A Bomber So Cramped It Was Called The "Flying Suitcase" | Handley Page Hampden 

The Hampden's one of those planes you can't help but love, because it's just goofy yet actually "made it".

Sadly, Sergeant John Hannah died of T.B. at the age of twenty-five in 1947. His doctor believed the wounds he received in the war weakened his immune system and left him prone to infection. Although in constant pain, after being honourably discharged by the R.A.F. he worked as a taxi driver for a while before he became too ill and was taken into the sanatorium where he later died.

My best friend back in the late 60's said his dad flew Hampdens with the RCAF on torpedo missions off the coast of Norway where the pilot nearly flew the aircraft into the cliffs of Norway. Unfortunately, he turned the aircraft without banking and it pancaked into the water. He said his dad said he didn't even get his feet wet because all he did was walk down the wing and hopped into a life raft . They were then taken prisoner by the Germans. Thanks.

My late father flew in Hampdens as an air-gunner before re-training as a pilot. About the leaflet raids, he considered that they would only be of use if they were dropped in their boxes and happened to strike someone important. He ended his war as an instructor, continuing that role with commercial airlines until retirement. He was an instructor on the original Comet 1.

My Grandfather was an instrument fitter on Hampdens during the early war before transferring to Blenheims in Singapore. Guy Gibson's book, Enemy Coast Ahead gives a fascinating account of early War bombing in Hampdens.

The designer of the Hampden (and earlier Harrow) was the German Gustav Lachmann who was later interned and continued to work for HP from prison.

Thanks for adding the VC segment. Too oft forgotten that Bomber Command did it's fair share of work during the Battle of Britain, and that Coastal Command pilots were drafted into Fighter Command.

Interesting to see the changes in thinking about aircraft types in light of the progress in engine technology during this era. The Hampden was intended as a medium bomber optimized for performance, but just a few years later the Mosquito light bomber with a slightly smaller footprint lifted more weight and delivered the same bombload, with vastly superior speed and altitude. One might even consider that more traditional medium bombers began their slide toward obsolescence at that point, but this was not recognized until later because the operational doctrine that had been built around their use kept them in production.

The Wellington, The Hampden. Now the Whitley.

I must admit to being on of those who loved the Hampden along with the Blenheim. Great aircraft which served so well in the early part of the war.

I highly value your research and as a non-native speaker I admire your narration, everything is so clear (and yet with a healthy touch of irony). Your videos are exemplary pieces of documentary that any TV corporation would be proud of. Are you by any chance lecturing at some university? (because if you aren't, you should).

The photo from 23:29 appears to show an American battleship, probably either USS Washington or USS Alabama (the stacks are obscured by the Oerlikon barrel) both of which were assigned for a period to the Home Fleet in 1942 primarily to protect convoys. At this stage Hampdens were being used by Coastal Command. The picture appears to have been taken from an American ship (the helmets!), possibly USS Wichita as the the cruiser in the background could be USS Tuscaloosa; both served with both American battleships in the Atlantic in 1942. The Oerlikons don't have their shields, which might suggest a recent installation (in place of the former quadruple 1.1 inch AA monts).

Thanks for this on Rex! My grandfather flew these as a navigator with 489 RNZAF in 1943. I didn't realise that his last operational flight in the Suitcase was actually the last ever Hampden operational sortie! His logbook lists it as a four aircraft Rover Patrol off Lister/Naze on 26/10/43. His aircraft P1214 XA-X was damaged by flak but returned safely. In all, he flew 15 ops in Hampdens, (mostly anti-submarine off the Faeroes and Shetland but with a few Rovers thrown in). The Squadron re-equipped with Beaufighters and he transferred to a Liberator Squadron (547) where he went on to fly another 46 ops.

I do love the Hampden bomber, though I never knew it's propellers could be detached and thrown at its enemies on the ground like giant shuriken. What an innovative design from Handley Page!

