Price: £100.00

Handley Page HP42

From its inception Imperial Airways LTD had used a number of Handley Page aircraft, (The name of Handley Page being synonomous with very large aircraft) and when Imperial began to open routes to the far-flung outposts of the British Empire the need for a new very large transport aircraft was identified. In due course Handley Page received an order for eight new four-engined air liners, four of which were equipped for European service and four for the far east. The first HP42 was delivered on June 5th 1931, and the last on December 31st, (Western service aircraft costing £23,000 and Eastern service aircraft costing £22,200).

The first HP42, (Hannibal, each aircraft had it's own name), began servicing the London to Paris route in 1931 immediately setting new standards in luxury and safety and was extremely popular with its passengers. It was one of the very few airliners of the day which did not have to make an emergency landing due to engine failure and was sufficiently large steady and slow for the stewards to provide an excellent catering service. On the Silver-Wing flight to Paris the passengers enjoyed a four-course lunch and up to seven courses could be arranged.

The Eastern service aircraft were based in Cairo and offered services to India, (six days) and South Africa, (eleven days). Utilisation for these aircraft was very high and by 1936 the fleet had flown more than five million miles. One of the fleet, Heracles, eventually totalled 1.2 million miles carrying more than 100,000 passengers. With the outbreak of the second world war all HP42's were impressed by the RAF and all aircraft were lost due to a variety of causes, thus bringing to an end the proud record of service of a remarkable aircraft.

Performance, (western)

A top speed of 126.5 mph at 4000 ft.
A fully loaded weight of 29,500 lb's
Powerplant: Four 530 HP Bristol Jupiter XFBM 9 cylinder radial engines.
Useful Payload: 18 passengers with a crew of four.