Handley Page Herald

By the mid-1950s the Douglas DC-3 was still the backbone of regional air transport across much of the world, and the entire European industry was hunting for its successor. Handley Page tackled the problem from its Reading subsidiary — Handley Page (Reading) Limited, housed in the former Miles Aircraft works that had produced the Miles Marathon — and the design that emerged there, known at first as the HPR.3 Herald, was in large part a thorough redevelopment of the Marathon concept, sharing its distinctive high-mounted wing. The Reading drawing office produced a genuinely modern aeroplane with excellent handling and performance; the mistake lay not in the aerodynamics but in the choice of powerplant.

The high wing was not a styling flourish. It kept the cabin floor close to the ground, allowed a short nosewheel undercarriage and made it possible to fit large doors at the front and rear of the fuselage, so that the pressurised cabin for up to 44 passengers could be converted quickly to carry freight. With large flaps, the design promised to take off and land in under 500 yards (460 m), cruise at 224 mph (360 km/h), reach a range of 1,640 miles (2,640 km) and climb initially at more than 1,800 ft/min. The name "Herald" was adopted in August 1954 precisely because it translated easily into French and Spanish — a clear hint at the markets the company was aiming for.

The decision that shaped the programme's fate was taken after long consultation with DC-3 operators. Those small airlines regarded turboprops as risky, and Handley Page agreed with them: it preferred a four-engined layout and selected the new Alvis Leonides Major, an 870 hp fourteen-cylinder radial driving three-bladed propellers. At almost the same time the Dutch company Fokker made exactly the opposite choice for the same market, powering its F27 Friendship with two Rolls-Royce Darts.

At first everything seemed to vindicate Handley Page. Hard work by the sales team had generated considerable interest, and the company held 29 orders — from Queensland Airlines, Australian National Airways and Lloyd Aéreo Colombiano — by the time the first prototype flew from Radlett on 25 August 1955, three months ahead of the Friendship's maiden flight. Break-even was expected after 75 sales, total sales of up to 300 were forecast, and the first deliveries were to go to the British independent Air Kruise in 1958.

The collapse was swift. Queensland Airlines and Australian National Airways cancelled their Heralds in favour of turboprop Friendships; the Lloyd Aéreo Colombiano contract was stopped by currency problems; and Air Kruise's interest evaporated when it was taken over by British Aviation Services. Before the second prototype had even been completed, Handley Page found itself with no orders at all and a market that now wanted turbines.

The investment already sunk into the Herald was so large that management met specifically to decide whether to continue. It chose to press on in an effort to recover the money, announcing an uprated version powered by the Rolls-Royce Dart. The revised aircraft, redesignated HPR.7 Dart Herald, carried two 1,910 shp Dart 527 engines turning four-blade Dowty Rotol variable-pitch propellers of 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) diameter; the fuselage was lengthened by 20 in (51 cm) and fuel capacity increased.

The first prototype was converted to the new standard and flew in that form on 11 March 1958. The initial Series 100 was certified in April 1958 and the first production aircraft flew on 30 October 1959, the basic price standing at around £185,000 in 1960. Technically the reversal had been faultless, but it cost time that could not be recovered: the Friendship had been in service for more than six months by the time the Dart Herald began looking for customers.

The first order came in June 1959, when British European Airways leased three aircraft for its Scottish Highlands and Islands routes. To stimulate demand, Handley Page launched an improved version in 1960: the Series 200, stretched by a further 42 in (107 cm) with correspondingly higher weights and seating for up to 56 passengers. It attracted an order for six aircraft from Jersey Airlines.

The second prototype was converted to Series 200 standard and first flew in that configuration on 8 April 1961. Jersey Airlines began operations on 16 May 1961 with a leased Series 100 and took delivery of the first of its own Series 200s in January 1962, while BEA started Herald services in March 1962. No further Series 100 was ordered after that: production concentrated entirely on the 200, whose fuselage grew from 71 ft 11 in to 75 ft 6 in and whose maximum accommodation rose from 47 to 56 seats.

