Hampden a major part of Bomber Command&#8217;s early-war strength, alongside the Wellington and Whitley.<\/p>\n<p>It was also, like all early bombers, expensive in lives and airframes. The Hampden suffered heavily in the daylight operations of 1939\u201340 and continued to take losses on night bombing and mine-laying, where flak, fighters, weather and the sheer hazards of low-level &#8220;gardening&#8221; all took their toll. Precise loss totals vary between sources and are best treated as estimates, but Bomber Command&#8217;s Hampden fleet was worn down steadily until the type was withdrawn from front-line bombing in 1942. What is not in doubt is the human cost carried by an aircraft in which each crewman fought, and too often died, alone in his own compartment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">In Context<\/div>\n<h2>The Hampden and Bomber Command&#8217;s other early-war twins<\/h2>\n<p style=\"max-width:74ch;color:#333b47\">In September 1939 RAF Bomber Command&#8217;s medium force rested on three twin-engine types. The Hampden was the fastest and most agile, the Wellington the toughest and most numerous, the Whitley the dedicated night bomber. Figures are representative and rounded; wartime sources vary.<\/p>\n<table class=\"spec\" style=\"width:100%\">\n<caption>Representative early-war RAF medium bombers<\/caption>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width:26%\">Aircraft<\/th>\n<th style=\"width:14%;color:#5a6675;font-weight:normal\">Origin<\/th>\n<th style=\"width:16%;color:#5a6675;font-weight:normal\">Engines<\/th>\n<th style=\"width:14%;color:#5a6675;font-weight:normal\">Max speed<\/th>\n<th style=\"width:14%;color:#5a6675;font-weight:normal\">Bomb load<\/th>\n<th style=\"width:16%;color:#5a6675;font-weight:normal\">Built<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b style=\"font-family:'Gilroy semiBold'\">Handley Page Hampden<\/b><\/td>\n<td>UK<\/td>\n<td>2 radial<\/td>\n<td>~410 km\/h<\/td>\n<td>up to ~1,814 kg<\/td>\n<td>~1,430<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Vickers Wellington<\/td>\n<td>UK<\/td>\n<td>2 radial<\/td>\n<td>~380 km\/h<\/td>\n<td>up to ~2,041 kg<\/td>\n<td>~11,460<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Armstrong Whitworth Whitley<\/td>\n<td>UK<\/td>\n<td>2 inline<\/td>\n<td>~350 km\/h<\/td>\n<td>up to ~3,175 kg<\/td>\n<td>~1,814<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bristol Blenheim<\/td>\n<td>UK<\/td>\n<td>2 radial<\/td>\n<td>~430 km\/h<\/td>\n<td>up to ~600 kg<\/td>\n<td>~4,400<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"max-width:74ch;color:#333b47;margin-top:18px\">Each had its own compromise. The Hampden was quick and handy but cramped and weakly armed; the Wellington&#8217;s geodetic structure let it absorb astonishing battle damage and go on to serve the whole war; the Whitley plodded but carried a heavy load into the night; the little Blenheim was fast when new but soon outpaced by fighters. The Hampden&#8217;s particular gift \u2014 speed and manoeuvrability \u2014 could not save it in daylight, but made it a capable night bomber and mine-layer once it was used correctly.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\" style=\"background:#f6f8fb;border-top:1px solid #e2e7ee;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Timeline<\/div>\n<h2>The Handley Page Hampden: a development and service timeline<\/h2>\n<div class=\"tl\">\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1932\u201333<\/div>\n<h4>Specification B.9\/32<\/h4>\n<p>The Air Ministry issues the requirement for a fast twin-engine day bomber that also gives rise to the Vickers Wellington. Handley Page&#8217;s design team under Gustav Lachmann begins work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1936<\/div>\n<h4>First flight<\/h4>\n<p>The HP.52 prototype flies on 21 June 1936, revealing its distinctive deep, narrow fuselage and slim tail boom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1938<\/div>\n<h4>Into RAF service<\/h4>\n<p>The Hampden enters service with Bomber Command; No. 49 Squadron is among the first to re-equip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">Sept 1939<\/div>\n<h4>War \u2014 and the daylight reckoning<\/h4>\n<p>Hampdens fly early North Sea anti-shipping and reconnaissance sorties. On 29 September a formation is almost wiped out by German fighters, exposing the type&#8217;s weak defences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1940<\/div>\n<h4>Night bombing, Berlin and mine-laying<\/h4>\n<p>Switched to night operations, Hampdens raid German targets \u2014 including early attacks linked to the first RAF raids on Berlin in August 1940 \u2014 and take up large-scale &#8220;gardening&#8221; (mine-laying).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">Aug\u2013Sept 1940<\/div>\n<h4>Two Victoria Crosses<\/h4>\n<p>Flt Lt Roderick Learoyd (No. 49 Sqn) wins the VC at the Dortmund\u2013Ems Canal on 12 August; Sgt John Hannah (No. 83 Sqn) wins it fighting a fire on 15\/16 September, becoming the youngest airman VC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1942<\/div>\n<h4>Torpedo Hampdens and the Arctic<\/h4>\n<p>The Hampden TB Mk I serves with Coastal Command in the anti-shipping role. In September, 32 torpedo Hampdens fly to North Russia to help cover convoy PQ18; the survivors are handed to the Soviet Navy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">Sept 1942<\/div>\n<h4>Out of Bomber Command<\/h4>\n<p>Bomber Command flies its last Hampden operation in mid-September 1942; the four-engine heavies have made the type obsolete as a bomber.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1943<\/div>\n<h4>Final service and retirement<\/h4>\n<p>Coastal Command torpedo Hampdens soldier on into 1943 before the type is finally withdrawn from front-line use.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ev\">\n<div class=\"yr\">1985 onward<\/div>\n<h4>Recovered from the deep and the ice<\/h4>\n<p>Wrecked Hampdens are located and recovered \u2014 from a British Columbia inlet (P5436) and from the Russian Arctic (P1344) \u2014 and rebuilt for museum display. No intact original survived in service.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Stories &#038; Eyewitnesses<\/div>\n<h2>The Handley Page Hampden in the words and deeds of those who flew it<\/h2>\n<p style=\"max-width:70ch;color:#333b47\">Twelve short stories that capture the Hampden&#8217;s strange, brave career \u2014 from its nickname to its two Victoria Crosses and its Arctic odyssey. Expand each card to read more.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caro\">\n<div class=\"track\" id=\"story-track\">\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">The nickname<\/div>\n<h4>Why they called it the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221;<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">The Hampden&#8217;s deep, narrow fuselage boxed its crew into cramped single-file stations \u2014 hence the fond, grim nickname.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">The crew nacelle was in places barely three feet wide, and the four men sat strung out nose-to-tail with no way to move between them in flight. Crews called it the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; for that packed-in feeling, and also the &#8220;Flying Panhandle,&#8221; &#8220;Flying Tadpole&#8221; and &#8220;Flying Frying Pan&#8221; for its fat-nosed, thin-tailed shape. The humour masked a real hazard: a wounded pilot could not be relieved and an injured gunner could not be reached, so each man effectively fought \u2014 and sometimes died \u2014 alone in his own small compartment.