Shipbucket

Excellent darthpanda, thanks very much for filling that hole!
The reason I didn't paint up the Chinese aircraft was I couldn't get a clear picture of the Chinese characters on the fuselage and I didn't want to make a fool of myself by "guessing" the shape of the characters!

Hinaidi

Meanwhile HP were still working on the Hyderabad military series.



In 1927 new radial engines became available, and the Hyderabad was reworked for the new powerplants and renamed the Hinaidi, and after tropical trials a transport version with a W.10 fuselage was also ordered. The changed engines made the aircraft tail heavy, so as a solution a sweptback wing was trialled and found successful.



With the new wing, the fuselage frames were also modernised to metal rather than wood, and the new aircraft was designated the Hinaidi II and entered production. Hinaidi II's remained in service until October 1935.



As an insurance against a potential shortage of the Jupiter radial engines, a model with Jaguar engines was prepared as the Hinaidi III, but there were no supply problems and the design was not built.

H.P.35 Clive

The transport version of the Hinaidi was the Clive, developed concurrently. The Air Ministry wanted to call the aircraft the "Chitral", but for some reason HP objected and eventual "Clive" was agreed to.



The initial Clive I was a Hinaidi I with a W.10 fuselage - with the exception of gauze as the window covering - for maximum ventilation and minimum mosquitos for tropical operations. With the metal structure and sweptback wing introduced in the Hinaidi II, those features were added to the Clive II, as was the addition of gunners positions and bombsight - giving the aircraft both transport and bomber capability. About half of the original Hinaidi II aircraft were converted to Clive II's during their lives.
The original Clive I was later converted to civilian standard as the Clive III, and was eventually sold Cobhams for use as a joyrider and in-flight refueller.


And with that the Type W series came to an end, with the Clive only being allocated a "new" HP numerical designator.

Excellent!

Loving this series so far

_________________
>"Emotions are prohibited." —YoRHa No. 2, Type B ("2B"), NieR: Automata
>"Wow, if I wasn't a hardened killing machine, that mightta hurt..." —SSgt. John Lugo (1st SFOD-D), Spec Ops: The Line

H.P.38 Heyford

The Air Ministry started looking at moving past the WW1 style bombers, and in 1927 issued a specification for an advanced bomber for the next generation of military aircraft.



Starting with the Hinaidi II, HP continued with their new use of a metal frame, adding a duralumin shell for the crew cabin and tail, and a new design of a retractable "dustbin" turret for lower defence. To allow an unrestricted defensive gun coverage the fuselage was attached to the upper wing surface. To test the concept wind tunnel models of both the upper wing and lower wing fuselage attachment methods were used, with both radial and flat engine layouts also trialled. The lower wing attachment was proved to be inferior in both aerodynamics and field of fire, and the radial engines were also inferior in installation.



Being so novel in construction and design, the first prototype was not completed until 1930.
The aircraft's performance was vastly superior to both the current service aircraft and rival designs, with engine cooling and crew working space probably being the most significant problems. After 2 years of testing, the prototype was flown to the RAF Display at Hendon in 1932 - but after leaving the aircraft crashed into a wall and was destroyed.

H.P. 50 Heyford

After the H.P.38's protracted gestation, a contract was about to be finalized in 1932 when world politics intervened. The League of Nations attempted to abolish bombing, and so with international pacifism on the cards the Air Ministry held signing the contract. HP was on the verge of laying off their workers.
The Japan invaded Manchuria, and the Geneva Disarmament Conference broke down. The Air Ministry gave HP the instructions to proceed with production of the Heyford.



The major change from the prototype H.P.50 to the production model was more than changing the exhausts for quieter operation.
An improved Mk.II with more powerful engines, an enclosed cockpit and a more protected rear gunners position was flown, but not adopted into production. Instead the Mk.III was built without the modified cockpit.
In 1935 the Heyford was used as a target to test the early radar transmitters, and in early 1937 a Heyford became the first aircraft to test an airborne radar reciever.
Although obsolete by the beginning of WW2, Heyfords remained as bomber trainers, and 2 remained in service until 1941 as tugs for the secret Hotspur glider.

Awesome!

Hayford looks good!

_________________
Worklist:
- Victorian Navy - LINK
- ROC/Taiwan - 中華民國空軍 / 陸軍航特部 / 海軍航空兵 - LINK
- RHKAAF / HKGFS - 皇家香港輔助空軍 / 政府飛行服務隊
- Gunbucket - LINK

天滅中共全黨死清光!

H.P.42 Hannibal

The aircraft that is probably the quintessential 1930's imperial airliner.



In 1928 Imperial Airways tendered for 3 and 4 engine for European and Eastern routes. One of the requirements was for a very low stall speed, which meant a slow landing speed, but also to a slow cruise speed.
For the 4-engined design, HP went back to their V/1500 design. with a Bleriot-style engine grouping. Wing bracing wires were replaced by an external bracing truss, and the whole cabin and very tail were duralumin moncocque structure. The H.P.42 was to be the Eastern model, and the almost identical H.P.45 the Western. Externally the only significant differences were the use of 2x 2 bladed propellers in the Eastern aircraft, and 4 bladed propellers in the Western - as a 2 blade would be easier to transport to the Middle East for repair and replacement in future. In service Imperial Airways service all aircraft would simply be referred to as H.P.42's.
Initial testing showed the purely trussed wing did not pass stresses correctly leading to the outer truss collapsing, so outer bracing wires were added to the design.



Although travelling at the same speeds as airliners of 10 years previous, the H.P.42's carried 3 times the payload. Up until WW2 they flew 2.3 million miles without a single fatality, all while serving 7-course dinners on longer routes (4-course meals were the standard) with 2 stewards in absolute luxury. 1937 an H.P.42 became the first commercial aircraft in the world to have flown 1 million miles in passenger service.
With only 1 crash, the remaining 7 H.P.42's were still in service with Imperial Airways at the outbreak of WW2. All aircraft were impressed into the RAF and the European aircraft provided support for the British Expeditionary Force in France. Service in the RAF was not as successful as civilian service. The original "Hannibal" was lost without trace from Oman, and the remaining 3 Eastern aircraft returned to Britain. One crashed in a forced landing, and two were destroyed on the ground in a storm. Another forced landing and another storm left only the "Helena" who was damaged beyond repair in a forced landing. So by 6 December 1939 the H.P.42 fleet was no more. An attempt to repair "Helena" was made in 1941, but the airframe was so corroded the aircraft was dismantled and used as an office.