Photograph:
Handley Page O/400 C9681 of No 1 Squadron AFC at Hai in the Middle East in 1918 (Australian War Memorial)
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Description:
Long range bomber
Power Plant:
Two 269 kw (360 hp) Rolls Royce Eagle VIII twelve-cylinder VEE liquid-cooled engines
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 30.48 ft (100 ft)
- Length: 18.9 m (62 ft 10¼ in)
- Height: 6.7 m (22 ft)
- Wing area: 153.09 m² (1,648 sq ft)
- Max speed with full bomb load at sea level: 156 km/h (97 mph)
- Cruising speed at 3,048 m (10,000 ft): 122 km /h (76 mph)
- Service ceiling: 2,438 m (8,000 ft)
- Endurance: 8 hours
- Time to climb to 3,048 m (10,000ft): 40 minutes
- Empty weight: 3,777 kg (8,326 lb)
- Loaded weight: 6,360 kg (14,022 lb)
Armament:
Five 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine guns on pivoted mounts; max bomb load 907 kg (2,000 lb)
History:
The O/400 (Handley Page HP.12) was a development of the O/100, which was built to the requirements of the British Admiralty. The O/100, of which three prototypes were built, was powered either with the Sunbeam Cossack or Rolls Royce Eagle engines and first flew in 1915. Development continued through 1916 to iron out the early troubles experienced, this leading to the O/400, which went into production during that year. The new model had a revised fuel system and introduced a compressed-air starting system for the engines.
On entry into service the O/400 was used in the daylight role on North Sea patrols, later in the year being used for night bomber raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge, and in retaliatory raids against German aerodromes from which Gotha bombers operated when bombing London, England.
In September 1917 the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) ordered the type as the O/400 and these were used by the newly formed Independent Air Force in raids on the German Rhineland until the Armistice. On the night of 14/15 September 1918 a force of forty O/400s attacked targets in the Saar, and at about this time large bombs of 748 kg (1,650 lb) were used.
In the bombing role the O/400 could carry 2,239 kg (6,000 lb) of bombs, the internal bomb bay having room for eight 133 kg (250 lb) bombs or sixteen 51 kg (112 lb) bombs, and one 748 kg (1,650 lb) bomb could be carried externally. Two 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns were mounted in the nose and there were one or two similar machine guns in the dorsal and central positions. Production of the O/400 amounted to 663 aircraft, including production by the Standard Aircraft Corporation of Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA.
More than 400 examples were delivered for service with the RFC, later the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1918, these equipping Nos 58, 97, 115, 207, 214, 215 and 216 Squadrons and remaining in service until replaced by the Vickers Vimy in 1919. Eight were converted for VIP transports to be used between London, England and Paris, France and were attached to No 86 (Communications) Wing at Hendon. A number were also converted for commercial use as twelve-passenger airliners after the end of hostilities, these becoming known as the O/10 and O/11, and a small number went to India. Handley Page Transport Ltd in the Great Britain converted ten for commercial use with the designation O/10.
As noted above the O/400 was also built for and delivered to the United States Air Service in September 1918 by the Standard Aircraft Corporation and was known as the “Night Bombardment, Short Range, Type XII”, these aircraft having 261 kw (350 hp) Liberty 12N engines, some 107 of the 1,500 ordered having been completed when orders were cancelled.
On 28 July 1918 one O/400 C9681 left Cranwell in Lincolnshire for the Middle East, flying via Rome in Italy on its way to Palestine in the Middle East for attachment to No 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps (AFC). It was flown by Major A S MacLaren and Brigadeer Gen A E Borton. On 29 August 1918 C9681 arrived at Ramley in the Middle East, and was placed on the strength of No 1 Squadron AFC, which at that time was operating Bristol Fighters against Turkish forces. Amongst the Bristol F.2b Fighter crews were W Hudson Fysh, P J McGuinness (both later of Qantas), and Captain Ross Smith (of Vickers Vimy fame later). It was to take part in bombing attacks in advance of General Allenby’s troops liberating the Holy Land.
