Price: £40.00

Handley Page Hastings C2

The HP67 proposal for a new transport aircraft arose in 1943 to meet post war needs for a miltary and civil freighter. The design of the new freighter drew heavilly on experience gained with the Halifax heavy bomber, mating the long span wings of the Halifax to a new cylindical fuselage and tail. The prototype Hastings was first flown from RAF Wittering in May 1946 and completed it's acceptance trials in 1947, and the Hastings C1 entered service in June 1948, just in time to take part in the Berlin Airlift. The initial production variant, the Hastings C1 was replaced by the Hastings C2 which had a longer span tail. The Hastings was to become RAF Transport Commands "maid of all work" and remained in service for a very long time until replaced in the late 1960's by the even longer serving Lockheed Hercules.

Performance

Maximum level speed: 348 mph
Weight: 83,000 lb, max take off weight.
Powerplant: Four Bristol hercules 106 sleeve valved radial engines with two stage superchargers.
Range: 1,690 miles with maximum payload.