Fly Past

HANDLEY PAGE HYDERABAD AND HINAIDI 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 21

Above left

Clive II J9945, one of

three transports that

served in India from

1930. It was delivered
      in May 1930 and was
      destroyed in a hangar
      fi re at Lahore, in the
      Punjab, present-day
      Pakistan, on
      March 31, 1933.
      KEC

Below left

Hinaidi II K1075 served

with Upper Heyford-

based 99 Squadron

from January 1931 to

January 1935.

HYDERABAD AND HINAIDIHYDERABAD AND HINAIDI

“The most action the Hyderabad was expected to face would be

against dissident tribes in the Middle East or Afghan warlords in the

North-West Frontier of India.”

in this period; Hyderabad is a city in

central southern India. The improved

Hinaidi was named after another

hotspot, a town near Baghdad

in Iraq.

FROM INDIA TO IRAQ

Handley Page developed the

Hyderabad from the all-new W.8

civil airliner of 1919 and the

prototype bomber had its maiden

flight in October 1923. It was to

be the last British ‘heavy’ using a

primarily wooden airframe. As well

as the nose gun position – known

as ‘the pulpit’ – there was a dorsal

position and an innovative ventrally

mounted gun to protect the

vulnerable underside.

Apart from 99 Squadron, the

only other frontline unit to fly the

Hyderabad was 10 Squadron, which

re-formed at Upper Heyford in

January 1928, and worked up on the

new Handley Page. The Auxiliary

Air Force unit, 503 Squadron at

Waddington, flew Hyderabads from

February 1929.

On March 29, 1927 the

replacement for the Hyderabad was

flown for the first time. This was the

Hinaidi, an improved version of its

predecessor: indeed, the prototype

was converted from a Hyderabad.

The Lions were replaced by 450hp

(335kw) Bristol Jupiter radials and

the Mk.IIs that began to appear in

1930 had all-metal structures.

All three units that had operated

Hyderabads – 10, 99 and 503

Squadrons – took on Hinaidis, the

first being Upper Heyford-based

99 in October 1929. Hinaidis left

frontline usage in late 1933 when

the Handley Page Heyford took

over. At Waddington, 503 Squadron

gave up its Hinaidis in October

1935, taking on Westland Wallaces.

Forty-four Hyderabads had been

built and the RAF received 45

Hinaidis, a mixture of conversions

and new-builds. Three transport

versions of the Hinaidi were also

built, serving in India between 1931

and 1934. Originally given the name

Chitral – after a city in present-day

northern Pakistan, they adopted

Clive, in honour of Major-General

Robert Clive, the 18th century

‘Clive of India’.