Handley Page H.P.31 Harrow
| H.P.31 Harrow | |
|---|---|
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|
| First prototype in 1927 with new cowling | |
| Role | Bomber, torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Handley Page |
| First flight | 24 April 1926 |
| Retired | 1928 |
| Number built | 2 |
The Handley Page H.P.31 was a two-seat single-engined biplane built to a British specification for a carrier-based torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. After trials, the Blackburn Ripon was preferred, though the Harrow played a significant role in the development of automatic slots.
In early 1924 the Air Ministry specification 21/23 was issued, calling for a two-seat replacement for the Blackburn Dart capable of acting as a torpedo or conventional bomber over short ranges as well as having 12-hour reconnaissance capability. The Harrow, initially known as the Type E but retrospectively as the H.P.31 when the company introduced numerical designations in 1924, was Handley Page's tender. They were successful, receiving an order to build two prototypes.
The Harrow was essentially a single-bay biplane, though there was an additional pair of interplane struts at the extremities of the centre section. The wings had the same span and constant chord and neither sweep nor stagger. Both upper and lower wings had outboard ailerons and inboard flaps, the latter ending at the centre section. Both wings also had leading edge slats along their full length. The outer sections of these were linked to downward movement of the ailerons and the inner sections to the flaps. The lower wing was flat but the upper carried 4.5o of dihedral so the gap increased quite noticeably along the span. As usual with carrier-borne aircraft, the wings folded at the centre section. The wings were fabric-covered; one difference between the two prototypes was that the second had metal wing spars, another that its slats could be operated independently.
It was powered by a single water-cooled Napier Lion engine, initially a 470 hp (350 kW) mark V, mounted as low in the nose as airscrew ground clearance allowed so that the top of the fuselage could fall away in front of the cockpit for the best views during high-incidence carrier landings. There was a front-mounted radiator immediately beneath the propeller shaft. The pilot sat below the upper wing just behind the rear spar and with a cutout for visibility. The observer/gunner's position was close behind the pilot for ease of communication, since he had to do the work of navigation on long flights away from the carrier that had been traditionally assigned to a third crew member. Behind them the fabric-covered fuselage carried a conventional tail with horn-balanced control surfaces, though the incidence of the whole tailplane could also be adjusted.
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