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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1374.PDF
FLIGHT, 20 July 1950 A NEW HANNIBAL Naming the Flagship of B.O.A.C.'s Hermes IV Fleet: Fame of an Earlier H.P. Type Perpetuated Lord Pakenham christens the flagship of B.O.A.C.'s Hermes IV fleet R.M.A. Hannibal. Thus, the tenth production H.P.8I, G-ALDI, perpetuates the illustrious name of Imperial Airways' 1930 four- engined H.P.42 biplane G-AAGX. " Flight v photograph. TUESDAY, July nth, was a great day for the HandleyPage Company and for B.O.A.C. At London AirportLord Pakenham christened the first flagship of a fleet of 25 Hermes IVs in readiness for the new services whichthis first British modern post-war airliner is to operate. Following the naming ceremony, during which South Africanwine was poured over the aircraft's nose and the name Hannibal was unveiled, flights were made by Lord Pakenhamand Sir Miles Thomas (accompanied by Sir Frederick Handley Page) and also by officials of the Ministries and Corporationand many of the guests. In the name Hannibal an outstanding class of early HandleyPage aircraft is perpetuated. The old H.P.42s were among the first four-engined airliners to operate,* and were describedas "daringly advanced in design" when they first flew in 1930. Heracles was used on the European services and theHannibal on the Empire routes, and the two differed only in interior furnishings. Eight of the aircraft were built, andeach flew some 12,000 hours, achieving a total fleet mileage of over 10 million miles. The names for the other Hermes IVs in the fleet, in additionto Hannibal and Heracles, will be as follows: —Hamilcar, Hecuba, Hebe, Hermione, Hanno, Hadrian, Horsa, Horatius,Hengist, Helena, Hector, Hero, Horus, Heron, Homer, Herodotus, Hesperides, Hestia, Halcyone, Hera, Helios,Hyperion, Honor. It is interesting to recall that the pilot of Hannibal onthe demonstraion flights at London Airport, Capt. A. S. M. Rendall, flight superintendent of B.O.A.C.'s Hermes fleet atHum, flew as first officer on the H.P.42 biplane of the same name during his service with Imperial Airways. At a luncheon following the naming ceremony, the toast of"British civil aviation" was proposed by Sir Miles Thomas. D.F.C. The function was one of peculiar significance, he said,in that the Hermes would be the first all-British post-war civil aircraft, expressly designed as such, to come into operationon B.O.A.C routes. He believed that it would be popular with passengers and also that the British public would appre-ciate the importance of its introduction as the forerunner of other modern competitive all-British aircraft which B.O.A.C.would be flying in years to come. Sir Miles recalled the asso- ciation of Sir Frederick with British commercial aviation fromits very beginnings 31 years ago, when Handley Page Trans- port, Ltd., was one of the first companies to start operating. Both Lord Pakenham and Sir Frederick Handley Pagereplied. The former said that he thought credit was due not only to Sir Frederick but also to the Ministry of Supply. Itwas a great day for British aviation, and Specially for Sir Frederick, whom he described as " the dean " of civil aviation.(To this Sir Frederick rejoined, later, that he was not con- sidering taking Holy Orders at present: he was moreinterested in other kinds.) The Minister was looking forward to entrusting himself to the Hermes on a flight to Africa ina few weeks' time. There was no doubt that we had had to pay a certain pricefor having speeded ahead with the organization of our air services after the war, but he thought we were right. Sir Frederick Handley Page, C.B.E.,( traced the Corpora-tion's beginnings back some 31 years to the time when Lt.- * The Dorn'er Super-Wai (four Jupiter VI IVs) and Junkers G-38 were flying. Col. Sholto Douglas (as he then was) was chief pilot of theworld's first regular passenger airline over the Channel. A vital reason why he, Sir Frederick, was happy that B.O.A.C.should be the first airline to have the Hermes was the know- ledge that the aircraft would be operated by a corporationwith a superb record of safety and with the airmanship of its crews, and its engineering background, unexcelled. The Hermes could have been in service last year, said SirFrederick, if an interim type of aircraft had been accepted, but a builder had not merely to design, develop, test andperfect a structure, he had to incorporate power plants and electrical and hydraulic equipment and air-conditioning plantand other apparatus so necessary to passenger comfort. All of this made by other factories, and representing over half thevalue of the aircraft, had likewise had to be designed and developed in the post-war years. In the Hermes was equip-ment designed specially for the aircraft and never before installed. It was the first large British civil aircraft to embodya pressurization and air-conditioning system that included humidification and refrigeration, while its high-voltagealternating-current distribution system was the first of its kind to be used in civil aircraft. The development work byspecialist sub-contractors had proved a longer task than was originally anticipated. In the normal course of operational development it wasexpected that the Hermes would later be permitted to carry a greater pay load. Sir Frederick said he was expecting theH.P.81 Hermes to achieve the impossible—an even finer record of safety, reliability and comfortable service than that of theold H.P.42s. He hoped it would help to reduce what he believed was called the '' target deficit'' and eventually helpto turn it into a "target profit." When this happened, Sir Frederick added, he would begin to believe in nationalization. , Some Facts About the Hermes In the form in which the Hermes will go into service withB.O.A.C. it has accommodation for 40 passengers, the fuselage being divided into two cabins, each seating 20. Ladies' andmen's toilet compartments are located at the rear of the aircraft, and additional toilet facilities are found forward ofthe front cabin. There is a large wardrobe just ahead of the entrance door, and a spacious and well-equipped galley—probably the best of any aircraft now in service—located between the crew section and the front cabin. A folding barcan be erected in flight across the main entrance door to facilitate the serving of drinks. The B.O.A.C.-designed seats,made by Vickers, have adjustable headrests and the seats themselves are adjustable from upright to near-recliningattitude. The movement is somewhat unusual, entailing a forward and downward motion on slides. The advantage isthat the fully reclined position involves no inconvenience to the passenger immediately behind. Folding wooden tables arecarried in pockets in the hack of each seat. To the passenger the cabins will appear unusually light andspacious, and the window size is generous for a high-altitude, pressurized aircraft. In Hannibal the noise and vibrationlevels are comparable with, and in most cases lower than, those of piston-engined aircraft now in operation on the world'-routes, and it is understood that when the vee-rod modification (Concluded on p. no)
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