1154/5 radio sets. The R1155 (receiver) and T1154 (transmitter) installed in Handley Page Hampden TP.1 P1344 undergoing restoration in the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre.
A torpedo bomber built at Cricklewood in 1940. This aircraft was part of a squadron en-route to Murmansk in Russia for convoy defence duties and was to be handed over for the Russians to use. Flying with five crew instead of the regular four, the extra crew member being a mechanic to give instructions of the care and maintenance of the Hampdens. This aircraft had problems with icing and during attempts to loose weight, including jettisoning the mechanics tools, strayed near the German base at Petsamo. It was hit by ground fire and eventually brought down by 2 Me109's. 3 crew members died in the air battle, two survived to become POWs. Sadly one of these survivors, the fitter Cpl. George Shepherd was laid to rest on the 13 Nov 2009 the day before these photographs were taken. He had visited the workshops the previous year and was reunited with "his" aircraft for the first time in over 65 years. The wreckage had remained in woodland in northern Russia until 1989, the RAF Museum aquired the airframe in 1991.