Halifax mk II

No, its a base-line Halifax Mk II Series I… the Mk I had no dorsal turret. The Mk II Series I (Special) and Mk II Series IA were the ones without the nose turret.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_halifax_mkII.html

B Mk II Series 1 (HP 59)

The main change made to the Mk II Halifax was the use of the 1,280 hp Merlin XX engine, giving a significant performance boost over the Mk I. Amongst the improvements was a 3,000 feet increase in the service ceiling, bringing it up to 21,000 feet. The majority of Mk II Series I aircraft also had a new dorsal turret, the Boulton Paul C, in place of the beam guns that could be carried on the Mk I. The Mk II entered service in October 1941.

B Mk II Series 1 (Special)

The Mk II Series 1 Special was the result of concerted efforts at Boscombe Down to reduce the weight and drag of the Halifax, to improve performance. The most obvious visual change was the removal of the front gun turret, and its replacement by a smooth fairing, known as the “Z Fairing” due to the shape of the framework used to attach it to the aircraft. This was often combined with the removal of the dorsal turret, and increased the speed of the Halifax by 16 mph. As a indication of how significant small changes could be, the removal of one layer of rough finish paint (RDM2 black) from the Halifax increased the top speed by another 5 mph! The Mk II (Special) entered squadron service in the autumn of 1942. The Mk II (Special) was produced in parallel with the Mk V Series 1 (Special), which was identical apart from its undercarriage.

B Mk II Series 1a

The Mk II Series 1a entered service during June 1943. It saw a final refinement of the Halifax’s nose. The Z-fairing of the Series 1 Special was replaced by a clear plastic one piece nose cone. This gave the bomb aimer much more space. It also allowed the fitting of a single Vickers .303 K gun, mostly for morale purposes. The Boulton Paul C turret was also replaced by the Boulton Paul A Mk VIII turret, which was rather more streamlined. The Mk II Series 1a also saw another new engine appear, this time the Merlin 22, capable of providing 1,480 hp at 12,500 ft.

A final significant change came during the production run of the Mk II Series 1a. Earlier versions of the Halifax had demonstrated a dangerous tendency to spin at low speeds. This was tracked down to the design of the rudder and the entire tail. The response was to replace the original tail design with a new “D” shaped fin, increasing the size of the control surfaces and reducing the danger. The Mk II Series 1a also had an equivalent Mk V Series 1a.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/halifax.html

Armament:
Halifax Mk. I:
Two .303 in. Brownings in nose turret.
Four .303 in. Brownings in tail turret.
Two .303 in. Brownings manually aimed from beam positions.

Halifax Mk. II:
Two .303 in. Brownings in nose turret.
Four .303 in. Brownings in tail turret.
Two .303 in. Brownings in Hudson type dorsal turret.

Halifax Mk. II Srs 1 Special:
One .303 in. Vickers K manually in nose.
Four .303 in. Brownings in tail turret.
Four .303 in. Brownings in Defiant type dorsal turret.

Halifax GR.II Srs 1A:
One .50 in. Browning manually in nose.
Four .303 in. Brownings in tail turret.
Four .303 in. Brownings in Defiant type dorsal turret.

Aren’t those Mk.I’s?? I always thought the II had the turretless nose and the B&P upper turrets.

Easy, type in Handley Page Halifax Mk II in Google images and hey presto!

Cheers
Cees