Here’s a brief, fascinating British Pathe newsreel from 1930 showing us The Handley Page HP–42 (nicknamed the Hannibal), a giant British four-engine biplane airliner designed by Handley Page. Introduced by Imperial Airways in 1931, it was the largest airliner in the world at the time. Built mostly from metal and fabric, it was renowned for its unparalleled safety record, never losing a single passenger in civilian service. And if all of that isn’t reason enough to find this an interesting piece of aviation history, there is another fact to take into account; it’s the weirdest looking commercial airliner ever built.

The prototype Hannibal (G-AAGX) made its first flight on November 14, 1930, and was granted its Certificate of Airworthiness in May 1931. Eight aircraft were built, four of each type and all had names beginning with the letter “H”–the Horse, the Hanno and the Hadrian being the others. Three survivors were pressed into RAF service at the outbreak of the World War Two. By the end of 1940, all of the aircraft had been destroyed.While the civilian fleet was highly successful and safe, none survived beyond World War II; for example, the Hannibal itself mysteriously disappeared over the Gulf of Oman in 1941. Oh, to fly in one of these birds today. Or even just to see one. The Ford Tri-Motor, America’s first commericial airliner, was built just a year or so before this one and one of them is still in service. You can ‘fly the Ford’ is you attend the AirVenture 2026 show in Oshkosh, WI. which runs from July 20-26 this year. I will be in attendance. In fact, I’ve reserved a seat on the Ford and will of course be posting about it. If the Hannibal were still in service, I like to think it would still be operable, much like the Ford. It’s too weird looking not to be…