Handley Page 0/400 G-EAAF

Crew and Passengers for Crash of G-EAAF Halker, Nr Carlisle 12.05.1919

Capt. William Harold Nelson Shakespeare, RAF (Pilot)

Major Thomas Hans Orde-Lees (Observer),

Miss “Silva/Sylvia Boyden” (parachutist) aka Miss Grace Ellen Pothecary

Above 3 slighly injured

Bill Crisp (fitter) – William ‘Bill’ Crisp – Unidentified possibly either William George Crisp #193850 or William Roberts Crisp #250570 Fitter & Turner 

George Kimber Marchmont Rigger) #525 (later #559040) – Ex RFC/RAF

Thank you, HP numbers have long confused me! That is a very welcome explanation.

“O” (as in “between N and P”). HP’s original designs are all identified by letters, starting with individual aircraft (Monoplane A, Monoplane C, Monoplane D which are also HP.1, HP.3 and HP.4 – not sure what happened to B…) The letters and numbers start to diverge from there, so type O is also the HP.11 (O/100) and HP.12 (O/400). Many of the earlier types had a suffix telling you what horsepower engine was fitted (e.g. E/50, G/200), but by the time they started designing the “Bloody Paralyser” the Admiralty wanted a little more secrecy, so the ‘100’ in O/100 refers to the wingspan. O/400 goes back, confusingly, to the horsepower of the engines (but only of one engine), whereas the V/1500 that’s the total horsepower of all four. And the system really falls apart when you consider the early civil types, where the O/7, O/10 and O/11 are all essentially the same aircraft, with the number nominally referring to number of passengers – except that HP managed to cram twenty or more into an O/7 (and had their knuckles rapped soundly for doing so), were at various time certified to carry 10, 8 or only five in an O/10, and generally only carried five in an O/11, which was primarily a freighter! For the W.8 and W.10 the supposed passenger numbers are a bit closer to reality, but it’s small wonder that they dropped the letter designations shortly after and just used type numbers.

I can’t help with the original poster’s questions, but I have one of my own that drives me a little crazy whenever this type is mentioned: O/400 or 0/400?

Adrian’s explanation neatly ties up the Orioles and the Curtiss Cox Wildcat triplane racer in the background. I’m still not sure of the small type in the third photo.

John

Thanks Adrian, that’s awesome.

Well done, chaps…very interesting and little-known topic!

O/400 F.5414 (fleet number HP.13) was one of the original four Handley Page bombers converted to ‘airliners’. It was one of two in which the bomb-dropping gear was left, albeit modified, to enable rolls of newspapers to be parachuted to various cities to demonstrate the advantage of aircraft over railways. As express trains were noticeably faster than an O/400, this was not an unqualified success. During one of these newspaper sorties, on 12 May 1919, F.5414 made a successful force landing at Harker, near Carlisle, but unfortunately in a field too small for it to take off again and the aircraft was wrecked in the attempt. The rear fuselage and tail were salvaged and incorporated into a new-build O/7, along with the previous identity, but now marked as G-5414. The aircraft had another accident on 12 August 1919, at Breda in Italy, but this must have been minor, as it was serviceable in time to run the second ‘proper’ cross-Channel airline flight on 25 August. By this time it was painted as G-EAAF, although precisely when this happened is unclear. It returned the following day, with a night-stop at Lympne meaning it didn’t get back to Cricklewood until the 27th.

Around that time, relations between Handley Page and Curtiss were quite cordial (although they soured later), and the two companies apparently collaborated on attempts to set up air services in China, and perhaps in South America too. There were plans to build O/400s in America, and indeed some component sets had been completed, by Standard, before the end of the war and shipped to the UK, and others were assembled in America post-war. G-EAAF was shipped to the US in May 1920, not as part of any deal with Curtiss, but with the intention of operating charter flights for a Handley Page subsidiary between New York and Chicago. While it was on the way, Judge Chatfield made his famous ruling, prompted by the Wright Aircraft Company (who were not yet Curtiss-Wright) preventing the importation of foreign aircraft – they were particularly horrified at Handley Page’s involvement with the Aircraft Disposal Company, and alleged that the remarkably precise figure of 2365 surplus British aircraft were about to be ‘dumped’ on the US market. G-EAAF was thus impounded by US Customs. Handley Page didn’t want to throw good money after bad and saw no benefit in trying to get the aircraft back, only to have to pay to ship it across the Atlantic again. Eventually US Customs realised the aircraft was ‘stuck’ with them, and persuaded Curtiss to take it off their hands. It apparently survived at Roosevelt Field into 1925.

Well before G-EAAF went across the Atlantic, the V/1500, F7140, was indeed in Newfoundland being readied for a trans-Atlantic attempt when Alcock and Brown beat them to it and the attempt was cancelled. Looking for some way of recovering some of the cost of the operation, they hired the aircraft out to, amongst others, a company called American Railway Express for an experimental aerial fast parcel service – the precursor of the modern American Express, I believe. The aircraft had a chequered career in America, finally being damaged in a force landing in Pennsylvania on 14 November 1919, after which it was dismantled and not flown again.

Interesting I thought that there was a Handley Page that was in Newfoundland for an Atlantic attempt but after Alcock and Browns success it was flown to the USA for demos, but that was a V/1500. I can only assume that it was sent to the US for some sort of demo, perhaps to lead to licence production??

Out of interest turned to my usual reference of anything G-E***, Peter Moss ‘The British Civil Aircraft Registers 1919-1928’, Air Britain 1969. The entry for G-EAAF is sparse on detail and of very little help, except for the information that by 1922 the British C of A had expired and the 0/400 aircraft had been modified to become a type Handley Page 0/7.

For what it is worth the entry states:

G-EAAF Handley Page 0/400, service registration F5414 (HP-13).
C of A No.1 issued 1.5.19, Handley Page Ltd
Modified to 0/7 with new C of A issued 14.9.19
Flown as G-5414 initially
Withdrawn on C of A expiry 8.20.

The book has two photos of civil 0/400s, one with ‘G’ on the fin and large ex service ‘D.8350.’ on the fuselage, the other, again with ‘G’ on the fin and ‘G-5417’ on the fuselage, the G- simply replacing the letter of the service identity used a civil registration until after the International Air Navigation Convention met in Paris in early July 1919 to allocate national markings. Before late July 1919 aircraft used their service identity as a registration or the sequence K-100 to K-175 if no service identity.

My Great Aunt and Great Uncle are buried in the churchyard cemetery of the church in the distance in the top photo.