RAF Museum, Hendon - Hangar 3

Supermarine Southampton

The Supermarine Southampton was a flying boat of the interwar period designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. It was one of the most successful flying boats of the era.

The Southampton's origins can be traced to an earlier experimental aircraft designed by R.J. Mitchell at Supermarine, the Swan, which made its maiden flight on 25 March 1924. During this time, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was close to giving up on the procurement of effective large flying boats, having been disappointed by types such as the Felixstowe F.5.[2] Having been impressed by the Swan's performance during trials at RAF Felixstowe, the British Air Ministry generated Specification R.18/24 and ordered a batch of six production Southamptons from Supermarine. Unusually, a prototype was never built and tested, an indication of the Air Ministry's confidence in Mitchell's design

The Supermarine Southampton was a twin-engine biplane flying boat, which was typically powered by a pair of Napier Lion twelve-cylinder engines. The engines are mount on pylons positioned between the wings in a tractor configuration. The engine installation enabled both maintenance and engine swaps to be performed without any interaction with the wing structure. Fuel was gravity-fed to the engines from tanks within the upper wings, the fuselage was kept free of any fuel lines, aside from a fuel pump used to refill the wingtanks from an aft sump while at anchor. The crew were positioned so that they could readily communicate with one another There were three positions for machine guns, one set upon the nose and two staggered towards either side of the rear fuselage. These rear gunners had a relatively favourable field of fire.
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Westland Wallace

The Westland Wallace was a British two-seat, general-purpose biplane of the Royal Air Force, developed by Westland as a follow-on to their successful Wapiti. As the last of the interwar general purpose biplanes, it was used by a number of frontline and Auxiliary Air Force Squadrons. Although the pace of aeronautical development caused its rapid replacement in frontline service, its useful life was extended into the Second World War with many being converted into target tugs and wireless trainers. In 1933 a Westland Wallace became the first aircraft to fly over Everest, as part of the Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition.

Most of the Wallaces served with the Auxiliary Air Force: 501, 502, 503 and 504 squadrons beginning with the converted Wapitis early in 1933.[4] Others operated with the Anti-Aircraft Cooperation Flight at RAF Biggin Hill. The last Wallace was completed in October 1936.
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Bristol Bulldog IMkIA

The Bristol Bulldog is a British Royal Air Force single-seat biplane fighter designed during the 1920s by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. More than 400 Bulldogs were produced for the RAF and overseas customers, and it was one of the most famous aircraft used by the RAF during the inter-war period.

The Type 105 was an unequal span single bay biplane powered by a supercharged Bristol Jupiter VII air-cooled radial engine driving a two-bladed propeller. The structure was all-metal with a fabric covering, using members built up from rolled high-tensile steel strips riveted together. In order to ensure the maximum field of view there was a large semi-circular cut-out in the trailing edge of the upper wing and the inboard section of the lower was of reduced chord. Frise ailerons were fitted to the top wing only. It was armed with a pair of 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns mounted one either side of the cockpit.

The Bulldog never saw combat with the RAF, although during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–36, Bristol Bulldogs were sent to the Sudan to reinforce Middle East Command. Douglas Bader, better known for his Second World War actions, lost both of his legs when he crashed his Bristol Bulldog while he was performing unauthorised aerobatics at Woodley airfield near Reading. The Bulldog was withdrawn from RAF Fighter Command in July 1937, being primarily replaced by the Gloster Gauntlet.[9] but continued to serve the RAF for a few years with Service Flying Training Schools.[9] The Bulldog was exported to foreign air forces, seeing service with Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Siam and Sweden.
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Hawker Hart

The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraft in the inter-war period, but was obsolete and already side-lined for newer monoplane aircraft designs by the start of the Second World War, playing only minor roles in the conflict before being retired.

In 1926, the Air Ministry stated a requirement for a two-seat high-performance light day-bomber, to be of all-metal construction and with a maximum speed of 160 mph (258 km/h). Designs were tendered by Hawker, Avro and de Havilland.[1] Fairey, who had sold a squadron's worth of its wooden Fox bomber in 1925, was not at first invited to tender to the specification, and was sent a copy of the specification only after protesting to the Chief of the Air Staff, Hugh Trenchard.

Harts were deployed to the Middle East during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936. The Hart saw extensive and successful service on the North-West Frontier, British India during the inter-war period. Four Hawker Harts from the Swedish Air Force saw action as dive bombers during the 1939–1940 Winter War as part of a Swedish volunteer squadron, designated F19, fighting on the Finnish side. Though obsolete compared to the United Kingdom's opposition at the start of the Second World War, the Hart continued in service, mainly performing in the communications and training roles until being declared obsolete in 1943
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Gloster Gladiator

The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s.