Thank you for mentioning the early 83 Sqn Hampden pilot, 20 year-old Pilot Officer G Gibson, later famous. Following his initial training on the aircraft he apparently was considering leaving the Service after only 2 years to go into civilian test flying. Whether this was because of his time with the Hampden or just coincident, it's as well he stayed in. I love the sketch (40:10) depicting Sgt Hannah fighting the fire on the way back from Antwerp; whoever drew it had clearly never squeezed himself into a Hampden! Incidentally, the Dagger-engined aircraft were named after the English city on the Welsh borders. It's therefore pronounced 'Heh-reh-ford', rather than 'hair-ford'.

I just want to write this down, the 3d model presentations have to be the smoothest thing I've seen from any historical channel out there (especially the one on this episode)

I don't think any apology is needed for this video, all the way through I was impressed by your use of the models and the presentation of the period source material. Really, so long as the quality of your output remains this high, I don't care how much agony you endure producing it. From my point of view your suffering is well worth it to keep me informed and entertained. Seriously though, thank you for the effort you put into this and congratulations, I'm seriously impressed by the way you are able to continually able to improve on what was already high standard of work.

Honestly, the Hampden possibly my favorite early bomber in War Thunder. Decent load out and handles beautifully.

I have a friend whose father piloted Hampdens in WW2. Unfortunately, he lost his life whilst on a raid over Germany. She was born shortly afterwards and so never met her father. In his memory, her mother used 'Hampden' as a second forename.

I was wondering when this channel would do the Hampden. Rex's sometimes condescending delivery fits like a glove here!

I had the honor of having a small hand in helping Fred Gardham restore Canadian-built Hampden P5436 at the Museum of Flight and Transportation, first in Surrey, British Columbia and later at Langley Airport in Langley, B.C. Hampden P5436 was actually an amalgamation of three Hampdens recovered in B.C., one from Saltspring island, one from Vancouver Island and P5436 which sank in Pat Bay near Victoria, B.C. P5436 survived only 100 hours of flying time before crashing near Pat Bay in 1942 while performing torpedo dropping practice. The aircraft's nickname of "Flying Suitcase" is well deserved. I'm a pretty big guy and remember the difficulties climbing in and out of the aircraft while working on it.

A few corrections regarding Hampdens in the USSR 1. The number of Hampdens received by the 24th mine-torpedo regiment (I know that it is clunky, but "anti-shipping wing" is a bit too loose of a translation =)) is a bit unclear. 17 is the number that the regiment still had by January 10, 1943, but it had suffered at least 2 losses by that time. 2. The number of german ships sunk by soviet Hampdens is exactly 1. On April 25, 1943, a transport ship "Leezee" was sunk near Kongsfjorden by the crew of captain Kiselev, flight leader in the 24th. Kiselev was shot down in this attack and the entire crew was killed. And on the photo used at 37:16, you can see "For Kiselev" being written on the torpedo. 3. The 24th regiment wasn't disbanded. In May 1943 it became a Guards regiment. Thus, its name was changed to the 9th Guards mine-torpedo regiment Overall, the Hampden's reputation among the North Fleet pilots and command was controversial. On the one hand, it was considered superior to Il-4 as a torpedo bomber, since it was more stable in flight at low altitudes. On the other hand, soviet "mine-torpedo aviation" flew minelaying missions more often than torpedo strike missions. And conventional bombing missions against ground targets were even more common. Hampden was considered inferior to Il-4 for these types of missions. And in the spring of 1943 the North Fleet started receiving A-20s, which made both Hampden and Il-4 look bad. Plus, it had huge problems with reliability due to the spare parts situation. This led to a saying that can be translated as "Are you my friend or a "Hampden"?". And unlike most such remarks - this one was actually documented in 1943.