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Test flying<\/div>\n<h4>The bomber that flew like a fighter<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">From its first flight in 1936, the Hampden impressed pilots with light controls and fighter-like agility.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">The HP.52 prototype flew on 21 June 1936, and pilots quickly discovered that the slim, Pegasus-powered machine handled like nothing else its size. It was fast, light on the controls and astonishingly manoeuvrable for a bomber \u2014 crews half-joked that it was the nearest thing Bomber Command had to a large fighter. That agility was a genuine asset at night, when a Hampden could corkscrew hard to shake off a searchlight or a flak-lit sky. The tragedy was that no amount of manoeuvrability could make up for guns that could not cover the aircraft&#8217;s own blind spots by day.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Daylight, 1939<\/div>\n<h4>The 29 September massacre<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">Sent to hunt German warships by day, a Hampden formation ran into fighters and was almost wiped out.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">In the first weeks of the war, Bomber Command still believed a fast bomber in tight formation could beat off fighters with its own guns. The Hampden disproved it. On 29 September 1939, a formation of No. 144 Squadron aircraft searching for shipping over the North Sea was caught by German fighters and shot to pieces, with heavy loss. It was one of several early disasters \u2014 shared with the Wellington and Whitley \u2014 that forced the RAF to abandon unescorted daylight bombing. The Hampden&#8217;s rifle-calibre guns and yawning blind spots astern and below simply could not keep modern fighters at bay.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Into the dark<\/div>\n<h4>Finding its war at night<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">Withdrawn from daylight operations, the Hampden became a capable night bomber over Germany.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">By night the Hampden&#8217;s weaknesses mattered far less and its strengths \u2014 speed, range and handling \u2014 came into their own. Hampden crews flew long, cold sorties deep into Germany, navigating by dead reckoning and the stars, bombing industrial and communications targets, and dropping propaganda leaflets. The work was gruelling and dangerous, with flak, night-fighters, icing and simple navigational error all taking a steady toll. But it was here, rather than in the doomed daylight sweeps, that the Hampden did its most useful bombing work in 1940\u201341.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Berlin<\/div>\n<h4>Among the first to bomb Berlin<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">Hampdens took part in Bomber Command&#8217;s early raids on the German capital in August 1940.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">After German bombs fell on London, the RAF was ordered to strike back at Berlin, and Bomber Command&#8217;s night force \u2014 Hampdens among it \u2014 flew the first raids on the German capital in late August 1940. The material damage was slight and the round trip was at the very edge of the Hampden&#8217;s range, flown in darkness over hostile territory in an aircraft with no room to move. But the political and psychological effect was large: the raids punctured Nazi claims that Berlin could never be touched, and drew the Luftwaffe into the fateful decision to switch its own bombing from RAF airfields to British cities.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Victoria Cross<\/div>\n<h4>Learoyd and the Dortmund\u2013Ems Canal<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">On 12 August 1940, Flt Lt Roderick Learoyd pressed home a low-level attack through intense fire to win the VC.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">The Dortmund\u2013Ems Canal was a vital German inland waterway, and on the night of 12 August 1940 No. 49 and No. 83 Squadrons attacked an aqueduct on it at low level. Flight Lieutenant Roderick &#8220;Babe&#8221; Learoyd of No. 49 Squadron bombed from barely more than a hundred feet, holding his Hampden straight and level through a wall of searchlights and anti-aircraft fire that badly damaged his aircraft. He nursed the crippled bomber home and landed it safely at dawn. For his cool courage he received the Victoria Cross \u2014 one of the first awarded to Bomber Command in the war, and the first won flying a Hampden.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Victoria Cross<\/div>\n<h4>John Hannah, the youngest airman VC<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">An eighteen-year-old wireless operator fought a raging fire with his hands and log book to save his Hampden.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">On the night of 15\/16 September 1940, Sergeant John Hannah, an eighteen-year-old wireless operator\/air gunner of No. 83 Squadron, was in a Hampden hit by flak over Antwerp. A fire broke out in the fuselage, feeding on ammunition and fuel. With two crewmen having baled out, Hannah stayed and fought the flames \u2014 beating them out with his hands, his flying log book and finally his bare fists as his extinguishers ran dry \u2014 until the fire was out, then helped the wounded pilot bring the aircraft home. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming the youngest airman ever to receive it. Terribly injured and burned, he never fully recovered his health and died in 1947.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Gardening<\/div>\n<h4>Sowing mines in enemy waters<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">The Hampden became a mainstay of Bomber Command&#8217;s mine-laying campaign, code-named &#8220;gardening.&#8221;<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">&#8220;Gardening&#8221; was the RAF&#8217;s code for aerial mine-laying, and the Hampden was one of its principal tools. Flying low over enemy harbours, estuaries and coastal shipping lanes \u2014 from the Frisian Islands to the Baltic \u2014 crews dropped parachute-retarded sea mines into carefully mapped &#8220;gardens.&#8221; It was unglamorous, exacting and dangerous work: success demanded precise low-level navigation over water in the dark, often into flak. Yet it tied down German minesweeping resources, sank and damaged shipping, and disrupted the movement of everything from ore carriers to U-boats. The Hampden&#8217;s range and load made it well suited to the task, and mine-laying became one of its most valuable contributions to the war.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Coastal Command<\/div>\n<h4>The torpedo Hampden<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">A modified version carried an 18-inch torpedo to attack enemy shipping off the coasts of occupied Europe.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">As the Hampden faded as a bomber, Coastal Command adapted it into the Hampden TB Mk I torpedo-bomber, its bomb bay modified to carry a single 18-inch aerial torpedo. Squadrons such as No. 144 RAF and No. 455 RAAF flew anti-shipping strikes against German convoys hugging the Norwegian coast \u2014 pressing in low and straight to drop their torpedoes, into heavy defensive fire and often foul northern weather. It was hazardous work with a punishing loss rate, but it kept the Hampden in useful front-line service well into 1942\u201343, in a role its speed and handling suited better than most.