Developed privately as the Gloster SS.37, it was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft, and was rendered obsolescent by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more advanced fighters during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

The Gladiator saw action in almost all theatres during the Second World War, with a large number of air forces, some of them on the Axis side. The RAF used it in France, Norway, Greece, the defence of Malta, the Middle East, and the brief Anglo-Iraqi War (during which the Royal Iraqi Air Force was similarly equipped). Other countries deploying the Gladiator included China against Japan, beginning in 1938; Finland (along with Swedish volunteers) against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War; Sweden as a neutral noncombatant (although Swedish volunteers fought for Finland against USSR as stated above); and Norway, Belgium, and Greece resisting Axis invasion of their respective lands
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Taylorcraft Auster

The Auster was a twice-removed development of an American Taylorcraft design of civilian aircraft, the Model A. The Model A had to be redesigned in Britain to meet more stringent Civil Aviation standards and was named the Taylorcraft Plus C. After the start of the Second World War, the company developed the model further as an air observation post (AOP)—flown by officers of the Royal Artillery and used for directing artillery fire of British Army Royal Artillery units.

The Auster Mark III, IV and V were issued to 12 RAF, one Polish and three Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) air observation post (AOP) Squadrons. The first to deploy was No. 651 Squadron RAF. The leading elements landed in Algiers on 12 November 1942 with eight aircraft, 11 Royal Artillery (RA) pilots, 39 RA soldiers and 25 airmen (mostly maintenance technicians). The normal strength of an AOP squadron was 12 aircraft, 19 RA officers (all pilots), 83 RA other ranks and 63 RAF including two administrative officers. Aircraft were fitted with the Army's No 22 Wireless, an HF set providing two-way voice communications with artillery units and formations on the ground.

Postwar Auster AOP aircraft were reorganised into independent flights (probably because the RAF used Wing-Commanders, equivalent to Lieutenant-Colonels, to command squadrons while the army insisted on a major's command) including 1903 Flight in Korea that had artillery pilots from several Commonwealth countries. There was also an Auster-equipped Liaison Flight, No 1913, in that theatre. Air OP flights also operated in the Malayan Emergency. Several AOP squadrons were reformed within the Royal Auxiliary Air Force in 1949 and these operated some AOP.5s, AOP.6s and AOP.9s until at least March 1957, when the Auxiliary Air Force was disbanded. All Auster AOP units were transferred to the Army Air Corps when it was formed in September 1957, with AAC squadrons using numbers starting with 651. The air observation duties, counter-insurgency and casualty evacuation roles performed by Auster and similar light aircraft were generally taken over by light helicopters from the mid-1960s.
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Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe

The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of the conflict, in late 1918.

The Snipe was not a fast aircraft by the standards of its time, but its excellent climb and manoeuvrability made it a good match for contemporary German fighters.

n 1919, the Snipe took part in the Allied intervention on the side of the White Russians during the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks, twelve Snipes being used by the RAF mission in north Russia.[18] At least one of the RAF Snipes was captured by the Bolsheviks and pressed into service.[19] Two squadrons of Snipes (25 and 56) were deployed to Turkey in response to the Chanak Crisis in September 1922, flying demonstration flights over Constantinople to deter Turkish forces from attacking British forces in the Dardanelles.[20] No. 1 Squadron was deployed to Iraq in 1922, flying ground attack missions against rebelling Kurdish tribesmen led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji until the squadron was disbanded in November 1926.
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North American Harvard IIB

The North American Harvard trainer was built in greater numbers than most combat aircraft during World War Two, 17096 being produced. By the end of the War over 5000 had been supplied to British and Commonwealth Air Forces.

As conflict became inevitable the Royal Air Force expansion programme demanded a massive increase in pilot training and to meet this need the Empire Air Training Scheme was established.

The Royal Air Force soon turned to the United States to acquire the trainer aircraft needed to equip the Scheme. The Harvard was one of the first American aircraft ordered by the RAF when a contract for two-hundred was placed in June 1938. British purchasing contracts reached 1100 before American Lend Lease arrangements began.

Some of the first aircraft were delivered to the United Kingdom, but soon after the outbreak of war the majority of flying training units were moved to Canada, Southern Rhodesia and the United States. This made room for operational aircraft in Great Britain and provided safer conditions for training.
www.rafmuseum.org.uk

Hawker Hurricane 1

The Hurricane will always be remembered for the vital role it played, with its partner the Spitfire, in hectic battles during the summer of 1940. Hurricanes destroyed more enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain than did all the other air and ground defences combined.

Designed by the Hawker Aircraft Company in 1934 it first entered service in 1937. It provided the RAF with a fighter 160kph (100mph) faster than aircraft then in service; with an increased fire power of eight machine guns.

