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Handley Page H.P.54. Harrow

During the Second World War, wounded soldiers were carried off the battlefield on a stretcher to be treated at a Regimental Aid Post. They would then be transferred by stretcher bearers or a suitable vehicle to a Casualty Clearing Station via motorised ambulance. Then onto hospital via either: motorised transport, train, aircraft or hospital ship.

The Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow, aka ‘Sparrow’, was used between 1937 - 1945. The Sparrow could accommodate 12 injured/sick soldiers as stretcher cases.

Harrow Transport, K6996 ‘N’, of No. 271 Squadron RAF based at Doncaster, Yorkshire, on the ground at Aldergrove, County Antrim. The type was also known unofficially as the “Sparrow”. © IWM (CH 2896)

Harrow Transport, K6996 ‘N’, of No. 271 Squadron RAF based at Doncaster, Yorkshire, on the ground at Aldergrove, County Antrim. The type was also known unofficially as the “Sparrow”. © IWM (CH 2896)

Medical orderlies loading stretcher cases into Handley Page Harrow Transport (“Sparrow”) ambulance aircraft, K6984 ‘BJ-E’, of No. 271 Squadron RAF Detachment at Hendon, Middlesex. © IWM (CH 11522).

Medical orderlies loading stretcher cases into Handley Page Harrow Transport (“Sparrow”) ambulance aircraft, K6984 ‘BJ-E’, of No. 271 Squadron RAF Detachment at Hendon, Middlesex. © IWM (CH 11522).

Interior of a Handley Page H.P.54 HARROW. © IWM (CH 11523).

Interior of a Handley Page H.P.54 HARROW. © IWM (CH 11523).