The de Havilland Hercules first flew on 30 September 1926 from Stag Lane Aerodrome in North London. It was built for Imperial Airways, the main British overseas airline at the time, for their upcoming Cairo to Baghdad service.
Seating up to seven passengers, it was powered by three Bristol Jupiter radial engines rated at 420 horse power each. These gave the aircraft a cruising speed of 95 miles per hour.
de Havilland Hercules Video
Following on from the last video on the Short S.8 Calcutta flying boat, we stay in the UK this time for a look at the de Havilland Hercules. The following video was put together by Rex’s Hangar on YouTube and runs for just over 10 minutes.
Official services started on 7 January 1927 with the Basra to Cairo service by Imperial Airways. All aircraft were named after cities, so they had the City of Delhi, City of Baghdad, City of Tehran, City of Cairo, and City of Jerusalem.
The video outlines the transfer of the RAF mail service to Imperial Airways, as well as the service extension to Delhi. The next part of the story is a long way from the UK.
West Australian Airways purchased four aircraft with modifications including an enclosed cockpit and increased seating to 14. Services between Perth and Adelaide started on 29 May 1929.
Overall Thoughts
A total of 11 de Havilland Hercules aircraft were built between 1926 and 1930. The final aircraft were withdrawn from service and scrapped in South Africa in 1943.
In addition to the above, Stephens Aviation operated the plane in New Guinea. Two former West Australian Airways aircraft flew between Lae and Wau from 1936 until 1942.
What did you think of the video presentation? Is this an aircraft you previously knew about? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
Enjoying the series? Check out the index to all the “Does Anyone Remember…” articles.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram..
Interesting tail. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
Back in the very early days of flight they tried a lot of things, that’s for sure!