This aircraft was soon placed into service bombing Turkish units, the first operation being at 1.15 am on 19 September 1918 when the aircraft, flown by Ross Smith, with a crew comprising Messrs Mulford, Lees and McCann, with sixteen 51 kg (112 lb) bombs, attacked the central telephone exchange at El Afule, and damaged the railway station. Further attacks were made on the Jenin aerodrome and railway station. During these operations the O/400 was landed in the desert at Um es Surab where the crew could confer with Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in relation to his troops being bombed by German Aircraft, the Colonel having a camp in that area.
Although used for bombing operations by No 1 Squadron AFC, it seems after arriving in Heliopolis, in Egypt, as well as attacking Turkish means of communications between the Turkish Headquarters and the 7th and 8th Armies, one of the principal tasks of C9681 in the Middle East was to transport supplies to the advanced airstrip at Azrak in Jordan to assist Lawrence of Arabia in his activities, these including fuel, oil and spare parts for the Bristol Fighters operating in the area. It seems a number of flights were made carrying supplies.
On 23 September attacks were made on the Deraa aerodrome from where German aircraft were operating, when nearly a ton of bombs was dropped from 305 m (1,000 ft).
The Armistice was signed on 31 October 1918 ending the war with Turkey. All other aircraft surviving with No 1 Squadron were then to be flown to Kantara in Egypt in February 1919 where they were handed over to No 111 Squadron RAF, and on 5 March No 1 Squadron was withdrawn from active service and sailed from Egypt for Australia on board the ‘SS Port Sydney’. At the time of the Armistice, plans to establish RAF Handley Page bomber squadrons in Egypt with a training centre in Crete were cancelled. The O/400 C9681 thus spent three months with the Australian unit on bombing and transport operations in the area.
It would seem that two O/400s were flown to Palestine but only the one C9681 was active in military operations. At wars end on 31 October it was decided to fly the AFC aircraft C9681 to Baghdad in Iraq and thus link up with forces then in Mesopotamia but it seems the aircraft flown to Baghdad by Captain Ross Smith was serial C9700 instead of C9681, the latter being described in some references as “Ross Smith’s own Handley Page”. This aircraft at that time required major servicing before it could be returned to the RAF. Some authorities stated the aircraft flown to Baghdad was C9681 but Ross Smith himself stated on 29 November 1918, with General W G Salmond and AFC air mechanics Sergeants Bennett and Shiers on board, he flew C9700 via Damascus in Syria and Baghdad to Calcutta in India where both aircraft were returned to the RAF. The log book of O/400 V9681 survives in Australia with a private collector.
The arrival of aircraft serial C9700 was too late in the Middle East to take part in the war in Egypt and, in its flight with Ross Smith at the controls, basically pioneered what was eventually to become the air mail route across that part of the world. C9700 left Cairo in Egypt on 29 November 1918 with Major General Salmond, RAF, Brigadier General A E Borton (General Officer Commanding RAF forces in Palestine from 28 July 1918 to 8 August 1918), Captain Ross Smith as pilot, and mechanics Sergeant James Bennett and Sergeant Walter Shiers, the latter three of No 1 Squadron AFC. The purpose of the flight has been said to be to survey the airfields for the 1919 England to Australia Air Race.
This aircraft C9700 went on to serve in the Afghan War in 1919 and bombed Kabul in the offensive against the Afghans. One report stated it was destroyed in a cyclone at Lahore in India, and another stated it crashed at Lahore. It would seem, as No 58 Squadron RAF did not arrive in the Middle East until late in 1919, C9700 may have been sent to the Middle East to assist, or in fact take over from the tired C9681. Whatever may be the case, the aircraft was never attached to No 1 Squadron AFC as part of its equipment.
The aircraft C9700 left on 10 December and arrived at Karachi on the same day, flying on to Nasirabad and Delhi in India on 12 December. On 16 December the crew flew to Allahabad and on to the Calcutta racecourse on 17 December, damage being occasioned to a wing which required repairs. The trip from Cairo to Calcutta was 6,579 km (4,088 miles) covered in a time of 59 hours and 11 minutes.