Handley Page Hermes

The Handley Page Hermes, designated HP.81, was a British civilian airliner designed and built by Handley Page in the 1940s, in parallel with the closely related Hastings military transport. It was a low-wing monoplane, and most examples had four piston engines. Development was delayed when the first prototype was lost in a fatal crash on its maiden flight on 2 December 1945. The redesigned Hermes IV first flew on 5 September 1948, and the British Overseas Airways Corporation had ordered 25 of them in February 1947. Early production aircraft were overweight, which held entry into airline service back by about a year to 6 August 1950. Two turboprop Hermes V aircraft were built for the Ministry of Supply. Once BOAC sold them, second-hand Hermes flew for charter airlines, the last operational civil example was retired in December 1964, and one fuselage is preserved at Duxford.