The Handley Page Type F was a two-seat, single-engined monoplane

Monoplane

A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...

 designed to compete for a War Office

War Office

The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...

 prize for a specified military machine in 1912. It crashed before the trials got under way and,although it flew well enough later, only one was built.

Design and development

In layout and general appearance the Type F was similar to the earlier Type D

Handley Page Type D

The Handley Page Type D or H.P.4 was a single seat, single engined tractor monoplane, the first Handley Page design to fly for more than a few hops. Only one was built.-Development:...

 and its contemporary, the Type E. Like them, the wings of the Type F had a strongly curved leading edge and a straight but swept-back trailing edge. They were wire braced above and below with the upper wires attached to a four strut pyramidal pylon above the cockpit and below to the undercarriage structure, which was very similar to that of the Type E. Lateral control was by wing warping; the outer 40% of each wing was relatively flexible and could be twisted by wires running from the cockpit via the pylon to kingposts at 60% span. The Type F did not have the chord extensions seen on the outer parts of the Type E's wings.

The Type F had a deep rectangular cross-section fuselage, narrowing to the rear, with fairings above and below for streamlining. The 70 hp (52 kW) Gnome rotary was completely enclosed in a snub-nosed cowling. The two crew sat side by side, as the military specification required, in an open cockpit at mid-wing. The observer, sitting on the left had a downward view through a windowed hatch. Elsewhere the aircraft was fabric covered. The tailplane had a circular leading edge curving though a little more than 180^o and carried split elevators with scalloped trailing edges. There was no fixed fin, just a rudder of irregular six sided (five of them concave) shape. It had a tailskid formed from a pair of cane hoops.

In August 1912 it was taken, untested, from the factory at Barking

Barking

Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in East London, England. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies east of Charing Cross. Barking was in the historic county of Essex until it was absorbed by Greater London. The area is...

 (it was the last Handley Page aircraft built there) to the military trials at Larkhill

Larkhill

Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It is a short distance west of Durrington village proper and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury....

. It flew there for the first time on 21 August, coping with the windy conditions quite well though showing the side to side wallowing that had also been experienced with the Type E before its wing warping lateral control was replaced by ailerons. The next day the engine failed soon after take-off and a wing and the undercarriage were seriously damaged in the resulting cross wind landing. The Type F was withdrawn from the trials and returned to the new factory at Cricklewood

Cricklewood

Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...

 for repairs. It was in the air again in early November, flown with enthusiasm with a variety of passengers by Wilfred Parke

Wilfred Parke

Lieutenant Wilfred Parke RN was a British airman and became the first aviator to recover from an accidental spin.-Family:Parkes's father was Alfred Watlington Parke, the Rector of Uplyme and his mother was Hilda Fort...

 on most days. The Type F was lost on 15 December 1912 when engine failure led to the death of Parke and his passenger. In the retrospective type redesignation of 1924, the Type F became the H.P.6.

Specifications