The Handley Page Hampden was one of the principal British medium bombers available at the start of World War II. Nicknamed "The Flying Suitcase", it featured a long tail boom with twin tail fins at the end of an incredibly narrow fuselage which gave it decent performance relative to other contemporary bombers such as the Whitley and Wellington. Nevertheless, it lacked any sort of power-operated defensive gun turrets and thus was poorly protected against night fighters despite its decent speed which was its main defense but which would not be sufficient against faster German aircraft. By 1942 they were retired by Bomber Command but continued to serve in various other roles including torpedo bombers and weather reconnaissance, some of the torpedo-bomber Hampdens were even based in the Kola Peninsula to guard the Northern convoys. Other Allied users included Canada and New Zealand.

First flown on 21 June 1936 as the H.P.52, the Hampden entered service in August 1938 as the Mk. I and equipped eight squadrons when the war began. A torpedo bomber conversion was designated TF.I while the Mk. II variant was designed with Wright Cyclone engines but never produced. Lastly, a prototype designed for Sweden as the HP.53 was eventually used domestically as the Hereford but ended up being used as a trainer due to unreliable Napier engines. 160 Hampdens were built in Canada.