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">The Arctic<\/div>\n<h4>Hampdens to Russia<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">In September 1942, dozens of torpedo Hampdens flew to northern Russia to help protect an Arctic convoy.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">To provide torpedo cover for the Arctic convoy PQ18, 32 Hampden TB Mk Is of Nos. 144 and 455 Squadrons undertook an epic ferry flight to the Kola Peninsula in September 1942, staging across the far north of Norway and Finland. Several were lost on the way \u2014 one, P1344, was engaged by Messerschmitts near Petsamo and crash-landed in the Arctic wilderness. The survivors operated briefly from Soviet airfields around Murmansk, then, rather than fly home, were handed over to the Soviet Naval Air Force, which flew them on in the Arctic. It was one of the strangest journeys made by any RAF aircraft in the war.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Obsolescence<\/div>\n<h4>Overtaken by the heavies<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">By 1942 the four-engine bombers had made the Hampden obsolete, and Bomber Command flew its last Hampden op that September.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">The Hampden had been designed to a mid-1930s idea of what a bomber should be: fast, light and self-defending. By 1942 that idea was long dead. The new four-engine &#8220;heavies&#8221; \u2014 the Stirling, Halifax and Lancaster \u2014 could carry many times the Hampden&#8217;s load far deeper into Germany, with heavier defensive armament and larger crews. Bomber Command flew its final Hampden operation in mid-September 1942 and moved the surviving airframes to training, torpedo and second-line duties. The aircraft that had gone to war as a front-line bomber in 1939 was, three hard years later, thoroughly outclassed.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Canada<\/div>\n<h4>Built and flown across the Atlantic<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">Around 160 Hampdens were built in Canada, and the RCAF used the type for operational training.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">The Hampden was one of several British types produced in Canada during the war, with the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium completing on the order of 160 aircraft. Some were shipped to Britain; others stayed in Canada, where the Royal Canadian Air Force used them for operational training under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. It was a Canadian-built and Canadian-based Hampden, P5436, that crashed into a British Columbia inlet in 1942 \u2014 and it is that aircraft, recovered decades later, that today forms the only Hampden on public display anywhere in the world.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<div class=\"stx\">\n<div class=\"tag\">Legacy<\/div>\n<h4>No intact survivor \u2014 only the recovered<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"pre\">Every Hampden you can see today was pulled from a crash site and rebuilt; none survived intact from service.<\/p>\n<details class=\"stmore\">\n<summary>Read more<\/summary>\n<div class=\"stb\">Unlike the Wellington or Lancaster, not a single Hampden was preserved intact when the type retired. The examples that exist today are all recoveries: P5436, raised from the depths of a British Columbia inlet and rebuilt over decades by volunteers at the Canadian Museum of Flight; and P1344, recovered from the Russian Arctic and undergoing long-term conservation at the RAF Museum, along with other relics and composite airframes drawn from multiple crash sites. There is no airworthy Hampden anywhere, and there never will be one unless another wreck is raised. For all its fame, the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; is a ghost among preserved bombers \u2014 known from photographs, drawings and painstakingly reassembled wreckage.<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"navrow\"><button class=\"navbtn\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('story-track').scrollBy({left:-720,behavior:'smooth'})\">&#8249;<\/button><button class=\"navbtn\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('story-track').scrollBy({left:720,behavior:'smooth'})\">&#8250;<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Photo Gallery<\/div>\n<h2>Handley Page Hampden photographs<\/h2>\n<p style=\"max-width:70ch;color:#333b47\">Genuine wartime and archival images of the Hampden. Click any photo to enlarge. All images via Wikimedia Commons \u2014 credits below each frame.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caro\">\n<div class=\"track\" id=\"gal-track\">\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-in-flight.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page Hampden in flight\" data-cap=\"Handley Page Hampden in flight. Royal Air Force official photographer \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=20313948  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-in-flight.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden in flight\"><figcaption>Hampden in flight \u00b7 Royal Air Force official photographer \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-waddington-bomber-command.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page Hampden at Waddington, Bomber Command\" data-cap=\"Hampden at Waddington. Photo F\/O B. J. Daventry, RAF official photographer (IWM C 1180) \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=2119923160  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-waddington-bomber-command.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden of Bomber Command at Waddington\"><figcaption>Hampden at Waddington, Bomber Command \u00b7 F\/O B. J. Daventry, RAF (IWM C 1180) \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-and-hereford.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page HP.52 Hampden and Hereford\" data-cap=\"Handley Page HP.52 Hampden and Hereford. Photo B. J. Daventry, RAF official photographer (IWM CH 3478) \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=424362192  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-and-hereford.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden and Hereford aircraft\"><figcaption>Hampden and Hereford \u00b7 B. J. Daventry, RAF (IWM CH 3478) \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-coastal-command-leuchars.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page Hampden of Coastal Command at Leuchars\" data-cap=\"Hampden of Coastal Command at Leuchars. HQ Coastal Command, RAF official photographer (IWM CH 10730) \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=1954350428  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-coastal-command-leuchars.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden torpedo-bomber of Coastal Command at Leuchars\"><figcaption>Hampden of Coastal Command at Leuchars \u00b7 HQ Coastal Command, RAF (IWM CH 10730) \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-455-squadron-raaf.