HP Hastings

HASTINGS TG536

wasnt this hastings a part of the Ulster Aviation Museum at some point?what happened to this collection?

‘A York wing was damaged at RAAF Richmond, NSW, back in the 1950s and a RAAF LINCOLN wing was installed on the aircraft temporarily!’
Blimey the Lincoln had very different wings to the Lancaster/York

The York wing always looks exactly the same as a Lancaster wing…..which of course it is!

A York wing was damaged at RAAF Richmond, NSW, back in the 1950s and a RAAF LINCOLN wing was installed on the aircraft temporarily!

Don’t know if it got back to the UK alright – or what happened to our wing.

Bri 😉

I didn’t know the Halifax and Hastings wings were that closely related as they never ‘look’ the same but as you say the undercarriage is different and the Hastings seems so dominated by the huge underslung nacelles plus the four-bladed props and spinners. 🙂

Whenever I’ve compared profiles the Halifax also has a marked dihedral to the outer wing whereas the wing of the Hastings is straight.

The York wing always looks exactly the same as a Lancaster wing…..which of course it is!

CD

The Hastings was developed from the Halifax during the war and used a new fuselage. First design was using Halifax wings and tail but later a single fin arrangement was decided upon. In a way it was the same way AVRO developed the York by using standard Lancaster wings and empennage.

The larger diameter fuselage of the Hastings/Hermes made some changes to the centresection near the flaps and the span of the intermediate wingsection between the inner and outer engines was wider. And the engine nacelles were underslung. Although the undercarriage was also Messier it used a slimmer casting so looks a bit unusual compared to the Halifax.

But apart from that the wings are exactly the same and even have the same partnumber prefix 57 being the Halifax. So a large part of the original Halifax design soldiered on into the seventies, well how about that.:)
I was told by Karl Kjarsgaard that a Hastings centre section was extant in a Malta scrapyard a few years ago.

Cheers

Cees

The aircraft was retired from Transport Command in ’68 but a number carried on in Bomber Command. I recall seeing 4 of them at Waddo around ’75 or ’76. I believe the preserved examples actually flew to their museums.

David

Yes the last time I saw one was when a Hastings rumbled out of the snow and gloom in Dec 76 at Marham whilst doing a ‘Round Robin’ for xmas leave personnel!!The weather was truly appalling and I was really impressed with the ability of the crew to operate in those conditions.

Cheers Baz

I wouldn’t trust myself with a Hastings as I would want to rob it of ít’s wings and turn them into a Halifax.

How similar are the wings of the Hastings and the Halifax?

I know the Elvington Halifax has Hastings wings but then there wasn’t any alternative really.

and another in Auckland i believe.

Just the nose section and one engine/undercarriage module, at MoTAT.

Brawdy 1976

I was on summer camp with 342 squadron ATC in that blazing summer of 76.
We got the usual flights in Chipmunks, and i bagged 20 minutes in an Air Sea Rescue Whirlwind chopper. Brawdy was then operational with Hawker Hunters.
Some days before the camp finished we watched a Hastings land and park up on the ramp. The next day we were told at breakfast that flights would be made throughout the day, and 140 names were put in a cap, and drawn out. I was lucky and was amongst the first of i think cadets 40 to fly. Sitting inside we watched one engine after the other haul itself to life. One of the port engines i forget which ,turned and turned and ejected some great flames, before it expired. Imagine the disappointment to be told it had gone “tech” and there would be no flying. She was still on the ramp three days later when we left for London. I do remember the steep haul up the fuselage isle, rather like a DC3. The closest i ever got to flying in a big four engined piston, ah well!

The SCBS at Scampton, had the following Hastings:
TG505(St Athan),TG511(To Cosford 16/8/77)TG553(Fairford dump)TG568(Bedford dump)TG503(Gatow Museum 29/6/77)TG517(Newark Air Museum 22/6/77)TG536(Catterick dump).

RAE Farnborough used C.2 WD480 till it’s last flight 31/8/74.WD499 of the RRE Pershore was retired 29/9/74. I can remember seeing both these machines parked weekending at RAE Bedford 1973/4.

Boscombe retired their Hastings in 1972, TG500 and TG502 both having Argosy type thimble noses and WD496.

The remains of TG568 at Bedford went into the rebuild of the Elvington Museum Halifax 3.

The aircraft was retired from Transport Command in ’68 but a number carried on in Bomber Command. I recall seeing 4 of them at Waddo around ’75 or ’76. I believe the preserved examples actually flew to their museums.

David

To be precise, all were retired from ‘Air Support Command’ at the end of 1967 and the T.5s with the Bomber Command Bombing School continued with the Strike Command Bombing School after 1st April 1968 until being retired in ’77.
The last two C.1As TG503 and TG568 were the last two in service and single examples soldiered on with A&AEE,RAE and RRE at Boscombe Down, Farnborough and Pershore until the early ’70s. Alas, by that time the remainly airframes were fatigued and no one wanted the costly task of operating antiquated piston transports after the mid-70s.

Don’t forget the Kiwis of the RNZAF flew them too. Often saw them (and RAF Far East ones) transitting Darwin in 60/61.

Saw BIG Maori crew member in our bar and said “Christ mate, are you all that size? ” Reply “No mate, I’m only a little one.”

Hastings ‘bomber’ (as described in Darwin newspaper due its glazed nose) could certainly carry a load!

Bri 😀

Cees, you promised the next set of Hastings wings would go onto the Hermes at Duxford !** 🙂

Oops, yes you are correct, Ok the second set will be butchered then
😮
Cheers
Cees

Cees, you promised the next set of Hastings wings would go onto the Hermes at Duxford !** 🙂

I wouldn’t trust myself with a Hastings as I would want to rob it of ít’s wings and turn them into a Halifax.
:p :p :p
Cheers

Cees

The last in service were the T5 bombing trainers and these were retired in 1977.
The lack of any civilian type certification would have really prevented any potential sales post RAF use, especially for an aircraft that had no special capability such as nose loading doors and STOL capabilty.

Richard

They along wth Vickers Varsities, were operational with 6FTS at Finningley as (very noisy) flying classrooms for bomb aiming and navigator training until at least the end of 1975.

Used to regularly disrupt my lessons in school through the early 1970s, growling about over NE England. 🙂

Just wondered if there was any reason why the Hastings didn’t carry on in civilian use when the military disposed of them? Had they all reached the end of their fatigue life, or was there just no interest?
It’s one of the big pistons that I would LOVE to see fly again!!!

Edited… I have just been looking. 151 made and 13 crashed… thats nearly 10%… Is that good o bad for an aircraft that that era?

Some of the history of the Hastybird here with some associated pages, successful for the amount of hours and miles flown

http://splashdown2.tripod.com/id30.html

Hastings

Certainly they were flying as navigation trainers at RAF Lindholme in 1972, I had three flights in one of the ‘old girls’ during an ATC summer camp.

The aircraft was retired from Transport Command in ’68 but a number carried on in Bomber Command. I recall seeing 4 of them at Waddo around ’75 or ’76. I believe the preserved examples actually flew to their museums.

David