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ONE OF THE three British four-engine heavy bombers which took the night war to Hitler’s heartland, the Handley Page Halifax contributed in no small way to the destruction and ultimate surrender of the Third Reich. Unlike its Short Stirling and Avro Lancaster companions, the Halifax proved a more versatile design, taking on roles additional to its principle mission with RAF Bomber Command. Yet its comparatively short period in service and a production run of 6,176 machines was not without problems. In its early years from service entry in March 1941, little good could be said about the Halifax. Its in-built faults found it underpowered, its performance was lamentable, it suff ered from a vicious swing on take-off causing inherent undercarriage collapses, and rudder stall problems often gave fatal results. All round it was a poor design from Britain’s most famous builder of big bombers! In fact, so bad was the aircraft that ‘Bomber’ Harris wanted it withdrawn from service and production switched in favour of the Lancaster. Indeed, his opinion of owner Frederick Handley Page bordered on the murderous! Given Britain’s emergency war production such a radical move was unthinkable. Across the nation, hundreds of factories large and small were heavily committed to a massive programme supplying Halifax parts to four huge construction plants laid down to produce this heavyweight for the RAF. There was simply no time or money to switch to building a new machine. Instead, Handley Page designers struggled to improve their unfortunate off spring and it was a good two years before they succeeded. To the public, the Halifax was the highly capable stablemate of the Lancaster and together, the two four-engine machines were hailed as the fearsome harbingers of doom aimed at laying waste all that was evil within the Third Reich. But the day of the Halifax proved worth waiting for.