Inside a Halifax Heavy Bomber: Crew, Turrets and Guns [HP Halifax 2/2] 

Hope you enjoyed this episode, it was a blast to shoot. There is another exclusive video with reenactors in original kit manning their crew stations! Check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NaoudEzQfWg.html

My Dad flew the “Jane” as a Flight Lt. in the RCAF 427 Sq. One of the minority that survived his full tour. Flight instructed on Lancs afterwards. He described living in quonset huts in 7 man crews. Return from a mission, 7 empty beds. New crew would come in. Another mission, another 7 empty beds. He said it was like Russian roulette, when was it going to be our turn? A great guy, modest, said he just went to do his duty. A very tough generation. Hats off.

Had the pleasure of knowing a guy who was a navigator on the Halifax. When people asked him about how many missions he flew, he would reply with 6 1/2, but we got the important half done. After a few scotches, he would open up about how petrified he was, his bail out and becoming a “guest” of the Third Reich for two years. He was the sole survivor of his crew. RIP George, you’ve joined the rest of your crew now.

We're really pleased to have helped Christoph with this film. Many people ask what the interior of the Halifax is like and he's done a cool job explaining everything. Great work.

Found this super interesting mate, nicely done!

The Halifax was considered far more escapable then a Lancaster . Years ago I worked with an ex Halifax pilot who was awarded the DFC for bringing his aircraft home on two engines . One thing that has always stuck in my mind was his comment that radials were far better then liquid cooled engines. A single bullet can disable a Merlin by hitting the cooling fluid tank.

Great tour, thanks. My dad flew his 35 ops in a Halifax as a mid upper gunner as Flight Sgt. He flew in 425,432, and 429 RCAF squadrons. His log book shows they were hit by flak a few times and once attacked by a ME 210 night fighter. They crash landed once, flying mostly from Tolthorpe England on night raids. His ops tour ended in Sept 1944. Several times they had spotted P planes , or pilotless planes, the name at the time for the early cruise missiles the Germans fired at England . He never spoke much about the war, and lots of his friends had been shot down and killed or captured. Together we visited the RCAF museum in Trenton Ontario Canada, where they have a very well restored Halifax that had been shot down and sunk in a lake in Scandanavia. It will never fly but it’s great to see the work done to restore it.

This was wonderful to see. I had a cousin who was a 20 year old Royal Canadian Air Force pilot of a Halifax in WW II. He went on a mission over the Mediterranean and never came back and it was never known what happened to him. He was one of the greatest generation.

"Oh my god, the plane is on fire"

Thank you for the tour; my mother lost her cousin, WO2 Peter Maurice Myers, RCAF while on ops with 138 (Special Duty) Squadron in a Halifax in March 1943. While I do not know what position he had (I believe he was the radio operator) This gives me an even greater appreciation for what they expeirenced on their missions.

RIP to those who didn't make home. Brave men, everyone. Still owed their Campaign Medal.

Very interesting. A friend of mine was an upper turret gunner in one of these. He was almost my father in law. His RCAF crew completed 6 missions and was shot down in the battle of Berlin in Dec. of 1944. His whole crew got out of the plane and were then captured and he spent the rest of the war in a prisoner camp. Thanks for the detailed tour.

My late father, Ft Lt John C Davies RAFVR, served as navigator in 102 (Ceylon) Squadron at Pocklington. Dad passed away in 2010 but I'm very pleased to say that the YAM very kindly gave Dad a tour of Friday the 13th shortly before his death. My family will be eternally grateful for that honour.

Being a crew member on the B25 "Panchito" I love seeing people gawk at how tight the inside is. I tell people that it's a war machine made to kill and creature comfort was the last thing thought of.

Dad was a Flight Engineer in 420, Snowy Owl, RCAF, and did a complete tour. Was converting to Lancs when the war ended. I am lucky that I live near Trenton, Ontario where they restored a Halifax and have it on display. Did a great job and because dad and I contributed to get it done, we were invited to the grand opening - was great to see dad looking at the plane and I could see it took him back a lot of years.

