Senior Pilot
31st Mar 2009, 05:43
This article appeared in the ex Air Gunner's/WAGs web page, courtesy of the Canadian Air Museum:
THE TOP SECRET TRUTH OF THE HALIFAX IV BOMBER
Based upon the writing and memoirs of Mr. Harry Thomas Esq. (RAF Retd.)
~ Edited by Chief Technician David Curry RAF ~
During October 1995, I researched the loss of a 102 Squadron Halifax 111 heavy bomber, based at Pocklington. My investigations revealed that the particular aircraft and its crew were shot down by flax while attacking Koblenz, the seven man crew were lost. While obtaining information from the Public Archives Office relating to this bomber, I came across a previous top secret classified document detailing the formation of a specialist and highly unusual Halifax bomber squadron in Yorkshire. The document revealed that from mid 1943 a special high altitude day bomber force of 20 Halifax 1V's were operating from Marston Moor airfield. The unit was not assigned a squadron number, but was merely identifies as S (Special) Squadron, and was administratively controlled by 4 Group HQ of RAF Bomber Command. The document said that the Halifax 1V had been designed to fly at high speed, extreme altitudes, and was fitted with very special engines. Similarly, they contained the latest in blind bombing aids, namely H2X, and were fitted with the high altitude tachometer bombsight.
Upon checking I found that the only entry I could find describing the Halifax 1V was, and I quote, "Halifax 1V - Experimental aircraft built for the purpose of testing new engine mountings". This seemed rather odd as I had read archives saying that they were conducting operations to Germany from 1943 to the end of the war. I next approached the Air Research Branch in London and gained access to previously classified government papers relating to a meeting, held in 1942, of a committee
set up to discuss the design of a new type of bomber. Shortly afterwards I was introduced, through the 4566 Sqn. association, to a Mr. Harry Thomas, who, as a young man, had served with 466 Sqn., 35 Sqn., and then S Sqdn. The story he told me regarding the introduction to service of the Halifax 1V must surely be one of the strangest to be uncovered from World War Two.
Prior to joining the RAF in 1940, Harry Thomas was a trainee Fireman/Stoker working on the foot plate of the LNER. At the outbreak of the war he joined up hoping to become a pilot, but after selection ended up as a flight engineer destined for Bomber Command. After completion of his training in Canada, Harry Thomas commenced his flying career on Hampdens and then on Wellington bombers. His Squadron then re-equipped with the new four-engined "heavy" Halifax 1, and the entire Squadron underwent HCU (heavy conversion unit). He did not realize at the time but his pre-war and wartime training would introduce him to one of the best kept secrets of the war. The advent of the four-engined heavy bombers meant that more and more 100 octane fuel was needed, and this while our convoys were still suffering terrible losses carrying fuel from the USA. Invetiably, something had to give. Just as petroleum and oil would prove to be the Achilles heel of Germany towards the end of the war, it was also causing concern within Bomber Command.. A solution was sought at the highest level of government and many scientist and learned bodies were approached. Eventually, a Junior Minister of Fuel and Production, named Stephenson, suggested we utilize our most abundnt fuel supply, namely, coal. The Germans were producing thousands of tons of aviation spirit every month from coal, but it ws a very inefficient method and only viable because of the vast European stocks on hand. Unfortunately, the German fuel was low octane, and while the enemy's engines were designed to run on low grade petrol, our engines were not and would suffer irrepairable damage. Similarly, the conversion of so many of our refineries to the method would cause too much disruption to our already hard pressed fuel output.
