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This page contains pictures of models of LMA members commercial aircraft.  

Handley Page W10
Built and flown by Don Billingham

The Handley Page W10 was one of four airliners purchased by Imperial Airways in 1926 for their Silver Wings service from The London Air Station (Croydon
Airport) to Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Zurich. With a wingspan of 75 feet and length 60 feet, the biplane was powered by two Napier Lion W12 engines of
450 horse power. Lacking in single engine performance, a fully laden W10 needed to climb to 5000 feet before crossing the English Channel, to make a safe
crossing in event of an engine failure. In 1933 it was aquired by Sir Alan Cobham and used for trials of in flight refuelling.

  

The model is one fifth (20%) scale and was built in just less than a year to commemorate the 75 anniversary of the refuelling event and the formation of
Flight Refuelling Limited, in 2009. With a wingspan of 15 feet, length 12 feet and weight 86 lbs, power is by two 60cc Laser 360 twins . It faithfully
reproduces the original, City of Pretoria, which carried HRH Prince of Wales, in 1926. In the cabin is fitted a winch which lowers a hose during flight.

Handley Page HP 42
Built and flown by Mike Eccles

If any aeroplane could be described as a stately galleon of the airways, it was Handley Page’s H.P.42. This extraordinary biplane was the first four-engine airliner
in the world to go into regular passenger service and was commonly known as the first million mile airliner. Eight H.P.42s were built, four of each version. They were all given
classical names beginning with H. The prototype was “Hannibal” which had its first flight on 17th November 1930 at Radcliffe Airfield. First flown in 1931, it was used exclusively by
Britain’s Imperial Airways. This model, Heracles, was a 38-passenger H.P.42W (Western) version operated to Europe from Croydon Airport in Surrey, it flew
a total of 1,318,990 miles and provided safe carriage for more than 160,000 passengers. The H.P.42E (Eastern) model which carried 24 passengers and Royal Mail
travelled the more exotic route from Cairo to Karachi and Kisumu. The Warren-girder system of struts between the wings permitted the elimination of bracing wires,
but the aircraft’s design showed a haughty disdain for streamlining. The airliner had a metal airframe covered in fabric, apart from the fuselage which was corrugated.
It ploughed through the air at a leisurely 95mph on the power of its four uncowled Bristol Jupiter engines, providing a slow but relatively comfortable service. It was 92’0” long,
had a wingspan of 130’0” and was 27’0”high. The H.P.42s remained in service until the outbreak of World War 2, by which time they were looking distinctly
antiquated among the modern monoplanes on airport aprons, but they were nonetheless outstanding in their endurance and reliability. One aircraft was
destroyed in an airship hanger fire in 1937, the rest were all destroyed while in Royal Air Force service mainly due to them not being secured down in the wind.

THE MODEL
Built by Mike Eccles to a scale of 1/8 off a set of genuine Handley Page drawings.
Construction: totally built up.
Covering: corrugated cardboard to the fuselage, Seconite to the rest.
Engines: 4 x Zenoah 26cc.
Weight: 45 kilogrammes
Radio: Futaba 15 servos
Crashed 25/07/09 in Hastings due to battery failure.

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