There is not normally much information on the Halifax so this is brilliant. My father flew in them and it is amazing to me how he managed after looking at this. What is more remarkable ,is that I flew with him on passenger aircraft in the eighties and if we flew into turbulence he would get sometimes get airsick. I once asked him why he didn't get sick in the Halifax and he replied that he didn't have time to think about.

Thank you so much for this video. My Great Uncle Sam Ross was a tail gunner in a Halifax II that was shot down near Tombeek, Belgium (night of August 28, 1942). Buried in Tombeek with his crew mates. He was 5 foot 11, and I see now that it must have been such an uncomfortable position for him.

The arrangement of dials you mention at 4:48 is known as the "Basic Six", and was common to many British aircraft of the time. Having all your blind-flying instruments arranged in a standardized layout makes retraining on different aircraft easier.

When you see how awkward it is to move around with the aircraft on the ground, imagine it on fire and spinning earthwards. To put on a parachute and eject must have been almost impossible. No wonder they died in their thousands. Brave young men RIP.

Good grief those boys in the rear really had a horrendously scary position. One couldn't imagine trying to get yourself out of there, parachute on, and bail out if the aircraft was in a dive or something whilst on fire. My god brave souls indeed

Wonderful video and extremely enlightening, one of my uncles was a Sergeant Gunner in WW2 and flew as a tail gunner in a Halifax, on his fourth operation the aircraft was hit by antiaircraft guns and he had to bail out at night, with the Halifax on fire I can now try to imagine what he went through that night, unbelievable. Thanks for a very good video.

Thanks for making this. More Canadian Airmen flew in the Handley Page Halifax than any other plane because the British Bomber Command gave the British Squadrons the newer Lancaster way before the Canadians so they kept flying Halifax's. Canadian squadron call-signs began with the number 4 and 6 Bomber Group in northern England was where they were stationed. It could take a lot more damage than the Lanc as my father told me. He flew in Lancs as observer/trainer on combat operations with 434 squadron but he won the DFC before that as an Air Bomber were in "Hallys" at 424 Squadron. The sad part is that there are no flying Halifax's in the world. Most were scrapped by 1947 but some remained with the RAF until 1952 helping out in the Berlin Airlift with six crashing during the humanitarian mission. France, Egypt and Pakistan used them in the postwar Air Forces with the PAF using 16 until either 1954 or 1961.

Nicely done, can't imagine what it would have been like to fly even one mission in this plane. My deepest respect to all of the crews.

Man those poor bastards didn't stand a chance getting out of that. I've met a few RAF Bomber crewman that served during the war, always did wonder why they always had a clinking sound when they walked. Balls of Steel. God Bless'em

13:02 "So yeah, we're bombing the Netherlands" Finally, someone had to

Very good my uncle was a navigator on a Halifax sadly FTR on a mission to Germany in WW2

spoke to a guy who was a tail gunner voluntered to get out of the coal pits at 18, did 34 pathfinder and special missions. his pilot wrote a book i which he is meantioned as they were flying over the north sea at night the radio op let the wire aerial with porcelane type eggs which he saw dragging in the water he told the pilot who looked out the window to see the props starting to pick up the water, pulling up a tad was called for, he passed about four years ago. he said a flight of halifax bombers in formation could fend off fighters effectivley. brave men or should it be boys

This is exactly the kind of content that has been missing from RU-vid! Tanks are well provided by the Chieftain, but there wasn't anything with planes. Thank you very much for this!

Imagine him in a B-17 ball turret...😂 Seriously though, this video made me better respect the job and conditions bomber crews had to deal with!

Outstanding! Now. let's go through some more. My dad was a tail gunner in a B29, Korea. He had a small cart on rails that he would lie on and push his way back to the guns. He told me he mostly read newspapers during flight. We had a B36 on static display at Chanute AFB Illinois. The cockpit was as big as a bus and 25ft high,maybe. That would be a great investigation. Come to the USA. Don't forget the virtual tour of the Air Force museum , on U Tube.

