Type O | |
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General information | |
Type | Heavy bomber |
Manufacturer | Handley Page Aircraft Company |
Primary users | Royal Air Force |
Number built | 600 |
History | |
Manufactured | 1915-1919 |
Introduction date | 1916 |
First flight | 17 December 1915 |
Retired | 1922 |
Developed into | Handley Page Type W |
The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was one of the largest aircraft in the world. There were two main variants, the Handley Page O/100 (H.P.11) and the Handley Page O/400 (H.P.12).
The aircraft were used in France for tactical night attacks on targets in German-occupied France and Belgium and for strategic bombing of industrial and transport targets in the Rhineland. Some aircraft were temporarily diverted to anti-submarine reconnaissance and bombing in the Tees estuary in 1917 and two aircraft operated in the eastern Mediterranean. The Type O made such an impression that for many years after the war any large aircraft in Britain was referred to as a "Handley Page", even getting a dictionary entry.[1]