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page Hampden of No. 455 Squadron RAAF\" data-cap=\"Hampden Mk I of No. 455 Squadron RAAF, Leuchars, May 1942. RAF official photographer (IWM COL 182) \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=639260404  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-455-squadron-raaf.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden Mk I of No. 455 Squadron RAAF, 1942\"><figcaption>Hampden Mk I of No. 455 Squadron RAAF, Leuchars, May 1942 \u00b7 RAF official (IWM COL 182) \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-attacking-german-shipping.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page Hampden attacking German shipping\" data-cap=\"Hampden attacking German shipping. No. 18 Group RAF (IWM C 3382) \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=806555889  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-attacking-german-shipping.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden attacking German shipping\"><figcaption>Hampden attacking German shipping \u00b7 No. 18 Group RAF (IWM C 3382) \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-coastal-command-1942.jpg\" data-alt=\"Handley Page Hampden, Coastal Command, 1942\" data-cap=\"Handley Page Hampden, Coastal Command, 1942. Royal Air Force official photographer \u2014 public domain via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=1676736321  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-coastal-command-1942.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Handley Page Hampden in Coastal Command service, 1942\"><figcaption>Hampden, Coastal Command, 1942 \u00b7 Royal Air Force official photographer \u00b7 Public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/loading-bombs-handley-page-hampden.jpg\" data-alt=\"Loading bombs onto a Handley Page Hampden\" data-cap=\"Loading bombs onto a Hampden. Photo whatsthatpicture (Hanwell, London) \u2014 CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=1371761059  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/loading-bombs-handley-page-hampden.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Ground crew loading bombs onto a Handley Page Hampden\"><figcaption>Loading bombs onto a Hampden \u00b7 whatsthatpicture (Hanwell, London) \u00b7 CC BY 2.0 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gal-item\" data-full=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/loading-torpedo-handley-page-hampden-rcaf.jpg\" data-alt=\"Loading a torpedo into a Handley Page Hampden\" data-cap=\"Loading a torpedo into a Hampden. Library and Archives Canada \/ BiblioArchives \u2014 CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.\"><img data-opt-id=1581075379  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/loading-torpedo-handley-page-hampden-rcaf.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Ground crew loading a torpedo into a Handley Page Hampden\"><figcaption>Loading a torpedo into a Hampden \u00b7 Library and Archives Canada \/ BiblioArchives \u00b7 CC BY 2.0 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"navrow\"><button class=\"navbtn\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('gal-track').scrollBy({left:-720,behavior:'smooth'})\">&#8249;<\/button><button class=\"navbtn\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('gal-track').scrollBy({left:720,behavior:'smooth'})\">&#8250;<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"hmp-lightbox\"><button class=\"hmp-lb-close\">&times;<\/button><button class=\"hmp-lb-prev\">&#8249;<\/button><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hmp-lb-img\" src=\"\" alt=\"\"><button class=\"hmp-lb-next\">&#8250;<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"hmp-lb-cap\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\" style=\"background:#f6f8fb;border-top:1px solid #e2e7ee;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Video<\/div>\n<h2>Watch: the Handley Page Hampden, the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221;<\/h2>\n<div class=\"vid\">\n<div class=\"vidframe\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/gXvFXf_LeB0\" title=\"A Bomber So Cramped It Was Called The Flying Suitcase | Handley Page Hampden (Rex's Hangar)\" loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"vidcap\">&#8220;A Bomber So Cramped It Was Called The &#8216;Flying Suitcase&#8217; | Handley Page Hampden&#8221; by Rex&#8217;s Hangar (256k subscribers) \u2014 over 1.0 million views. A well-researched history of the Hampden&#8217;s design, nickname and combat career. Verified on YouTube.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec map-sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Operations Map<\/div>\n<h2>Where the Handley Page Hampden flew \u2014 origin, operators and survivors<\/h2>\n<p style=\"max-width:74ch;color:#333b47\">The Hampden was a British aircraft flown by the RAF and Commonwealth air forces, with one remarkable detour to the Soviet Arctic. This map shows its country of origin, the wartime operators and their roles, its &#8220;other operator&#8221; (the torpedo Hampdens handed to the USSR after covering the PQ18 convoy), and the two countries where recovered airframes survive today. Hover (or tap) a country for detail.<\/p>\n<div id=\"hmp-map-widget\">\n<div id=\"hmp-map-container\"><svg id=\"hmp-map-svg\"><\/svg><\/p>\n<div id=\"hmp-tooltip\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"hmp-controls\"> <button class=\"hmp-toggle active\" data-cat=\"origin\" data-full=\"Origin &#038; Manufacturer\" data-short=\"Origin\" style=\"border-color:#5C91FF\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:14px;height:14px;flex-shrink:0;background:#5C91FF\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"hmp-label\">Origin &amp; Manufacturer<\/span><span class=\"hmp-check\">&#10003;<\/span><\/button> <button class=\"hmp-toggle active\" data-cat=\"operators\" data-full=\"Wartime Operators &#038; Roles\" data-short=\"Operators\" style=\"border-color:#6B8E23\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:14px;height:14px;flex-shrink:0;background:linear-gradient(135deg,#4A6741 25%,#6B8E23 25%,#6B8E23 50%,#556B2F 50%,#556B2F 75%,#8B9D77 75%);background-size:8px 8px\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"hmp-label\">Wartime Operators &amp; Roles<\/span><span class=\"hmp-check\">&#10003;<\/span><\/button> <button class=\"hmp-toggle active\" data-cat=\"other\" data-full=\"Other Operators (USSR)\" data-short=\"USSR\" style=\"border-color:#555\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:14px;height:14px;flex-shrink:0;background:#555\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"hmp-label\">Other Operators (USSR)<\/span><span class=\"hmp-check\">&#10003;<\/span><\/button> <button class=\"hmp-toggle active\" data-cat=\"survivors\" data-full=\"Surviving Airframes &#038; Recoveries\" data-short=\"Survivors\" style=\"border-color:#bbb\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:14px;height:14px;flex-shrink:0;background:#C0C0C0\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"hmp-label\">Surviving Airframes &amp; Recoveries<\/span><span class=\"hmp-check\">&#10003;<\/span><\/button> <\/div>\n<div id=\"hmp-count\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"maplegend\">The Hampden&#8217;s operators were the RAF and Commonwealth crews (Canada, Australia, New Zealand); the &#8220;USSR&#8221; category marks the torpedo Hampdens flown to North Russia in 1942 and handed to the Soviet Navy. Recovered, rebuilt airframes survive only in the UK and Canada.