Handley Page W-10

摘要

October of 1934 saw an attempt to fly an Airspeed Courier from the UK to Karachi. A mammoth undertaking at the time, but this was to be non-stop with air-to-air refuelling. October 2009 commemorated this event when Dorset modeller Don Billingham saw the fruits of a year's work take to the air. Don has modelled several Airspeed aircraft but this time he took the idea a stage further and decided to do the Handley Page W-10 Airliner G-EBMR. This machine had been adapted to a tanker role. The airliner was unable to sustain altitude on one engine and when crossing the English Channel had to do so at 5000 feet to give it time to glide to the other side should one engine quit! It had a chequered career as passenger carrier, freight haulier and latterly as a joyriding aircraft.