I would love to see a Cheftain style review of aircraft using the "Oh my God, the plane is on fire" test

Thank you and The Yorkshire air museum for this film. My Wife's Great Uncle was a navigator with the pathfinders during WW2 and was shot down over Holland. He survived, and was a lookout on the Great escape. Many years later, his plane was recovered in Holland, and a documentary film was made about it, in which, he and surviving members of the crew met Prince Rupert.

My grandfather was an American b25 squadron captain definitely interested in other wwII bomber videos

Insane, I've always wanted a great interior view like this. Fantastic well done.

Excellent video, sir! One of the surprising things about this exhibit is that it is not original. Out of 6176 Halifaxes produced, not one was preserved, maybe war-starved Britain had other priorities in those very hard early post-war years. This Halifax is a painstaking, meticulous reconstruction, structurally fake and with modern materials, furnished inside with thousands of bits´n´pieces obtained here and there. It was an AMAZING jig-saw construction job, with far more merit than mere preservation of an original survivor. Has one glitch, though, it was not thought to be flown, and could never take to the skies. This "Friday the Thirteenth" (the most famous Halifax which survived the war after an astounding 128 missions to her credit, but did not escape the scrapper´s axe in 1946) will never grace the British skies with her mighty roar. She is basically a 1 : 1 Airfix kit, and an amazingly good one at that. My only doubt is the quasi-Soviet green interior; is it authentic?

I have pictures of my Dad, Flt Lt Lenard Raynsford DFC RCAF, and his crew prior to a mission in their gear standing besides the Halifax. His last mission was August 8th, 1944, it was also his birthday. He was 24.

My great grandfather was a flight lieutenant tail gunner in a RCAF Halifax throughout the Second World War, survived all his missions and lived until 2008 to the age of 93. Never spoke of the war. I have his trunk that was issued to him as well as the large compass you saw sitting between the pilot’s legs in the video, both of which sit by my bed, along the medals framed. Will have to do a bit of research to find what squadron he was in.

Per a F/E who flew 41 ops, the Flight Engineer was trained to be able to take the star shots with the sextant when the navigator needed one.

Brilliant and sobering seeing where my uncle sat as pilot in 1943 before losing his life on Hamburg bombing raid . Just finished reading bomber command so this was good timing . Thank you

Thank you My dad was the pilot. When he was 93 he squeezed into the tail turret of a Lancaster!

Outstanding work by a thoroughly conversant narrator, on an unsung RAF Bomber Command aircraft.

oh man, new chieftain here, OH MY GOD THE PLANE IS ON FIRE

Thanks very much for this video. My father was F/O Navigator (British) with 4 Canadian crew on a 158 squadron Halifax 3 MZ 374. The pilot was F/O C.J.P.Ramsey. Never talked much about the war except for being shot down over Essen. Vey brave men all.

My grandfather was in the Pathfinders....WOP\AG 35 Squadron. This was his office. Thanks for this

It seems like whomever designed the navigator's position had a son who was a navigator or something. "We'll give 'em a chair, because I know he likes to sit, a little lamp, because I know he likes to see, and an escape hatch, because I know he likes to be alive."

Excellent. The Hallifax is the forgotten hero of WW2 in the skies. Thanks for re living the memories for us and I hope you didn't get too many bruises, whilst presenting this.