The Herald attracted a great deal of early interest around the world thanks to its short-field performance and its flying qualities. The high wing carried a pronounced dihedral, and the vertical fin was covered with miniature airfoils that added still more stability. Pilots reported that the Herald flew like a dream: very steady in the air, yet highly manoeuvrable even at low speed. Its only acknowledged vice was ground handling, penalised by an oversized fin that made it sensitive in a crosswind.

That amiable character was not enough to sell aeroplanes. The Herald was cheap compared with its two main rivals and the Series 200 offered a roomy cabin, but the Friendship carried a larger payload and both the Fokker and the Avro 748/HS.748 offered better performance, which translated into superior long-term operating economics. By 1963 only 35 Heralds had been sold against more than 240 Friendships.

The one real hope of rescuing the programme was to militarise it. The Royal Air Force needed 45 tactical transports to replace its piston-engined Vickers Valettas, and Handley Page began work in 1960 on the HP.124: a Herald with a new rear fuselage, raised tail and rear loading ramp. The HP.124 was the favourite against Avro's rival, the Avro 780, because its high wing promised easier loading at a lower price, and short-field trials of the Series 200 prototype at RAF Martlesham Heath in 1961 confirmed its ability to work from unprepared strips.

The obstacle was political. The Minister of Aviation, Peter Thorneycroft, refused to sign a contract for the HP.124 unless Handley Page agreed to merge with British Aircraft Corporation or Hawker Siddeley, in line with the government's policy of consolidating the British aircraft industry. Hawker Siddeley offered less than half the valuation Frederick Handley Page placed on his company, the merger did not happen, and the RAF order went to the Avro 780, which became the Andover.

What did get built was the Series 400, a simpler tactical transport derived from the Series 200, with a strengthened cabin floor and side loading doors that could be opened in flight to drop supplies or paratroops, and alternative capacity for 50 troops or 24 stretcher cases with medical attendants. Eight were completed, all for the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The other military user of the type was the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

By 1965 almost all sales momentum had been lost. Handley Page then proposed the Series 700, powered by 2,320 ehp (1,730 kW) Dart 532s with more fuel, higher weights and seating for up to 60 passengers. The Brazilian airline VASP ordered ten, with plans for production in Brazil; further orders came from the Swiss carrier Globe Air and from Taiwan's Far Eastern Air Transport, and work on the new model actually started. VASP then cancelled when it could not obtain financing from the Brazilian government, Handley Page stopped work and six airframes were scrapped on the production line.

Production ended in 1968. Over six years of series manufacture, 36 Series 200s were completed together with four Series 100s and eight Series 400s; the fiftieth and last Herald, a Series 200 for the Israeli carrier Arkia, was flown and delivered in August 1968. From then on Handley Page concentrated entirely on the HP.137 Jetstream, whose spiralling development costs ultimately forced the company into voluntary liquidation in August 1969. Support for the Heralds still in service was maintained through a new company, Dart Herald (Support) Ltd, part-owned by Scottish Aviation.

Despite the modest numbers, the Herald had a geographically wide career. In Brazil it was introduced by SADIA SA Transportes Aéreos — later Transbrasil — with eight aircraft, and it also flew with TABA. In Canada it was operated by Eastern Provincial Airways, Maritime Central Airways and Nordair; in Colombia by Líneas Aéreas La Urraca; in France by Europe Aero Service; in Germany by Bavaria Fluggesellschaft; in Guatemala by Aerovías; in Israel by Arkia; in Italy by Aerolinee Itavia; in Jordan by Alia; in the Philippines by Air Manila International; in Switzerland by Globe Air; and in Taiwan by Far Eastern Air Transport.

Its real stronghold, however, was the United Kingdom, where it passed through British European Airways, British United Airways, British United Island Airways, Autair International Airlines, British Midland Airways, British Island Airways — which at one point in 1979 operated twenty Heralds at once — Air UK, British Air Ferries, BAC Charter and BAC Express. That second life in the British regional and charter market extended the type's career far beyond anything its factory sales suggested.

The first serious scare came very early. On 10 August 1958 the Dart Herald prototype was flying to the Farnborough air show from Woodley when it suffered an engine failure; the fuel lines ruptured and a serious fire broke out that burned through the engine bearers. The pilot, Squadron Leader Hedley Hazelden, put the aircraft down in a field in what was acknowledged as an astonishing feat of airmanship.

