British pre WW2 airliners

[PMN1]

In an Air Enthusiast September 1972 article on the civilian 14/38 and 15/38 specifications that led to the Fairey FC1 and the Short S32, it mentions in the S32 part that prior to the specifications being produced, Handley Page had offered a ‘civil version of the HP57, later to be the Halifax bomber, carrying 25 passengers on a non-stop London-Copenhagen service, or 1,600lb of mail from Lisbon to Bathurst, Gambia.’


Does anyone know if this was to be a straight conversion of the bomber fuselage or were the wings etc to be joined to a new fuselage?

The actual civilian Halifax carried 11 passengers so 25 in the existing fuselage seems a bit cramped to me but possibly not enough for an Avro York type fuselage except for very long range.

Edited again as I just noticed I said HP97 instead of HP57.....

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

I would suppose this was just a straight conversion of the fuselage because the only Halifax airliner conversion I can think of is the Halton, which had a capacity of 10 passengers. Anyone have project documents of a 25-passenger version of the Halifax? The thread title is too broad and should be changed to "HP Halifax airliner versions" instead.

 

[Aubi]

According the Handley Page Aircraft since 1907, the company was asked by the newly founded British Airways if there could be civilian H.P.57 version, not that it was offered. Company replied that above mentioned flights with 25 passengers between London and Copenhagen or with 1600 lb of cargo between London and Bathurst could be made, but gross weight and wing loading would be too high for the British grass aerodromes. So I wouldn't expect any real work done on that.