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Service Record<\/div>\n<h2>The Handley Page Hampden by the numbers<\/h2>\n<div class=\"cstats\">\n<div class=\"cstat\">\n<div class=\"cv\">~1,430<\/div>\n<div class=\"cl\">Aircraft built (all builders; sources vary)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cstat\">\n<div class=\"cv\">2<\/div>\n<div class=\"cl\">Victoria Crosses won flying Hampdens<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cstat\">\n<div class=\"cv\">1942<\/div>\n<div class=\"cl\">Withdrawn from Bomber Command front line<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cstat\">\n<div class=\"cv\">0<\/div>\n<div class=\"cl\">Airworthy Hampdens surviving today<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Go Deeper<\/div>\n<h2>The Handley Page Hampden: six deeper questions<\/h2>\n<div class=\"expwrap\" style=\"margin-top:8px\">\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">09<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The two Hampden Victoria Crosses: Learoyd and Hannah in detail<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>Two men won the Victoria Cross flying Hampdens, and their stories bracket the aircraft&#8217;s finest weeks in the late summer of 1940. Flight Lieutenant Roderick Alastair Brook &#8220;Babe&#8221; Learoyd, of No. 49 Squadron, earned his on the night of 12 August 1940 in a low-level attack on an aqueduct of the Dortmund\u2013Ems Canal, a key German inland waterway. Bombing from barely over a hundred feet, he held his Hampden steady through a storm of searchlights and light flak that riddled the aircraft, then coaxed the crippled bomber back to England and waited for daylight to land it safely. His was among the very first Victoria Crosses awarded to Bomber Command in the war.<\/p>\n<p>Five weeks later, on the night of 15\/16 September 1940, Sergeant John Hannah, an eighteen-year-old wireless operator\/air gunner of No. 83 Squadron, was aboard a Hampden hit by flak during a raid on invasion barges at Antwerp. Fire took hold in the fuselage, exploding ammunition and threatening the fuel tanks. With two of the crew having baled out, Hannah stayed and fought the blaze \u2014 with extinguishers, then his log book, then his bare hands \u2014 until it was out, badly burning himself in the process, and helped the wounded pilot fly home. He became the youngest airman ever to receive the Victoria Cross. His injuries wrecked his health, and he died young, in 1947. Between them, the two awards say much about the Hampden: an aircraft that asked extraordinary things of the isolated men inside it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">10<\/span><span class=\"exh\">Night bombing and the early raids on Berlin: the Hampden&#8217;s real war<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>Once daylight operations proved suicidal, the Hampden&#8217;s true career unfolded in darkness. From 1940 it was a regular of Bomber Command&#8217;s night force, striking German industrial, transport and port targets and dropping propaganda leaflets on long sorties flown by dead reckoning. When, after German raids on London, Churchill ordered retaliation against the German capital, Hampdens were among the aircraft that flew Bomber Command&#8217;s first raids on Berlin in late August 1940.<\/p>\n<p>These early Berlin raids did little physical damage \u2014 Berlin lay near the limit of the Hampden&#8217;s range, and bombing accuracy at night in 1940 was poor \u2014 but their strategic effect was large. They shattered the Nazi boast that the capital was untouchable and contributed to the German decision to shift the Luftwaffe&#8217;s effort from RAF airfields to British cities, easing the pressure on Fighter Command at a critical moment in the Battle of Britain. For a cramped, lightly armed medium bomber, it was a disproportionate mark to leave on history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">11<\/span><span class=\"exh\">&#8220;Gardening&#8221;: the Handley Page Hampden as Bomber Command&#8217;s mine-layer<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>One of the Hampden&#8217;s most valuable and least celebrated roles was aerial mine-laying, known in RAF slang as &#8220;gardening.&#8221; Each stretch of enemy water was a numbered &#8220;garden,&#8221; and crews flew low over harbours, estuaries and coastal shipping routes \u2014 from the German and Dutch coasts into the Baltic \u2014 to sow parachute-retarded sea mines with precision.<\/p>\n<p>It was demanding, dangerous work. Success required accurate low-level navigation over featureless dark water, often within range of coastal flak, with little margin for error. But the payoff was real: mines laid by Hampdens and other aircraft sank and damaged enemy shipping, forced the Germans to divert large minesweeping resources, and constricted the movement of iron-ore carriers, coastal convoys and U-boats. The Hampden&#8217;s combination of range, load and low-level handling made it particularly well suited to gardening, and the campaign was one of its most enduring contributions to the war at sea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">12<\/span><span class=\"exh\">The torpedo Hampden and the flight to Russia: covering convoy PQ18<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>As the Hampden bowed out of Bomber Command, Coastal Command gave it a second life as the Hampden TB Mk I torpedo-bomber, its bomb bay adapted to carry a single 18-inch aerial torpedo. Squadrons including No. 144 RAF and No. 455 RAAF flew low-level torpedo strikes against German shipping off occupied Norway \u2014 a role that made full use of the aircraft&#8217;s speed and handling, but at a heavy cost against alert defences and in savage northern weather.<\/p>\n<p>The most extraordinary chapter came in September 1942, when 32 torpedo Hampdens of Nos. 144 and 455 Squadrons flew an epic ferry route to the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia to provide torpedo cover for the Arctic convoy PQ18. Several were lost en route across the far north; one, P1344, was intercepted by German fighters near Petsamo and crash-landed in the Arctic. The survivors operated briefly from Soviet airfields near Murmansk and were then handed over to the Soviet Naval Air Force rather than flown home. It remains one of the strangest and most demanding operations undertaken by any RAF aircraft in the war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">13<\/span><span class=\"exh\">Why the Hampden failed by day but succeeded by night<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>The Hampden&#8217;s whole career is a lesson in matching an aircraft to its task. Designed to a 1930s theory that a fast bomber could defend itself by day, it was sent to do exactly that in 1939 \u2014 and was slaughtered, because its rifle-calibre guns and blind spots were no answer to cannon-armed monoplane fighters. The daylight disasters of 1939\u201340 were not a failure of the crews&#8217; courage but of the concept behind the aeroplane.