I was an apprentice at Lucas CAV from 1979, in 1980 I was placed in the Rochester cutter grinders for work experience. One of the guys in there was just retiring....flew Hampden early part of Ww2, said it handled more like a fighter and although he flew pretty much everything with wings back then, it was his favourite ride.

my grandfather joined the RAF in 1937 and the Hampden was his first aircraft,then 1941 went to the far east in Blenhims

One of the first models I built as a kid and still one of my favourite aircraft. No logical reason why but there you go. Might have to try and get another one. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it.

There is a Hampden being restored at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage centre UK. Its on long tern hold while they restore Lancaster NX611 to flying condition.

An old friend of mine was a pilot of the Hampden during wwii on mine laying duties in the English Channel when he was shot down by flak over France. Crashing in a field, he was the only survivor due to the position of the cockpit. Later captured, he spent the rest of the war in prison camp stalag luft iii, and was part of the famous Great Escape.

Thank you for putting these video's out, I always look forward to them and learn a lot from them, again Thanks for your time and effort.

I had the privilege to visit the Hampden at RAF Cosford some years ago. It is really something else when you see the real thing up close and personal. Thank you Rex, for another interesting video about an under-appreciated aircraft.

I really enjoy listening to you Rex. Great research and lots of information I never knew. Your work is sensational...

Great as always. Hereford is pronounced "Heh-ref-ford" (it's a famous cathedral city). Kiel is pronounced "Keel". The p in Hampden is silent.

An impressive long-form post Rex. The 3D graphics you now employ are superb and allow for an easy appreciation of the type under discussion - congratulations to whoever does these for you. Tiny point - Hereford is pronounced herry-ford, rather than hare-ford. British pronunciations can be a minefield... even for the British (who else would pronounce Featherstonehaugh - an actual surname here - as Fanshaw)!

Impressive presentation, the result of obvious labor. Thanks for pacing the video so as to linger on the images, and the speech un-rushed. I quite enjoyed the whole production.

Beautiful! Location, plane, photography, everything.

Another great episode. Thank you. Being a nerd interested in minutae. Looking at the bomb loading at 29:27. Taken around about noon ( from the shadows) somebody designed and then manufactured the bomb trolleys. Pneumatic tyres with an excess of tyre bolts. Then at 34:27 we have solid rubber tyres and a scissor jack. Mundane items but essential for armament loading. Plus the flight crew member at 33:39 smoking a pipe, thinking "Ok the life raft will prevent drowning, but is there a waterproof pocket for my Virginia ready rubbed tobacco?"

That poor airplane needs a hug. It did it's best but was somehow to awkward to be great at anything.

I built a model of a Hampden a few years ago. Definitely a neat looking plane. Great video !

This is 1 of my fave aircraft, thanks for covering it.

Great video, about a good, not great, aircraft. One of the blokes from my hometown (Loch, Victoria), Bill Allen, was a navigator in 144 Squadron, flying Hampdens. He was on a plane returning from Germany on 11 April 1942 that ran out of fuel and was ditched off the English coast. Only the pilot survived. A few months later 144 flew their Hampdens to Russia, as you detail.

I have only seen one, and got up close .. I dont think there many intact anymore. But we can dream I suppose, meaning I would enjoy watching one go by on a flypast.

Only part of the way through the vid, and I already LOVE IT. you make such amazing videos, please, never stop.

My grandfather was a mechanic with the Commonwealth Air Training Program - it's why my family is in Alberta, he decided to stay out West after the War - and I'm pretty sure he worked on Hampdens. Also, 408 Squadron still exists and is based just north of where I live. These days they fly helicopters and it's pretty common to see them flying over the northern parts of Edmonton and area. I knew they used to operate bombers but I didn't know about their connection to the Channel Dash!

Excellent and comprehensive video Rex, thank you.

Video request: Would it be possible to do a video on the evolution of bombsights? A lot of the tactics and strategies especially in The Second World War really hinge on the technological ability of the available bombsights. Especially in The Battle of France low level, level flight strikes against German columns guarded by heavy flak seems insanity but not having dive bombers the Royal Air Force and the Armée de l'Air especially had no other choice and took heavy losses.

