Handley Page Hastings
Serial Number:
TG511
Period:
Post-WWII
Collection Ref: 85/A/9
Location: RAF Museum Cosford, National Cold War Exhibition
The Handley Page Hastings replaced the Avro York as the
Royal Air Force's standard long-range transport from 1948. Two squadrons
of the new aircraft served alongside the York throughout the Berlin Airlift
(Operation 'Plainfare'), flying vital supplies into the city during the
Soviet blockade.
The Hastings first flew in May 1946 entering service with No.47 Squadron,
Transport Command in September 1948. The type was intensively used during
'Plainfare'; a Hastings made the last sortie of the Airlift on 6 October
1949. 145 aircraft were delivered and flew on Transport Command's long-range
routes, based in the Far East and Middle East, until the arrival of the
Bristol Britannia in 1959. Four special Hastings flew worldwide with the
VIP Flight of No.24 (Commonwealth) Squadron.
From 1950, nineteen aircraft were converted for weather reconnaissance
and flew in this role until the mid-1960s. Of these, eight became Hastings
T5s, providing radar training for bomb-aimers at the Bomber Command Bombing
School from 1959. By 1967 the Hastings had left first-line service, with
the delivery of Hercules and Argosy transports. The last four served with
the Radar Flight of No.230 Operational Conversion Unit (unofficially known
as '1066 Squadron') until 30 June 1977.
Four Hastings were also delivered to the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
