100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 53Top
The RAF Museum’s
Halifax W1048 ‘S-for-
Sugar’ on its ‘lake
bed’ at Hendon. It
is profi led in the
narrative.
RAF MUSEUM
http://www.rafmuseum.orgLeft
Crowded Tarrant
Rushton during the
D-Day operation
with Airspeed
Horsa and General
Aircraft Hamilcar
assault gliders
ready for towing to
the beachhead. The
Halifaxes are Mk.Vs
of 298 and 644
Squadrons; at the
head of the line-up
is Rootes-built LL402
‘F-for-Freddie’ of 644
Squadron. KECLeft
English Electric-built
Halifax II Series
Ia DT580 of 51
Squadron, based at
Snaith, late 1942.
PETE WESTHANDLEY PAGE HALIFAX
With only a few snags, Sugar rose to
the surface on June 30, 1973 and was
towed to the shore.
On August 25, 1973, a Royal Corps
of Transport landing craft docked at
Ipswich and the bomber was moved
by road to the RAF Museum’s storage
facility at Henlow.
Initially it was intended to
Type: Seven-crew heavy bomber
First fl ight: October 25, 1939, Mk.I entered service November 1940
Powerplant: Four 1,800hp (1,342kW) Bristol Hercules 100 radials
Dimensions: Span 104ft 2in (31.74m), Length 71ft 7in (21.81m)
Weights: Empty 39,000lb (17,690kg), All-up 65,000lb (29,484kg)
Max speed: 309mph (497km/h) at 19,500ft (5,943m)
Range: 1,260 miles (2,027km)
Armament: One machine gun in the nose position, four-gun turrets in mid-
upper and tail positions. Up to 12,000lb (5,443kg) of bombs
Replaced: Armstrong Whitworth Whitley from 1941, Vickers Wellington from
1942, Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle from 1944
Taken on charge: 6,176, including sub-contracts by English Electric, Fairey, London
Aircraft Production Group and Rootes Securities
Replaced by: (All roles) Avro Lancaster and Consolidated Liberator from 1943;
Short Stirling from 1944; de Havilland Mosquito and Douglas Dakota
from 1945HANDLEY PAGE HALIFAX VI
fully restore W1048 but after a
re-assessment it was decided to
display it as though it were resting on
the lakebed in Norway. S-for-Sugar
was brought to Hendon in 1982 and
laid out accordingly.
Yorkshire Air Museum at
Elvington is home to Friday the
13th, an incredible recreation of aHalifax, based on many original or
appropriate, elements. That amazing
project was completed and unveiled
in 1996.
In the previous year, S-for-Sugar
stopped being the only intact
surviving Halifax when a Canadian
team succeeded in bringing former
644 Squadron special duties Mk.VII
NA337 out of the waters of Lake
Mjøsa in Norway. The Halifax had
been dropping supplies to partisans
when it force-landed in the lake on
April 13, 1945. It is displayed at
Trenton, Ontario, as proud testament
to Canadian bomber crews.TopTop
The RAF Museum’s The RAF Museum’s The RAF Museum’s The RAF Museum’sHalifax, based on many original or
appropriate, elements. That amazing