Really enjoyed the info! I'm very envious because I have visited this Halifax many times, but never been aboard. My interest comes from the fact my Uncle was a Wireless Operator aboard a Halifax III that flew from RAF Pocklington a few miles away from the museum (Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington). He and 5 of his crew were killed, returning from a raid on Stuttgart, 25/7/1944. Your film shows how difficult it was to get around inside the cramped plane, and how difficult it would have been to escape - in the dark, shot up, and spinning or upside down. In my Uncles crew, only the rear gunner got out, by rotating his turret and baling out backwards. The rear gunners report stated he shouted for instructions from the crew when they got shot up, and the only voice he heard was from the bomb aimer who said he was hit. If, as you state, the bomb aimer only had contact with the wireless operator during a mission, then my uncle must have been injured or killed before the RG made the decision to grab his 'chute, spin his turret, and bale out. I hope this was the case as the Halifax crashed in flames soon after. My Father always believed his brother had been burned alive. But I think it more likely he was killed in the air, or died on impact. None could be identified in the wreckage, so all remains were buried in a communal grave in Eure, France. Thanks again for putting the time in to show the younger generation around the Halifax. Thousands were made, but only two are still around to view. An amazing memorial to the Many who flew her. RIP the 55,500 of Bomber Command who gave up their lives for Europe's freedom. They were all intelligent guys too. The RAF only selected the cleverest out of all the volunteers, then put them through two years training. In my Uncles case it was 2 yrs training, and dead within two months on ops. Not many were out of there 20's. My Uncle Bob, who I never got to meet, was just short of his 21st birthday. Over and out. x

My uncle was a rear gunner in 1 of these. Sadly he died in 1944, he was in 76 squadron... its amazing to see inside, thankyou

This has to be one of the most underrated channels on RU-vid

How the hell the aircrew managed it every night and then to try and bail out if the aircraft was on fire or badly damaged? Great respect for them.

One of my great uncles was in the Royal Canadian Air Force and he was part of a Halifax crew, having been assigned the post of dorsal gunner. He was killed in action as his aircraft was blown out of the sky during a bombing mission over Berlin on the night of January 29, 1944, aged just 32 years. Lest we forget. Your video gives me a very good sense of the aircraft that he served in.

Beautiful Aircraft, my Granddad flew these, its nice to see where he would have sat.

That Mid Upper Turret looks like a right death trap to try and escape from in an Emergency. It was also a prime target for fighters given the roundel just below.

My grandmother's cousin, on my father's side, was a pilot during WWII of one of these. During my first trip in France back in 2007 I went to his crew memorial located in Lesquielles-Saint-Germain. He was shot down on the 17th of april 1943, at the age of 22 on his 15th mission. 36 out of 327 planes were lost that night for that mission. Could you imagine 327 of these flying towards the same objective at the same time and their payload? (ok maybe not all of them were Halifax but sill!) Your video my friend, gave me the chill! It was really awesome! I would have gave it a rate of 100% if you would had seated in the pilot's position with your GoPro! With that, I could have had a little look of ''what it was like'' being in his position back in the days. But nevertheless, +1 sub mate!

Having just seen that rear gunner position, my already high respect for the bravery of those "Tail End Charlie" guys has increased 10-fold. My dad always told me that was just about the worst job on a bomber,

Excellent video, great aircraft... My stepfather was in the RAF at a Halifax base and after the war they were all being flown off to Wales to be scrapped. One of the aircraft had a defective engine so they go a brand new engine out of stores, fitted it, made several air tests to make sure it was airworthy then flew it off to Wales to be scrapped. What a shame they didn't save a few...

just the thought of the Navigator and the turret operator getting bored on a long flight, and just making faces at each other from their own little bubbles.

Really fascinating. My 1st cousin, once removed, Sgt Geoffrey Jandron, was an air gunner in the RCAF, based at Elvington. Sadly, HR841 collided with a night fighter over Berlin, causing the plane and crew to be lost on 29th Jan 1944.

My Dad's cousin was a flight engineer in a Halifax with 640 squadron out of Leconfield, FTR on 14th Feb 1945,1st and last mission.Buried in Durnbach War cemetery.

My Mother's cousin "Don Burgess" was on his 3rd tour as a mid-upper gunner when the war ended.