Thank you and congratulations for this very interesting and very well documented video.

It looks like a overgrown toy that I had as kid that was made of balsa wood and powered by a rubber band.

I am so glad that you are one of the few aircraft RU-vid channels I can count on to know wtf you are talking about

Haven't watched much but it's so far good! Well done!

Ironically the Hampdens chief designer at Handley Page company was Gustav Lachmann. A German who had previously designed for the Albatros aircraft co. He joined Handley Page in 1932 as he shared the patent for the wing slat.

Great video about an underrated aircraft, thank you!

This aircraft is oddly beautiful! It brings out the fascination in me.

A very in-depth coverage of an amazingly obscure aircraft. View quality was excellent... and I can certainly relate to struggling with Premiere. ;)

5.46 "The fuselage was too small to allow the allocation of facilities" things had not much changed 25 years later. I have been in the Vulcan cockpit at the small museum at Woodford and the crew facilities then consisted of the bladder of a football and a funnel closed with a bulldog clip! There was also a means to heat a single can of soup otherwise it was flasks and sandwiches.

408 Sqn is still an active RCAF unit. It is now a tactical helicopter squadron based in Edmonton Alberta.

Flying tadpole......I had to cry from laughter, best plane nickname I ever heard, priceless!!

I recall reading one story where the fact the Hampden looked like the Do17 actually worked in its favour. Separated from its fellows it encountered an Me 109 which closed and checked it out before, presumably, deciding it was friendly and flying away again. This aircraft has long been one of my favorites as I feel its quite a beautiful beast.

Just found this channel, instant subscribe. Well done, awesome content, I love it!

One of my favorite warbirds when I was a kid in the early '70s. Thanx Rex!

Rex: “The fuselage was made 1 inch taller and about 2 inches wider” The crew: “THANK GOD!” 😂

Quite a few comments suggesting the Hampden looked similar to German bombers of the period. Handley Page’s chief designer at the time was Gustav Lachman who was, as the name suggests, German. He had quite an interesting career - particularly once war was declared when, after being shipped to and from various camps, he was “allowed” to continue his design work for Handley Page from a prison cell.

I have always loved the look of the Hampden,not the best aircraft for the crew, but good-looking. I always thought it would make a good heavy fighter, solid nose full of guns, one pilot, and one gunner/navigator, and one radioman/gunner. The tail boom would have needed strengthening, though

Have to watch this and a couple of different sessions, I don't watch anything an hour-long unless it has directly to do with my everyday life. Went ahead and gave you a thumbs up there because I like this stuff.

My uncle (well-suited to the Hampden as thin as a stick all his life) trained on the Hampden &, occasionally, Anson, Dec 1939-June 1940. In July - Dec 1940 he was on Ops with the Hampdens of 144 SQD, over Kiel on 4/7/42. He finished with the type as, ostensibly, a bombing Instructor in No. 14 OTU Cottesmore in 1941-42, but in May & June 1942, as per the video, the unit were involved in the "1000 bomber" raids over Essen & Cologne. In late 1942 he converted to heavy bombers (on Manchesters) & thence back to Ops on the Lancaster thereafter.

Excellent presentation!

The 'Flying Suitcase' did not get the recognition it deserved, so thanks for doing a video on the aircraft. Up-gunning the Hampden explains the RAFs initial dislike of the 'naked' Mosquito bomber.

Great work Sir thank you

Great history video, Thank You!!

‘Two stage supercharger’ surely some mistake? Compact two *_speed_* supercharging gave a wide optimum altitude band and the small and light Pegasus with the relatively simple light weight variable pitch propeller installation was quite powerful for that pre war era.

A friend of mine was a crew member on a Hampden. He flew to Murmansk during the war trying to attack the Tirpitz.