When war was declared, on the 3 September 1939, about five-hundred Hurricanes were in service and several squadrons were sent to France. During the 1940 German Blitzkrieg through the Low Countries and France they fought a punishing rearguard action in which over 25% of all Fighter Command’s aircraft were destroyed.

As the Battle of Britain raged in the skies overhead aircraft production increased so that by September 1940 the number of Hurricane squadrons had risen from eighteen, a year earlier, to thirty-two.
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Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts; around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world.

In 1931, the Air Ministry released specification F7/30, calling for a modern fighter capable of a flying speed of 250 mph (400 km/h). R. J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Type 224 to fill this role. The 224 was an open-cockpit monoplane with bulky gull wings and a large, fixed, spatted undercarriage powered by the 600-horsepower (450 kW), evaporatively cooled Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine.[4] It made its first flight in February 1934.[5] Of the seven designs tendered to F7/30, the Gloster Gladiator biplane was accepted for service.

On 1 December 1934, the Air Ministry issued contract AM 361140/34, providing £10,000 for the construction of Mitchell's improved Type 300 design. On 3 January 1935, they formalised the contract with a new specification, F10/35, written around the aircraft.[10] In April 1935, the armament was changed from two .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns in each wing to four .303 in (7.7 mm) Brownings, following a recommendation by Squadron Leader Ralph Sorley of the Operational Requirements section at the Air Ministry.

The British public first saw the Spitfire at the RAF Hendon air display on Saturday 27 June 1936. Although full-scale production was supposed to begin immediately, numerous problems could not be overcome for some time, and the first production Spitfire, K9787, did not roll off the Woolston, Southampton assembly line until mid-1938.

The operational history of the Spitfire with the RAF began with the first Mk Is K9789, which entered service with 19 Squadron at RAF Duxford on 4 August 1938.[30][nb 11] The Spitfire achieved legendary status during the Battle of Britain, a reputation aided by the "Spitfire Fund" organised and run by Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister of Aircraft Production.

In fact, the Hurricane outnumbered the Spitfire throughout the battle, and shouldered the burden of the defence against the Luftwaffe; however, because of its higher performance, the overall attrition rate of the Spitfire squadrons was lower than that of the Hurricane units, and the Spitfire units had a higher victory-to-loss ratio.
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Republic P-47D Thunderbolt II

The Thunderbolt was one of the three most important American fighters produced during the war and saw extensive service with the United States Army Air Force before its comparatively late introduction into RAF operational service in 1944.

This big and strongly built fighter bomber, with its good low level performance and long range made an ideal replacement for the RAF’s Hurricane fighter bombers operating over Burma. The RAF only used the Thunderbolt against the Japanese in South East Asia Command.

By 1944 air/ground co-operation had been successfully developed into a powerful tactical tool and RAF Thunderbolts in Burma quickly adopted ‘cab rank’ patrols available to attack any enemy ground target holding up the Allied advance. Directed by ground visual control posts, the Thunderbolts, with their heavy gun armament and 500lb bombs, created havoc amongst Japanese troop concentrations and their supply lines.

By the end of 1945 RAF Thunderbolt squadrons were re equipping with Hawker Tempest Iis but some units were sent to Batavia in an attempt to re-introduce Dutch colonial rule. Whilst there they undertook a number of bombing missions against Indonesian guerrillas and rebel airfields.
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Lockheed Hudson

The Lockheed Hudson was a military version of the American Lockheed 14 Super Electra airliner and was ordered for the Royal Air Force in June 1938. Hudsons entered service with Coastal Command in 1939. Used extensively over United Kingdom waters on anti-submarine and general reconnaissance duties, Hudsons were also used overseas.

When Hudsons reached obsolescence in the maritime role they were stripped of their armament and re-employed as transports. Some of these aircraft were used in the very hazardous task of carrying Allied agents into and out of Nazi-occupied Europe.

Although never in the forefront of wartime publicity the Hudson can nevertheless claim an impressive list of firsts including:

The first Allied aircraft to shoot down an enemy while operating from the British Isles.
The first aircraft to capture a U-boat. U-570 surrendered to a No.269 Squadron Hudson on 27 August 1941.
The first aircraft equipped to carry airborne lifeboats for air sea rescue duties.
www.rafmuseum.org.uk

Hawker Typhoon

The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this requirement.