<\/p>\n<p>By night, the equation changed. Fighters could rarely find it, so its weak armament mattered little; and the qualities the designers had genuinely delivered \u2014 speed, range, a heavy load for its size, and delightful handling \u2014 became assets. As a night bomber, mine-layer and torpedo aircraft, the Hampden did solid, valuable work for two more years. The type was not a bad aircraft; it was a good aircraft asked, at first, to do an impossible job, and it flourished the moment it was given a role it could actually perform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details class=\"exp\">\n<summary><span class=\"exn\">14<\/span><span class=\"exh\">Why no intact Hampden survives \u2014 and the wrecks that were raised<\/span><span class=\"ext\">+<\/span><\/summary>\n<div class=\"exbody\">\n<p>When the Hampden was retired, no one thought to preserve one; like most obsolete war machines, the survivors were scrapped. As a result, not a single intact original Hampden came through the war and into preservation \u2014 a striking gap, given the aircraft&#8217;s fame and its two Victoria Crosses. Every Hampden that exists today is a recovery.<\/p>\n<p>The best known is P5436, a Canadian-built aircraft that crashed into Saanich Inlet near Patricia Bay, British Columbia, in November 1942. It lay some 180 metres down for over four decades until it was located by sonar in 1985 and recovered; volunteers at the Canadian Museum of Flight then rebuilt it over many years, using components salvaged from other crash sites, into the only Hampden on public display anywhere in the world. In parallel, P1344 \u2014 the torpedo Hampden shot down on the ferry flight to Russia in 1942 \u2014 was recovered from the Arctic and passed to the RAF Museum, which has been conserving and reassembling it (with parts from other wrecks) at its Cosford and Cardington sites. Other relics and composite airframes survive in fragments. But there is no airworthy Hampden, and short of another wreck being raised and made whole, there never will be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\" id=\"faq\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Questions &#038; Answers<\/div>\n<h2>Handley Page Hampden: your questions answered<\/h2>\n<div class=\"qa\">\n<details open>\n<summary>Can I fly in a Handley Page Hampden?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>No. There is no airworthy Handley Page Hampden anywhere in the world, and no bookable flight of any kind. The only Hampden on public display \u2014 P5436 at the Canadian Museum of Flight in British Columbia \u2014 is a static aircraft rebuilt from a recovered wreck, and the RAF Museum&#8217;s P1344 is a long-term conservation project, not a flyable machine. MiGFlug does <b>not<\/b> offer Hampden flights, and no one else can either.<\/p>\n<p>You <b>can<\/b>, however, fly in several genuine historic military jets today. MiGFlug arranges real flights in aircraft such as the L-39 Albatros, Hawker Hunter, MiG-15, de Havilland Vampire and others. See what is currently bookable at <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/\">migflug.com\/flights-prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>Why was the Hampden called the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221;?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>Because of its deep but extremely narrow fuselage. The crew nacelle was so slim \u2014 barely wider than a man&#8217;s shoulders in places \u2014 that the four crew were packed into single-file stations and could not change places or reach one another in flight. Crews called it the &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; for that boxed-in feeling, and also the &#8220;Flying Panhandle,&#8221; &#8220;Flying Tadpole&#8221; and &#8220;Flying Frying Pan&#8221; for its fat-nosed, thin-tailed shape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>What engines did the Handley Page Hampden use?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>Two Bristol Pegasus air-cooled radial engines \u2014 Pegasus XVIII units of roughly 980 to 1,000 horsepower each in the definitive Mk I. They gave the Hampden a top speed usually quoted around 410 km\/h (255 mph), with some sources citing up to about 426 km\/h, and fighter-like handling. A separate variant, the Hereford, used Napier Dagger inline engines but proved unreliable and was mostly used for training.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>Why did the Hampden stop flying daylight raids?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>Because it was too lightly defended to survive against modern fighters. Its armament was a few hand-aimed rifle-calibre (.303-inch) machine guns with wide blind spots astern and below. In the first weeks of the war, Hampden formations on daylight anti-shipping sorties were badly mauled by German fighters \u2014 notably on 29 September 1939 \u2014 so, like the Wellington and Whitley, the type was switched to night operations, mine-laying and, later, torpedo work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>How many Victoria Crosses were won flying Hampdens?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>Two. Flight Lieutenant Roderick &#8220;Babe&#8221; Learoyd of No. 49 Squadron won the VC for a low-level attack on the Dortmund\u2013Ems Canal on the night of 12 August 1940. Sergeant John Hannah of No. 83 Squadron won it on the night of 15\/16 September 1940 for fighting a fire aboard his burning Hampden over Antwerp; aged eighteen, he became the youngest airman ever to receive the decoration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>Did Hampdens really fly to Russia?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>Yes. In September 1942, 32 torpedo Hampden TB Mk Is of Nos. 144 and 455 Squadrons flew an epic ferry route to the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia to provide torpedo cover for the Arctic convoy PQ18. Several were lost on the way. The survivors operated briefly from Soviet airfields near Murmansk and were then handed over to the Soviet Naval Air Force rather than flown back to Britain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>How many Hampdens were built, and how fast was it?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>Roughly 1,430 were built (sources give figures around 1,430\u20131,432), by Handley Page, English Electric and \u2014 about 160 of them \u2014 the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium in Canada. The Mk I had a top speed usually cited around 410 km\/h (255 mph), a range with a bomb load of roughly 1,900 km, a crew of four, and could carry up to about 1,814 kg (4,000 lb) of bombs or mines, or one 18-inch torpedo in the TB Mk I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>Are there any surviving Handley Page Hampdens?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>No intact original survived from service \u2014 every Hampden today is a recovered wreck. P5436, raised from a British Columbia inlet in 1985, was rebuilt by volunteers and is the only Hampden on public display anywhere in the world, at the Canadian Museum of Flight. P1344, recovered from the Russian Arctic, is under long-term conservation at the RAF Museum. There is no airworthy Hampden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<details>\n<summary>How does the Hampden compare to the Wellington?<\/summary>\n<div class=\"qb\">\n<p>They came from the same 1932 specification but were very different aircraft. The Hampden was faster and far more agile, but cramped and lightly armed, and it left front-line bombing in 1942. The Vickers Wellington, with its resilient geodetic structure, could absorb heavy battle damage, carried a slightly larger bomb load, was built in far greater numbers (around 11,460) and served in many roles throughout the entire war. The Wellington was the more important aircraft; the Hampden was the sprightlier one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">The Verdict<\/div>\n<h2>Was the Handley Page Hampden a good aircraft \u2014 or a death-trap?