Experts from the Air Ministry and Industry joined forces and came up with the surprising solution by re-designing the already proven and tested Sentinal Super-heated steam engine. After much experimenting it was found that two Sentinal engines could, via the use of drive shafts and adapted gear boxes drive four propellers. One engine would be located within the inner ort and starboard nacelle of the heavy bomber and, drive shafts running through the central wing spar, would drive the two outer gear boxes and propellers. The vertical boiler driving the two engines was located behind the main spar inside the fuselage and, although heavy, was surprisingly compact and able to be fed coal from the top by a single stoker. The water required to produce the steam could be stored in the redundant petrol tanks to the capacity of 2000 gallons, and coal could be positioned within the fuselage and wing roots. A novel feature of the aircraft was that pipes of super heated steam were routed through the leading wing edges to prevent icing. The auxiliary equipment, turrets, bomb doors, undercarriage, etc. all previously powered by hydraulics, would now operate under steam pressure. Electrical circuits were fed from a generator located along side the port engine. While the Avro Lancaster was ultimately to become the most famous of the heavies, the Halifax was by far the stronger aeroplane and more flexible. It became the obvious test bed for the hybrid bomber. So was born the Halifax 1V with its revolutionary engines, strengthened fuselage, and increased wing span to assist in its high altitude role. Initially only two Halifax 1V's were built to specification but, after testing, the Air Ministry realized they had a heavy bomber capable of hitting German targets almost with impunity. The climb rate was relatively slow due to the weight, but it could cruise comfortably at 40,000 feet and had an absolute ceiling of 42,000 feet, loaded. Its speed was even more remarkable at 450 mph cruising and just over 500 mph flat out. 20 aircraft were ordered from Handley Page. Recruitment/training of crews began by late 1942. Flight Engineer Sgt. Thomas was posted to Marston Moor airfield, near York in November 1942. The Engineering Officer, Sqn. Ldr. "Steamer" Gargill, welcomed Harry and others to Marston Moor and briefed them on their new and highly secret
aircraft. It proved to be an eye-opener as the Haliflax1V looked so normal, except it had "large wings, the inboard engine nacelles were bigger than the outboard ones, there appeared to be only two exhaust ports, and in place of the upper turret, there was a small circular funnel. As the Flight Engineer/Stoker, Harry was now issued a new brevet inscribed "FES".
Flying training began almost at once in order to familiarize the crews with their new aircraft. For most, the conversion to the Halifax 1V was straight forward and not that difficult; however, they all marveled at the aircraft's performance when carrying its 8000 lbs. bomb load. The crews were taught to replenish water stocks by flying through clouds where, with their steam cooling radiators fully open, thus killing two birds with one stone so to say, the radiator, acting as a condenser, with the cold thick cloud taking the heat out of the steam and the cloud then turning into distilled water, they could top up their tanks.
The only draw back of the aircraft was that it left a vapor trail at all altitudes and was clearly visible to all. For training sorties they burned normal coal which left a dark smoke trail, but for operations they loaded up with 5 tons of smoke-less coal which was produced from the nearby Coalite works at Wetherby. Fully loaded, the Halifax 1V had endurance, at cruising speed/altitude, of almost 6 hours. This was more than enough to attack the most distant German targets.
(to be continued)
THE TOP SECRET TRUTH OF THE HALIFAX IV BOMBER
Based upon the writing and memoirs of Mr. Harry Thomas Esq. (RAF Retd.)
~ Edited by Chief Technician David Curry RAF ~
During October 1995, I researched the loss of a 102 Squadron Halifax 111 heavy bomber, based at Pocklington. My investigations revealed that the particular aircraft and its crew were shot down by flax while attacking Koblenz, the seven man crew were lost. While obtaining information from the Public Archives Office relating to this bomber, I came across a previous top secret classified document detailing the formation of a specialist and highly unusual Halifax bomber squadron in Yorkshire. The document revealed that from mid 1943 a special high altitude day bomber force of 20 Halifax 1V's were operating from Marston Moor airfield. The unit was not assigned a squadron number, but was merely identifies as S (Special) Squadron, and was administratively controlled by 4 Group HQ of RAF Bomber Command. The document said that the Halifax 1V had been designed to fly at high speed, extreme altitudes, and was fitted with very special engines. Similarly, they contained the latest in blind bombing aids, namely H2X, and were fitted with the high altitude tachometer bombsight.
Upon checking I found that the only entry I could find describing the Halifax 1V was, and I quote, "Halifax 1V - Experimental aircraft built for the purpose of testing new engine mountings". This seemed rather odd as I had read archives saying that they were conducting operations to Germany from 1943 to the end of the war. I next approached the Air Research Branch in London and gained access to previously classified government papers relating to a meeting, held in 1942, of a committee
set up to discuss the design of a new type of bomber. Shortly afterwards I was introduced, through the 4566 Sqn. association, to a Mr. Harry Thomas, who, as a young man, had served with 466 Sqn., 35 Sqn., and then S Sqdn. The story he told me regarding the introduction to service of the Halifax 1V must surely be one of the strangest to be uncovered from World War Two.