The most consequential accident was that of 17 March 1965, when Eastern Provincial Airways Flight 102, flying from Halifax to Sydney, crashed near Upper Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, killing all eight people on board. The fuselage had split lengthwise along its belly in mid-air because of corrosion. When signs of corrosion were also found in a British European Airways Herald and in those operated by Alia, Handley Page recalled every Herald in service for repair and corrosion-proofing.

That same year, on 10 April 1965, Royal Jordanian Airlines' JY-ACQ flew into a hill near Damascus, killing all 54 on board. On 3 November 1967 a Sadia Dart Herald 214 registered PP-SDJ struck a hill on approach to Curitiba-Afonso Pena on a flight from São Paulo-Congonhas: all the crew and 21 passengers died and four passengers survived. On 24 February 1969 Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104 crashed on approach near Tainan after its number two engine failed, killing all 36 aboard.

The type's last passenger service was flown by British Air Ferries in 1987, on subcharters for Ryanair. As a freighter it lasted considerably longer: by 1999 a single Herald remained in service, Channel Express's Series 401 G-BEYF, retired at Bournemouth after its final flight on 9 April 1999.

Three aircraft survive in the United Kingdom today: Series 100 G-APWA at the Museum of Berkshire Aviation in Woodley — the very place where the aircraft was designed — Series 201 G-APWJ at Morayvia in Kinloss, Scotland, in Air UK markings, previously displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford between 1985 and 2021, and Series 211 G-ASKK at the City of Norwich Aviation Museum at Norwich Airport.

An entire family was drawn around the Herald and never built. The HPR-8 was a car-ferry proposal for Silver City Airways' 1959 requirement, with a new unpressurised fuselage and clamshell nose doors for six cars or 100 passengers; it lost out to the Aviation Traders Carvair. The HP.124 was the rear-ramp tactical transport for the RAF, and the HP.125 its V/STOL derivative with eighteen Rolls-Royce RB162 lift jets in underwing pods. The HP.127 "Jet Herald", studied in 1962, was a pure-jet version with a stretched fuselage for up to 70 passengers and two Rolls-Royce Speys podded under a shortened straight wing; the HP.129 "Mini Herald" shrank the idea to 30 seats with two Speys. The HP.131, HP.132 and HP.133 were offered to Belgium in 1965, the last two with General Electric CF700 booster engines. Within the series itself, the 300 (adapted to United States airworthiness requirements), the 500 (a more powerful 400) and the 600 (fuselage stretched by 5 ft for 64-68 passengers) all remained on paper.

According to Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1969-70, the Series 200 carried a crew of two and 50 to 56 passengers, with a maximum payload of 11,700 lb (5,300 kg). It was 75 ft 6 in (23.01 m) long, spanned 94 ft 9.5 in (28.893 m) and stood 24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) high, with a wing area of 886 sq ft (82.3 m²) using NACA 23016.5 sections at the root and NACA 4412 at the tip. Equipped empty weight was 25,800 lb (11,703 kg) and maximum take-off weight 43,700 lb (19,818 kg), with a maximum zero-fuel weight of 37,500 lb (17,000 kg) and a maximum landing weight of 39,500 lb (17,900 kg); fuel capacity was 1,080 imperial gallons (4,910 L).

Power came from two Rolls-Royce RDa.7 Dart Mk.527 turboprops of 2,105 shp (1,570 kW) equivalent each, driving four-blade Rotol constant-speed fully feathering propellers of 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m). Cruising speed was 239 kn (443 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m), the stall came at 65 kn (120 km/h) at 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) and the never-exceed speed was 304 kn (563 km/h). Range with maximum payload was 608 nmi (1,126 km) including diversion and 45 minutes of holding, the service ceiling 27,900 ft (8,500 m) and the initial rate of climb 1,805 ft/min. Wing loading was 48.5 lb/sq ft (237 kg/m²); take-off distance to 35 ft was 2,700 ft (820 m) and landing distance from 50 ft was 1,900 ft (580 m).