Could this executive transport have been Handley Page’s saviour? Perhaps not, but the HP113 was a highly advanced design — even if it borrowed from, of all things, the Canberra
You know you’ve made it when you travel on a ‘G’: one of Gulfstream Aerospace’s family of long-range executive jets. They are part of a class of aircraft that includes the Bombardier Global Express, Cessna Citation X series and the latest Dassault Falcons that now span the globe, their trans-oceanic range made possible by efficient turbofan engines and sleek airframes.
It may come as a surprise that back in 1957, Handley Page at Cricklewood designed an executive jet with similar capabilities, based on the English Electric Canberra. Yes, you read that correctly: a Handley Page biz-jet based on a bomber. To answer the inevitable first question, why was Handley Page building Canberras in the first place? The post-war British aviation industry had constant struggles with capacity, and with the need for modern jet aircraft to replace the old piston-engined types, the original manufacturer could not produce enough airfr…