Prior to joining the RAF in 1940, Harry Thomas was a trainee Fireman/Stoker working on the foot plate of the LNER. At the outbreak of the war he joined up hoping to become a pilot, but after selection ended up as a flight engineer destined for Bomber Command. After completion of his training in Canada, Harry Thomas commenced his flying career on Hampdens and then on Wellington bombers. His Squadron then re-equipped with the new four-engined "heavy" Halifax 1, and the entire Squadron underwent HCU (heavy conversion unit). He did not realize at the time but his pre-war and wartime training would introduce him to one of the best kept secrets of the war. The advent of the four-engined heavy bombers meant that more and more 100 octane fuel was needed, and this while our convoys were still suffering terrible losses carrying fuel from the USA. Invetiably, something had to give. Just as petroleum and oil would prove to be the Achilles heel of Germany towards the end of the war, it was also causing concern within Bomber Command.. A solution was sought at the highest level of government and many scientist and learned bodies were approached. Eventually, a Junior Minister of Fuel and Production, named Stephenson, suggested we utilize our most abundnt fuel supply, namely, coal. The Germans were producing thousands of tons of aviation spirit every month from coal, but it ws a very inefficient method and only viable because of the vast European stocks on hand. Unfortunately, the German fuel was low octane, and while the enemy's engines were designed to run on low grade petrol, our engines were not and would suffer irrepairable damage. Similarly, the conversion of so many of our refineries to the method would cause too much disruption to our already hard pressed fuel output.
Experts from the Air Ministry and Industry joined forces and came up with the surprising solution by re-designing the already proven and tested Sentinal Super-heated steam engine. After much experimenting it was found that two Sentinal engines could, via the use of drive shafts and adapted gear boxes drive four propellers. One engine would be located within the inner ort and starboard nacelle of the heavy bomber and, drive shafts running through the central wing spar, would drive the two outer gear boxes and propellers. The vertical boiler driving the two engines was located behind the main spar inside the fuselage and, although heavy, was surprisingly compact and able to be fed coal from the top by a single stoker. The water required to produce the steam could be stored in the redundant petrol tanks to the capacity of 2000 gallons, and coal could be positioned within the fuselage and wing roots. A novel feature of the aircraft was that pipes of super heated steam were routed through the leading wing edges to prevent icing. The auxiliary equipment, turrets, bomb doors, undercarriage, etc. all previously powered by hydraulics, would now operate under steam pressure. Electrical circuits were fed from a generator located along side the port engine. While the Avro Lancaster was ultimately to become the most famous of the heavies, the Halifax was by far the stronger aeroplane and more flexible. It became the obvious test bed for the hybrid bomber. So was born the Halifax 1V with its revolutionary engines, strengthened fuselage, and increased wing span to assist in its high altitude role. Initially only two Halifax 1V's were built to specification but, after testing, the Air Ministry realized they had a heavy bomber capable of hitting German targets almost with impunity. The climb rate was relatively slow due to the weight, but it could cruise comfortably at 40,000 feet and had an absolute ceiling of 42,000 feet, loaded. Its speed was even more remarkable at 450 mph cruising and just over 500 mph flat out. 20 aircraft were ordered from Handley Page. Recruitment/training of crews began by late 1942. Flight Engineer Sgt. Thomas was posted to Marston Moor airfield, near York in November 1942. The Engineering Officer, Sqn. Ldr. "Steamer" Gargill, welcomed Harry and others to Marston Moor and briefed them on their new and highly secret
aircraft. It proved to be an eye-opener as the Haliflax1V looked so normal, except it had "large wings, the inboard engine nacelles were bigger than the outboard ones, there appeared to be only two exhaust ports, and in place of the upper turret, there was a small circular funnel. As the Flight Engineer/Stoker, Harry was now issued a new brevet inscribed "FES".
Flying training began almost at once in order to familiarize the crews with their new aircraft. For most, the conversion to the Halifax 1V was straight forward and not that difficult; however, they all marveled at the aircraft's performance when carrying its 8000 lbs. bomb load. The crews were taught to replenish water stocks by flying through clouds where, with their steam cooling radiators fully open, thus killing two birds with one stone so to say, the radiator, acting as a condenser, with the cold thick cloud taking the heat out of the steam and the cloud then turning into distilled water, they could top up their tanks.
The only draw back of the aircraft was that it left a vapor trail at all altitudes and was clearly visible to all. For training sorties they burned normal coal which left a dark smoke trail, but for operations they loaded up with 5 tons of smoke-less coal which was produced from the nearby Coalite works at Wetherby. Fully loaded, the Halifax 1V had endurance, at cruising speed/altitude, of almost 6 hours. This was more than enough to attack the most distant German targets.
(to be continued)