FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0746.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 17, 1931 MEET HANNIBAL Our Contributor was one of a Party ofPress Representatives who made the flight to Paris and back with "Hannibal" lastFriday. Below he sets out his impressions, and it will be seen that he regards"Hannibal" as a great step forward in the matter of comfort ON Friday, July 10, Hannibal, the latest and greatestaddition to the Imperial Airways fleet, gave ademonstration of his capabilities to a critical" cargo," to wit, a party of sixteen Press repre- sentatives (presumably " our air correspondents "), whoflew with him, at the invitation of Imperial Airways, Ltd., to Paris and back. To use any other preposition than" with " would lx- an offence to his Imperial dignity—one does not fly " in " or " by " Hannibal, but accompanieshim on his conquests in a new field as a privileged being. In order to demonstrate the actual service available tothe air-travelling public, it was arranged that the party should assemble at Airways House at 8.15 a.m., and pro-ceed thence to Croydon Air Port in one of the luxurious coaches that are now a familiar sight to most Londoners,particularly those who live on the south side. The " cargo," which included the writer, assembled atthe appointed hour, was weighed (and not found wanting), and was duly wafted to Croydon, the combined bulk ofthe party being 'phoned on in advance. Following the usual passport formalities, we were firstintroduced to the pilot, Capt. Wilcockson, and then to Hannibal. The majority of our readers have probablyfollowed closely the progress of Hannibal during the past two years through all his various stages of development,from the chrysalis, as the mock-up cabin shown at Olympia in July, 1929, might well be termed, to his firstflight tests at Radlett during last autumn, and finally to his recent freight and passenger-carrying flights on joiningthe Imperial Airways fleet. It may be recalled that Hannibal is the first to be delivered of eight Type 42Handley-Page four-engined machines ordered by Imperial Airways for service on the European routes, and also onthe desert section of the India route ; the four machines which will be employed on the latter route differ fromthe other four in the arrangement of the passenger accom- modation, twenty of the thirty-eight passenger seats ofthe Western or European type being sacrificed for mail and baggage in the Eastern type. Hannibal is of the IN THE "HANNIBAL' The Forward Cabin of the " Hannibal" (Eastern Type),looking aft. (FLIGHT Photo.) Eastern type—the fore and aft cabins have accommoda-tion for six and twelve passengers respectively, the inter- mediate portion being provided with a central communi-cating corridor, on the port side of which is a steward's bar and a quite commodious lavatory with tip-up washbasin, whilst the whole of the starboard side of the inter- mediate portion forms the baggage and mail space.Hannibal stood awaiting us, with his four Jupiter engines ticking over and his nose elevated at a somewhat scorn-ful angle ; as seen at close quarters on the ground, he is not particularly handsome. Owing to his great size, it is difficult to appreciate his pro- portions, except at a considerable distance ; as seen from the ground, or preferably from an- other plane, he appears quite graceful in flight, his low and very long fuselage giving the im- pression of his being a flying boat. Promptly at 9.15 the passen- gers having taken their seats, the chocks were removed, the engines opened out, and we were racing across the aerodrome and off the ground with an incredibly short run, and, climbing at what appeared to be a considerable angle, we entered a belt of cloud at 1,000 ft. In the fore part of each passenger cabin there is provided a set of instruments, comprising a clock, altimeter, and airspeed indicator, from which it was observed that 4,000 ft. was reached just within a quarter of an hour from taking off. We continued to climb steadily until 7,000 ft. was reached as we crossed the English coast at Hastings, just half an hour after taking off. Capt. Wilcockson had set a course lying considerably farther south than the usual The After Cabin, looking forward, (FLIGHT Photo.) London-Paris route, which crosses 700
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