<\/h2>\n<p>The honest answer is: both, depending on when you asked. As a flying machine the Hampden was a success. It was fast for its generation, it had a good range and a useful bomb load, and it handled so well that pilots compared it to a fighter. Barnes Wallis&#8217;s Wellington may have been tougher and the Whitley may have carried more, but neither was as much fun to fly, and in the right role the Hampden did real, valuable work \u2014 night bombing, the first raids on Berlin, the long grind of mine-laying, and finally torpedo strikes off Norway and the astonishing flight to Arctic Russia.<\/p>\n<p>What let it down was the thinking behind it. The narrow &#8220;Flying Suitcase&#8221; fuselage that made it slim and quick also trapped its crew in isolated compartments, and the pre-war faith that a fast bomber could defend itself by day with a few rifle-calibre guns was simply wrong. Sent into the daylight skies of 1939 to prove that theory, the Hampden and its crews paid for it in blood, until the RAF accepted the lesson and moved them into the dark.<\/p>\n<p>So the Hampden is neither a triumph nor a disgrace, but something more interesting: a genuinely fine aeroplane built around an outdated idea of air warfare, redeemed by the courage of the men who flew it and by commanders who eventually found it the jobs it could do. Its two Victoria Crosses, its ghostly survival only as recovered wreckage, and its enduring, affectionate nickname all belong to the same story \u2014 that of a brave, awkward, likeable bomber that went to war a year or two after its concept had already been overtaken by events.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec cta\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\" style=\"color:#8fb6ff\">You can&#8217;t fly the Hampden \u2014 these, you can<\/div>\n<h2>No airworthy Hampden survives. But you can strap into a real fighter jet.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"sub\">The Handley Page Hampden exists today only as photographs and recovered wreckage. If you want the genuine experience of flying in a historic military aircraft \u2014 the g-forces, the noise, the view from a fast-jet cockpit \u2014 MiGFlug makes it real. Here are some of the aircraft you can actually book.<\/p>\n<div class=\"caro\">\n<div class=\"track\" id=\"fly-track\">\n<div class=\"flycard\"><img data-opt-id=20313948  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-in-flight.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"L-39 Albatros jet flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcx\">\n<h4>L-39 Albatros<\/h4>\n<div class=\"loc\">Multiple locations worldwide<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/l-39-albatros-italian-alps\/\">See L-39 flights<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flycard\"><img data-opt-id=639260404  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-455-squadron-raaf.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Hawker Hunter jet flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcx\">\n<h4>Hawker Hunter<\/h4>\n<div class=\"loc\">Switzerland<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/hawker-hunter-switzerland\/\">See Hunter flights<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flycard\"><img data-opt-id=1954350428  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-coastal-command-leuchars.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"MiG-15 jet flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcx\">\n<h4>MiG-15 Fagot<\/h4>\n<div class=\"loc\">Czech Republic<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/mig-15-fagot-czech-republic\/\">See MiG-15 flights<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flycard\"><img data-opt-id=2119923160  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-waddington-bomber-command.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"de Havilland Vampire jet flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcx\">\n<h4>de Havilland Vampire<\/h4>\n<div class=\"loc\">Near London, UK<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/vampire-flight-near-london\/\">See Vampire flights<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flycard\"><img data-opt-id=424362192  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-and-hereford.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"F-104 Starfighter jet flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcx\">\n<h4>F-104 Starfighter<\/h4>\n<div class=\"loc\">Book via MiGFlug<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/f104-starfighter-flight\/\">See Starfighter flights<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flycard\"><img data-opt-id=1676736321  data-opt-src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:78--.b845\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:96\/f:best\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/handley-page-hampden-coastal-command-1942.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20100%%20100%%22%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%22100%%22%20height%3D%22100%%22%20fill%3D%22transparent%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"T-33 Shooting Star jet flight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"fcx\">\n<h4>T-33 Shooting Star<\/h4>\n<div class=\"loc\">Canada<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/t-33-in-canada\/\">See T-33 flights<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"navrow\"><button class=\"navbtn\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('fly-track').scrollBy({left:-660,behavior:'smooth'})\">&#8249;<\/button><button class=\"navbtn\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('fly-track').scrollBy({left:660,behavior:'smooth'})\">&#8250;<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"margin-top:24px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/\" style=\"color:#fff;background:#5C91FF;padding:14px 26px;display:inline-block;font-family:'Gilroy semiBold'\">See all bookable flights &amp; prices<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Related Aircraft<\/div>\n<h2>Explore more from the Aircraft Museum<\/h2>\n<div class=\"relgrid\"> <a class=\"relcard\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/wellington\/\"><span class=\"rt\">Vickers Wellington<\/span><span class=\"rd\">The geodetic-framed &#8220;Wimpy&#8221; that shared the Hampden&#8217;s specification but could soak up battle damage and served throughout the entire war.<\/span><\/a> <a class=\"relcard\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/bristol-blenheim\/\"><span class=\"rt\">Bristol Blenheim<\/span><span class=\"rd\">The fast light bomber that outran early fighters when new, then paid a heavy price as it, too, was overtaken by the war&#8217;s pace.<\/span><\/a> <a class=\"relcard\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/handley-page-halifax\/\"><span class=\"rt\">Handley Page Halifax<\/span><span class=\"rd\">Handley Page&#8217;s four-engine heavy bomber \u2014 the big, capable successor that helped make cramped twins like the Hampden obsolete.<\/span><\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sec\" style=\"background:#f6f8fb;border-top:1px solid #e2e7ee\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"sec-tt\">Sources &#038; Further Reading<\/div>\n<h2>Sources &#038; further reading<\/h2>\n<div class=\"srcgrid\">\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">Royal Air Force Museum<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Restoration and history of Hampden P1344, recovered from the Russian Arctic, and the type&#8217;s Bomber and Coastal Command service.