Handley Page H.P.42

The Handley Page H.P.42 and H.P.45 were four-engine biplane airliners built in the early 1930s for Imperial Airways to serve its long-distance routes, and they were the largest airliners in regular use in the world when they entered service in 1931. The H.P.42, called the H.P.42E for the Eastern routes to India and South Africa, was optimised for range, while the H.P.45, or H.P.42W, carried more passengers over European routes. The design was drawn up by George Volkert and Harold Boultbee as a large unequal-span sesquiplane with an all-metal frame covered in fabric. The prototype, named Hannibal, first flew on 14 November 1930. Eight aircraft were built, four of each type, all named with names beginning with H, and they formed the backbone of the Imperial Airways land-based fleet through most of the 1930s. Three survivors were pressed into Royal Air Force service at the start of the Second World War, and by the end of 1940 all had been destroyed.