Handley Page Halifax V LK630
Problems with the Halifax B.V’s limited landing weight:
The Halifax B.V was essentially a Halifax B.II equipped with a Dowty levered-suspension undercarriage instead of the original, problematic Messier units.
While the Dowty undercarriage offered some advantages over the Messier gear, a key factor in its adoption was the pressing need to increase production rates. The Dowty system, already used on the Lancaster, was quicker to manufacture than the Messier gear.
Unfortunately, a design compromise made during the production of the Dowty undercarriage ultimately led to a limitation on the B.V’s landing weight.
To speed up production, castings were used in place of forgings for some components of the Dowty gear.
While castings were faster to produce, they proved susceptible to brittle fracture under high stress.
This vulnerability to fracture meant that the Halifax B.V could not safely land at the same weights as other variants. To mitigate the risk of undercarriage failure, the maximum landing weight of the B.V was restricted to 40,000lb.
This landing weight restriction impacted the B.V’s operational flexibility, as it limited the amount of fuel and bombs it could carry on missions.
As a result, Halifax B.Vs were often assigned to roles that did not require carrying heavy bomb loads, such as:
- Meteorological reconnaissance
- Coastal duties
- Towing gliders for training airborne troops
Despite the landing weight limitation, the Halifax B.V still served with bomber squadrons, including six Canadian squadrons of No. 6 Group. These squadrons likely operated the B.V with reduced bomb loads to stay within the safe landing weight limit.