Excellent video. I've had a tour of the Lancaster that's on display here in West Australia, and I have to say the Halifax's interior is capacious in comparison. I'm about your height and I struggled to navigate myself over all the ancillaries and the wing spar, and that's without the plane's movement in flight. How anyone managed to get out in time in an emergency situation..... The crews were incredible people, flying night after night.

Found it very interesting. Thanks! Just for future concideration: It is a bomber, would like to have seen the bomb holding area.

My uncle Alan Gordon Hopson 19 was a tail gun operator in a Halifax, And flew in 1942 to Germany on a bombing run and did not return.

My father-in-law was a radio operator on Halifax. Thank you for showing his station, I just just imagine him climbing in and out, trust him to have a nice seat.

I really liked this video! The bombers destination, Zwolle in the Netherlands is actually my hometown. I live only a few minutes away from a block of streets called the "Pilotenbuurt". Here all the streets are named after Pilots and aircrew members who have died flying near Zwolle during the second world war.

Great vid! I think a special episode about autopilots used during ww2 could be really interesting!

Thank you! Thank you! I really enjoyed the tour of the Halifax as it was the A/C that my Uncle John flew in during the war. He was a bombardier and had the unfortunate experience of being shot down and spending 18 months in POW camp.

Thank you for the video. Dad was a rear gunner on Halifaxes in 35 squadron Pathfinder Force. He completed 88 operations (on other aircraft too) and was awarded the DFC. It was interesting to see where dad spent so much time going to Germany, Italy and others.

Love the handley page halifax my great grandma was a bomb rack inspector in a factory where they produced these beauties

Could you do a video about the decals for bombers and fighters that indicate how many planes they shot down etc? For example, why are some of the bombs different colors? Do the aircraft kills follow the pilot or the plane? What about shared kills, who gets the credit? Thanks!

My great uncle Harry was a wireless operator/EW officer on Halifaxes during the war. My father went to a museum with him once and my dad had organised a surprise, that he be allowed to go inside the museum's Halifax to revisit his memories. He steadfastly refused to step inside it and said "I've promised Jean I'll never get inside one of those bloody awful things ever again. I almost died in one on 30 separate occasions and I won't tempt fate". Jean being his wife. Up to that point the family mythos was that Harry was the family war hero; this was their first window into the reality, that the people in the air were terrified, the people on the ground were terrified, that whole thing was just bloody awful. Arthur Harris said in later life "I hope this helps to keep people out of these sorts of riots; they never do anybody any good in the end.". Great video, fantastic insights.

My great uncle was a rear gunner on a Halifax! I've never seen the inside of one. Thank you!

The Lancaster was even harder to escape from in an emergency as it had even smaller escape hatches.

"Direction finder thingy" is now my new personal favorite word for a compass. ;))

My grandpa piloted the Halifax in 1942. He was with the 434 Squadron. Thanks for making this video!

My great grandad was a navigator inside of a Halifax during the war. Absolutely amazing to finally see inside of the aircraft he flew in 👍

Great video I really enjoyed it !!!! Makes you realise what those bomber crews went through and why so many never returned home !!

Awesome vid. It feels entirety different when you can actually see the interior of a ww2 bomber and the tasks of a crew members, as compared to just the exterior.

One of the most interesting facts about the Halifax was that Sir Handley-Page himself hated the Merlin engine when everybody else seemed to want it dearly. He wanted the Bristol Hercules sleeve-valve engines, already fitted on the Short Stirling, but for all early Halifaxes was forced to take the Merlin instead. In principle he was right, since early Hercules engines offered more power than early Merlins and, typical of air-cooled radials, could sustain more battle damage than liquid-cooled V12s. Early Halifaxes suffered from fatal crashes due to handling vices. Aerodynamically revised later Halifaxes all had the much-desired Hercules and were quite successful. In contrast, Lancasters fitted with the Herc radials were not considered a success. Compared to the Lancaster, the Halifax had two drawbacks: a lower ceiling, making it more vulnerable to enemy Flak. Development of high altitude fighter engine supercharger design had been of great benefit to the Rolls-Royce Merlins. Second, it didn't have the unobstructed extra large bomb bay like the Lancaster. Therefore it could not drop large single bombs like the Tallboy which sank the German battleship Tirpitz

Thank u for that tour!My uncle flew in a Halifax as a radio operator in 35 squadron,the Pathfinders back in 1943.He was on his second tour of duty when he was killed in action on 29th.December 1943.After watching your video I’m thinking I’ll visit the museum myself.Again-many thanks.

