Handley Page H.P.42 G-AAXC Heracles on test at Radlett. Note the aerofoil elevator balance and the underwing outboard exhaust pipes on the upper engines.

Hannibal on a test flight, with crude artificial horizon ahead of the nose. The oleo legs are still unfaired but mudguards are in place.

G-AAUE Hadrian at Khartoum. The aircraft was delivered to Imperial airways on July 10,1931, and ended its life wrecked in a gale at Doncaster on December 4, 1940.

This view of Heracles shows the engine layout, anhedral on the lower wing, and wide-track undercarriage.

Hannibal at Radlett, probably on November 17, 1930. The oleo leg is unfaired and the mudguards have not been fitted. The diagonal of the N strut was replaced with wire bracing.

G-AAUC Horsa flying near Kisumu, the African terminus for the H.P.42s.

The flight deck of an H.P.42. Even this early in the development of airliners, switches were beginning to spread across the flight deck ceiling.

Looking aft in the forward cabin of a Heracles. The elegant Pullman-carriage styling is evident.

KEITH WOODCOCK'S painting also shows Heracles - the first, and best known, of the Western type H.P.42/45s.