A neat little bomber with some fun and interesting design choices. I'm surprised they didn't call it the Dragonfly. :)

A good documentary ,but some strange pronunciation Kiel is Keel, Hereford is Here…ford not Herford.

Fascinating piece of history.

Very nice video, an obscure plane from the US point of view of the 70s onwards, and very well explained. Thanks.

When i was an apprentice fitter back in the fifties many of my mentors were ex services of course . One ex R.A.F. aircrew chap who had flown in Hampdens , described it as a flying coffin .

Thanks for this video!

They have one of these at Langley BC, in Canada. I stood in front of this beast for a very long time, amazed at how narrow the cockpit and fuselage was. it is a very strange looking plane looking at it head on.

Thank you, Rex, for covering Britain's 'German' bomber. It suddenly makes me wonder if there were any captured examples that had Luftwaffe camouflage and marking applied. It would have looked a natural and any Dornier Do 17 Z crews would have felt right at home in one.

Great vid. Well done. Thank you all the 1930s aircraft. Amazing

Excelente video, hermoso avión muchas gracias. !!!

East Kirkby in Linconshire, are rebuilding AE436 of 144 Squadron flown by Canadians. Saw it many years ago when I was a at RAF Conningsby on a course.

I've read the book "The Last Escaper" by Peter Tunstall who was a Hampden pilot with No.49 Squadron based at RAF Scampton. This was the first squadron to receive the Hamden's in 1938. One of the things that Tunstall noted was that during training with this new type any pilot who was in any part other then the pilots seat had to be logged as "second pilot" even though that wasn't possible, physically or otherwise and had some funny episodes related to the planes chemical toilet. His book offers one of, other then the accounts from Guy Gibson the best record I'm personally aware of of both RAF training in the run up to the start of WW2 and operations with the Hampden's which where short to say the least seeing that No.49 Squadron transitioned to the Manchester by 1942.

Another excellent presentation Rex, thanks for all your hard work to bring us all very interesting and informative content. I have always thought that it was engineeringly impossible for the tail boom to support anything, it just appears to be so thin that one bounce of anything more than slight it would either snap off or buckle terribly, I expect that many groundcrew and aircrew would take one look at it and either burst out laughing or shaking in their boots 🥾.

Good one. You do good research.

I've actually been to the hampden at the Canadian museum of flight, it's a small but respectable aircraft, interestingly it has a mock torpedoe with it.

It looks fine from the side, but from the top you can see the crew's arms hanging out the sides. 🙂

Great story of an unerappreciate aircraft. Reminds me of the Do-17.

A beautiful aircraft.

As an aside, I like how the illustration around 40:20 shows an aircraft interior that is much, much larger than that of the Hampden.

Luv the " Flying Suitcase " , I have a book on how stuff got made back in the day and features the Hampden , it's construction was pretty simple especially the Fuselage One of my favourite first Model Biggies of the Airfix range long time ago ..Good one Rex.

I love these longer form videos!! I know they’re probably a lot more work, but it’s worth it!

Really Like the 3D modeling allowing us to see the whole aircraft from different angles

excellent review of a little known plane

I appreciate this documentary. History pays very little attention to this type of plane but the crews that served and died in them deserve to be remembered. On another note, were you referring to the German Baltic port of Kiel which I believe is pronounced similar to "Key" "All" ?

Excellent, Rex.

They’re quirky, I like ‘em.

Always had a soft spot for the Hampden! 😍🥰😎

Well, it's kinda cute actually... good looking though quirky plane. You have to consider that these are the people who gave us the Harrier, the Mini Cooper, and Rolls Royce products. Quintessential British maintenance and survival nightmares.

I made the airfix model when I was a kid. I liked it the wing planform was really nice looking. I did a good paint job on that one 👍

I like how it looks, I like twin boom airplanes especialy the vampire, the hampden, rear fuselage reminds me of them

Outstanding video! About a mostly forgotten aircraft .