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">Imperial War Museums (IWM)<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Wartime photographs and records of the Hampden in Bomber and Coastal Command service, and of Sergeant J. Hannah VC.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">Canadian Museum of Flight<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">History and restoration of Hampden P5436, recovered from Saanich Inlet, BC \u2014 the only Hampden on public display in the world.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">Bomber Command Museum of Canada<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Reference material on the Hampden&#8217;s design, Canadian production and operational record.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Background on RAF Bomber Command&#8217;s early-war medium bombers and the shift from daylight to night bombing.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">WW2DB \u2014 Handley Page Hampden<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Consolidated specifications for the Hampden Mk I: engines, performance, armament and production totals.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">Rex&#8217;s Hangar \u2014 &#8220;The &#8216;Flying Suitcase&#8217;: Handley Page Hampden&#8221;<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Documentary overview of the aircraft&#8217;s design, nickname and combat career (over 1.0M views).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src\">\n<div class=\"sn\">German Federal Archives &amp; Wikimedia Commons<\/div>\n<div class=\"sd\">Public-domain RAF\/IWM photographs of the Hampden used in the gallery above, with credits per image.<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Can I fly in a Handley Page Hampden?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No. There is no airworthy Handley Page Hampden anywhere in the world, and no bookable flight of any kind. The only Hampden on public display, P5436 at the Canadian Museum of Flight, is a static aircraft rebuilt from a recovered wreck, and the RAF Museum's P1344 is a long-term conservation project. MiGFlug does not offer Hampden flights. You can, however, fly in several genuine historic military jets today, such as the L-39 Albatros, Hawker Hunter, MiG-15 and de Havilland Vampire. See migflug.com\/flights-prices.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why was the Hampden called the Flying Suitcase?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Because of its deep but extremely narrow fuselage. The crew nacelle was so slim, barely wider than a man's shoulders in places, that the four crew were packed into single-file stations and could not change places or reach one another in flight. Crews called it the Flying Suitcase, and also the Flying Panhandle, Flying Tadpole and Flying Frying Pan for its fat-nosed, thin-tailed shape.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What engines did the Handley Page Hampden use?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Two Bristol Pegasus air-cooled radial engines, Pegasus XVIII units of roughly 980 to 1,000 horsepower each in the definitive Mk I. They gave the Hampden a top speed usually quoted around 410 km\/h (255 mph), with some sources citing up to about 426 km\/h, and fighter-like handling. A separate variant, the Hereford, used Napier Dagger inline engines but proved unreliable and was mostly used for training.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did the Hampden stop flying daylight raids?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Because it was too lightly defended to survive against modern fighters. Its armament was a few hand-aimed rifle-calibre (.303-inch) machine guns with wide blind spots astern and below. In the first weeks of the war, Hampden formations on daylight anti-shipping sorties were badly mauled by German fighters, notably on 29 September 1939, so the type was switched to night operations, mine-laying and later torpedo work.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many Victoria Crosses were won flying Hampdens?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Two. Flight Lieutenant Roderick Babe Learoyd of No. 49 Squadron won the VC for a low-level attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal on the night of 12 August 1940. Sergeant John Hannah of No. 83 Squadron won it on the night of 15\/16 September 1940 for fighting a fire aboard his burning Hampden over Antwerp; aged eighteen, he became the youngest airman ever to receive the decoration.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did Hampdens really fly to Russia?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. In September 1942, 32 torpedo Hampden TB Mk Is of Nos. 144 and 455 Squadrons flew an epic ferry route to the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia to provide torpedo cover for the Arctic convoy PQ18. Several were lost on the way. The survivors operated briefly from Soviet airfields near Murmansk and were then handed over to the Soviet Naval Air Force rather than flown back to Britain.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many Hampdens were built, and how fast was it?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Roughly 1,430 were built (sources give figures around 1,430 to 1,432), by Handley Page, English Electric and about 160 by the Canadian Associated Aircraft consortium in Canada. The Mk I had a top speed usually cited around 410 km\/h (255 mph), a range with a bomb load of roughly 1,900 km, a crew of four, and could carry up to about 1,814 kg (4,000 lb) of bombs or mines, or one 18-inch torpedo in the TB Mk I.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Are there any surviving Handley Page Hampdens?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No intact original survived from service; every Hampden today is a recovered wreck. P5436, raised from a British Columbia inlet in 1985, was rebuilt by volunteers and is the only Hampden on public display anywhere in the world, at the Canadian Museum of Flight. P1344, recovered from the Russian Arctic, is under long-term conservation at the RAF Museum. There is no airworthy Hampden.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How does the Hampden compare to the Wellington?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"They came from the same 1932 specification but were very different aircraft. The Hampden was faster and far more agile, but cramped and lightly armed, and it left front-line bombing in 1942. The Vickers Wellington, with its resilient geodetic structure, could absorb heavy battle damage, carried a slightly larger bomb load, was built in far greater numbers (around 11,460) and served in many roles throughout the entire war.\"}}]}<\/script> <script src=\"https:\/\/cdnjs.cloudflare.com\/ajax\/libs\/d3\/7.8.5\/d3.min.js\"><\/script> <script src=\"https:\/\/cdnjs.cloudflare.com\/ajax\/libs\/topojson\/3.0.2\/topojson.min.js\"><\/script> <script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/d3-geo-projection@4\/dist\/d3-geo-projection.min.js\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<div id=\"hmp-data\" 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