In 1964, my boss told me that his father in law was a machinist at Handley Page and that he was still producing spares for the Halifax.

As we speak :-)
Quite a surprise !
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0784aa4fb1.jpg

Weird, I was chatting to someone only last who flew the BBMF Lancaster..

no wonder they went bust.................

N.B. that a number of Hastings components still had inherited Halifax reference numbers.
H.P went " bust" partly because Sir Fred refused to amalgamate. IIRC The RAF preferred the military HPR 7 Herald to the HS 780 ( Andover) variant .
(Sir Fred and I shook hands at Farnborough in 1961 , but that is another story :) )

I was on the Coastal Command Com Flt stationed at CC HQ at Northwood in 1961 when I went to a dining in night where Sir Fred was the guest of honour. He had just lost the Herald/RAF battle with the HS780 and I seem to remember his speech was rather bitter as it looked like the end for Handley Page. Many years later I flew the Herald out of Gatwick for a short time and was very surprised by it good flying characteristics.

PA474 will fly commemoration flight(s) on 4th of May above Belgium and the Netherlands.
On 4th of May we commemorate all fallen during all wars. On 5th May we celebrate our liberation from WWII.
PA474 4th May

"H.P went " bust" partly because Sir Fred refused to amalgamate"

And he'd been told for a long time that the UK industry just couldn't support so many individual organisations. The waste was enormous - FOUR medium jet bombers designed and built for example - and whoever though that Miles would be a good choice for designing and building the first supersonic aircraft the M.52?

Whoever thought that Miles would be a good choice was obviously a genius - because he was right.