Fantastic episode. I really enjoy Nick Moran's Inside the tanks series of videos simply because showing how the crews had operate the machine is just much more tangible when you can actually see it. Imagine trying to get out of that turret with the plane spiralling to earth? Not easily would be my guess.. It gives you a lot more respect for the men in there. Planes are my first love so I would be thrilled to see if you could do more videos like this. Anyway great content as ever. Good hunting.

Great video! I learned so much from this video

My great grandfather was a Scottish pilot during the war and near the beginning he flew the Sunderland Flying boat, an impressively large naval bomber which was mainly used as an anti sub marine plane. Later in the war, he was retrained and re-enlisted in a Halifax crew, he was both the radio operator and the rear gunner at different times in the war and he earned a medal for his bravery in shooting down an enemy aircraft. I wish I could have talked to him more than I did as I was very young when he passed away but after the war he became an ordinary school head master and from what little I remember and from what I am told he was a very nice man. He once jokingly commented to a Beligian friend of my family that he actually bombed her home town lol, to which I hope she laughed but in all honesty he was always respectful to German people and as far as I know held no hatred towards them.

man, watching this all I can think is: imagine if the voice chatter inside the bombers had been recorded. it would have been terrifying to hear the recordings of ones that got shot down. gives me chills

The "oh my god, the plane is on fire!" drill on that thing looks like hell.

I really want more of these, this is one of the best videos i've spend my time on this year. ( also made a halifax model not long ago ).

My Dad was a navigator with No. 6 Group , which was an RCAF squadron, during 1943. -1944. His last mission was August 8th, 1944 which was also his birthday. He was 24.

My dad flew a Halifax with radials from RAF Snaith ; thank you for a great presentation

What a brilliant channel.

Now you've got to go to Hamilton, Ontario and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum to fly in their Lancaster and take the WW2 bomber tour to the next level.

My Uncle was a rear gunner in a Halifax, shot down and killed over Holland when I was 3 months old in 1943. He was in 51 sqdn. out of Snaith and I visit his grave in the Netherlands quite frequently. Much respect to the Dutch people who tend his and crew mates graves and the interest group who have provided me with much information. Thank you for this very interesting video.

Imagine gettting out of one of these bombers under fire heading to the ground. This gives desperation a whole new meaning.

This was just excellent Bis, thank you 👍

Amazing video iron cross for you. Wee need more videos about bombers, it was rely interesting

Thank you so much for your work making this, my father was a radio operator on a Halifax in the 624 squadron in Blida Algeria in 1944/45. I can now appreciate how cramped it must have been. Well done!

I remember that I had some relative or ancestor who was a tail gunner in a Lancaster. He lived through the war, too.

The dorsal and tail gunner's position triggers my claustrophobia. Not fun.

Great video. Very interesting.

Fascinating video, and so well done. Thanks for the tour of this amazing aircraft. My dad flew as a turret gunner with RAAF 466 Squadron out of Yorkshire, also on Wellingtons, and this was a great insight into what these brave lads endured.

Thank you! My late father was Arthur (MaC) McArthur LAC 432 sqd Eastmoor. His aircraft was "G" for George. Dad and I supported the Halifax Aircraft Association, when they were recovering and restoring the "spy" Halifax in Trenton Ontario. I had always wondered what the interior looked like. Now i know. He told me the Hali was designed for the Merlin engines and after the war, was tested with 4 and it out performed the Lancasters. Thanks Again!!