The left photo is the second prototype K7554 and the photo on the right is the first production aircraft L3243.
The Henley was a single engine, low wing aircraft monoplane, designed as a two seat, high speed light bomber to specification P.4/34 which called for a bomb load of 1,000lb and a top speed of over 300 mph. It had a crew of two, pilot and gunner with a single machine gun.
It used Hurricane outer wings (without the machine guns) and tail assembly, with a retractable tail wheel. It had all metal wings with a thickness to chord ratio of about 18.5% at the root tapering to about 13% at the tip. The wing centre section span was 7 feet more than that of the Hurricane. Its fuselage, using the same construction principles as the Hurricane, contained a bomb bay under the pilot which necessitated moving the radiator forward to just aft of the propeller. The propeller and engine were the same as the Hurricane Mark I.
K5115, the first prototype Henley, designated Mark I, first flew at Brooklands on 10 March 1937, powered by a Merlin F and later Merlin I and with fabric covered wings. Early on it was decided not to employ the Henley in the bomber role but to use it as a target tug. [It has been surmised that if the bomber version had been adopted it could have been used to great advantage.]
K7554, the second prototype Henley, designated Mark II, first flew on 26 May 1938. The windmill device mounted on the port side of the fuselage was turned by the slip stream and wound in the drogue target after firing training. The production version was designated as Mark III and had all metal wings with fabric covered ailerons.
The Henley was powered by either the Merlin II or the Merlin III which had a propeller shaft suitable for both Rotol or DeHavilland propellers, otherwise they were the same.
Two Henleys were used as engine test beds for Vulture and Griffon engines and one was tropicalised.
All production Henleys were Marks III. The first production batch of 100 aircraft, was powered by a Melin II engine. The second production batch of 100 aircraft, was powered by a Merlin III engine. The total production was follows:
| Manufacturer | Number of Aircraft | Serial Numbers | First Produced | Last Produced | |
Gloster Aircraft |
100 | L3243 to L3342 | - | - |
The Henley entered service with 771 FAA squadron and with RAF gunnery schools in 1939. From 1943 it was also issued to some RAF squadrons as shown following.
It was found that even towing relatively small air-air target drogues the aircraft was too slow for realistic training as the engine had to be operated at full throttle resulting in heavy engine wear and unreliability. When the much larger ground-air target drogues were towed the situation was even worse.
| Mark | Mark TT.III | |
First Squadron |
771 | |
Last Squadron |
639 |
The following 6 Royal Air Force squadrons and 1 Royal Navy squadron (number 771) flew the Hawker Henley at some time:
| Squadron | From | To | Squadron | From | To | |
587 |
December 1943 | May 1944 | 595 |
December 1943 | June 1944 | |
631 |
December 1943 | February 1945 | 639 |
December 1943 | April 1945 | |
679 |
December 1943 | February 1944 | 695 |
December 1943 | June 1944 | |
771 |
October 1939 | February 1944 | - |
- | - |
| Mark | I | II | III | |
Engine |
Merlin II or III | Merlin II or III | Merlin II or III | |
Span ft:in |
47:11 | 47:11 | 47:11 | |
| Weights lb Empty Normal Loaded Maximum Loaded |
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|
| |
| Speed mph at Sea Level Speed mph at Altitude : kft |
- | - | - | |
| Altitude Performance Initial climb : fpm Minutes to kft Service Ceiling kft (100 fpm) |
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|
| |
| Range miles With 94 gal internal fuel NOTE 1 |
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|
| |
| Armament | 1 x 0.303 inch Browning machine | Unarmed | Unarmed |
Sources quote a fuel capacity of 94 gallons and a range of 950 miles. One of these figures is wrong as the Hurricane Mark I, which had far less drag, with the same engine only achieved a range of 510 miles with 85 gallons. It is possible that the fuel capacity was actually 194 gallons which is consistent with a range of 950 miles. See the following weight analyses are for a Mark I with a fuel capacity of 94 gallons and for a Mark III with a fuel capacity of 94 gallons.
The following weight analyses based the following:
200 x gallons of petrol at a density of 0.72
14 x gallons of oil at a density of 0.91
1000 x 0.303inch bullets at 0.076 lb per round
2 x 0.303inch Browning machine guns at 26.5 lb each
2 x Aircrew and equipment at 200lb each.
| Type Mark | Henley Mark I | Henley Mark III | |
Unladen Weight lb |
6,063 | 6,010 | |
Loaded Weight lb |
8,093 | 7,977 |
As far as I know there are no surviving Henleys.
This may be obtained from several dedicated Web Sites including:
1) Hawker Henley Wikipedia
The following publication also contain information:
1) Hawker Aircraft since 1920, Francis K. Mason, Putnam, 1961, 1971 and 1991, ISBN 1 85177 839 9
2) Aircraft of the Royal Air Force since 1918, Owen Thetford, first edition 1957 to fifth edition 1971, Putnam & Company, ISBN 0 370 10101 4
By Tim Hammond
May 2010, Revised and Contents List added August 2010
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