Handley Page Hampden TB Mk I

An RAF crew were flying this Hampden, a torpedo bomber variant, to the Soviet Union to help protect Arctic convoys, when it was shot down by German fighters on 5 September 1942.

Three of the crew, Sergeant James Robertson, Sergeant Daniel Garrity and Flight Sergeant Gordon Miller were killed. Pilot Officer Esmond Perry and Corporal George Shepherd became prisoners of war. The wreckage was recovered from Northern Russia in 1991and restored including new parts made by the staff, apprentices and volunteers of the Museum’s Conservation Centre. On display is the Hampden’s original rear fuselage section and a replica forward fuselage, tail boom and tail plane. The aircraft’s original tail boom and tail plane, and a restored Pegasus engine and port undercarriage leg are presented beside it.