Wingleader Photo Archive 27 - Handley Page Halifax Part 1- Early Merlin Variants

Second on the list of most asked about future subjects in this series is undoubtedly the Handley Page Halifax. Equal in many ways to the Avro Lancaster, the Halifax has always been shaded a little by the iconic Lanc, despite it being a Bomber Command stalwart throughout WW2.

Once again, we’ve turned to Bomber Command expert Peter Allam to try to unravel the complexities of Halifax production, which was particularly convoluted in the early days. This first volume covers early Merlin engined variants which is effectively all Mk.Is and the Series Is of the Mk.II and Mk.V. Or put another way, all those with the nose turret and triangular fins!

One of the main things that the early Halifaxes were known for was their multitude of lumps and bumps. Here for the first time, Pete has painstakingly identified all of them, found out why they were there, and in future volumes, we’ll see how they were all removed to create the elegant Mk.III.

As with all the books in this series, we’ve enhanced the photos to pull out the shadow detail and have added arrows and letters to identify points of interest.

‍This book contains approx 120 original wartime/pre-war photos and 6 in-depth colour profiles.