The Typhoon was originally designed to mount twelve .303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns and be powered by the latest 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) engines. Its service introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future.[3] When the Luftwaffe brought the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service in 1941, the Typhoon was the only RAF fighter capable of catching it at low altitudes; as a result it secured a new role as a low-altitude interceptor

By 1943, the RAF needed a ground attack fighter more than a "pure" fighter and the Typhoon was suited to the role (and less-suited to the pure fighter role than competing aircraft such as the Spitfire Mk IX). The powerful engine allowed the aircraft to carry a load of up to two 1,000 pounds (450 kg) bombs, equal to the light bombers of only a few years earlier. The bomb-equipped aircraft were nicknamed "Bombphoons" and entered service with No. 181 Squadron, formed in September 1942.
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Curtiss Kittyhawk IV

The Kittyhawk was the final development of the monoplane Curtiss Hawk fighters and during World War Two provided the RAF with valuable reinforcements in the Middle East at a time when British resources were overstretched.

Over three-thousand Kittyhawks were delivered to Commonwealth Air Forces. First introduced into service in January 1942 a conversion programme began six months later to allow them to carry bombs.

The Royal Air Force continued to operate Kittyhawks in Italy until the summer of 1944 when they were finally replaced with North American Mustangs.

Known as the Warhawk in United States Service the British re-named the early P-40A, B, and C models Tomahawks. In an effort to continue production the manufacturers fitted a more powerful Allison engine into a re-designed cowling and concentrated the gun armament in the wings; the resulting P-40D Warhawk was renamed Kittyhawk I by the British.
www.rafmuseum.org.uk

Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter

The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber. The Beaufighter proved to be an effective night fighter, which came into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain, its large size allowing it to carry heavy armament and early airborne interception radar without major performance penalties.

The Beaufighter was used in many roles; receiving the nicknames Rockbeau for its use as a rocket-armed ground attack aircraft and Torbeau as a torpedo bomber against Axis shipping, in which it replaced the Beaufort. In later operations, it served mainly as a maritime strike/ground attack aircraft, RAF Coastal Command having operated the largest number of Beaufighters amongst all other commands at one point. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also made extensive use of the type as an anti-shipping aircraft, such as during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

The concept of the Beaufighter has its origins in 1938. During the Munich Crisis, the Bristol Aeroplane Company recognised that the Royal Air Force (RAF) had an urgent need for a long-range fighter aircraft capable of carrying heavy payloads for maximum destruction.[1] Evaluation of the Beaufort concluded that it had great structural strength and stiffness in the wings, nacelles, undercarriage and tail, so that the aircraft could be readily developed further for greater speed and manoeuvrability akin to a fighter-class aircraft.[1] The Bristol design team, led by Leslie Frise, commenced the development of a cannon-armed fighter derivative as a private venture. The prospective aircraft had to share the same jigs as the Beaufort so that production could easily be switched from one aircraft to the other.

The Beaufighter soon commenced service overseas, where its ruggedness and reliability quickly made the aircraft popular with crews. However, it was heavy on the controls and not easy to fly, with landing being a particular challenge for inexperienced pilots.[29] Due to wartime shortages, some Beaufighters entered operational service without feathering equipment for their propellers. As some models of the twin-engined Beaufighter could not stay aloft on one engine unless the dead propeller was feathered, this deficiency contributed to several operational losses and the deaths of aircrew.[
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Bristol Beaufort

The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber.[2] At least 1,180 Beauforts were built by Bristol and other British manufacturers

The Beaufort came from Bristol's submission to meet Air Ministry Specifications M.I5/35 and G.24/35 for a land-based, twin-engined torpedo-bomber and a general reconnaissance aircraft. With a production order following under Specification 10/36, the Bristol Type 152 was given the name Beaufort after the Duke of Beaufort, whose ancestral home was nearby in Gloucestershire.[8][9][10] The competing torpedo bomber entry from Blackburn was also ordered as the Blackburn Botha; in an unprecedented step, both designs were ordered straight off the drawing board, an indication of how urgently the RAF needed a new torpedo bomber.[8][N 1] 320 Beauforts were ordered. Initially, because of their commitment to the Blenheim, Bristol were to build 78 at their Filton factory, with the other 242 being built by Blackburn.

Although it did see some use as a torpedo bomber, including attacks on the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau while in port in Brest, the Beaufort more often used bombs in European service.

The first RAF torpedo attack of the war came on 11 September 1940, when five aircraft of 22 Squadron attacked a convoy of three merchant ships off Ostend (Oostende in Belgium). One torpedo hit a 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) ship. Four days later, the first "Rover" was mounted; a Rover was an armed reconnaissance mission carried out against enemy shipping by a small number of aircraft operating independently. "Rovers" became a major part of Beaufort operations over the next 18 months.[N 7] Other more hazardous operations were to follow, with one Beaufort pilot being awarded a posthumous VC.
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RAF Museum, Hendon - Hangar 3

RAF Museum, Hendon - Hangar 3