Prototype, registered Nov.1927. First flew 14 Feb.1928. To Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, Felixstowe for trials 15 March 1928, after completion of which it landed on the Thames between Vauxhall and Lambeth Bridges on 1 August 1928 and was moored by Westminster Bridge for three days so that Members of Parliament could inspect an aircraft intended to forge important links across the Empire. Handed over to Imperial Airways 9 Aug.1928. During a night stop in Mirabello Bay, Crete on 28 Dec.1936 it was damaged beyond repair while moored in a storm and rough seas.

Registered to Imperial Airways 23 April 1930. First flew 8 Dec.1931. Built originally as an HP.42W (to which model the designation HP.45 was applied in later years but not during their flying lives nor was it reflected in the c/n.) and converted to an HP.42E in 1935. It was destroyed by fire in the airship shed at Drigh Road airfield, Karachi 31 May 1937. Cancelled July 1937.

The second Argosy, registered to Imperial Airways 4th June 1925 and delivered to them the following month. The aircraft was DBR when it crashed on take-off from Aswan, Egypt, en route to Cairo 16th June 1931. It was flying the Johannesburg to London service at the time.

Registered April 1925, to Imperial Airways 15 Sept.1926. Nicknamed 'The Flying Pig' due to its ungainly appearance. After an engine change the previous day, it suffered engine problems shortly after taking off from Croydon on a test flight 13 July 1928, crashed near Purley and burst into flames. The pilot and one passenger survived but the other four passengers died in the accident, which stopped the practice of staff being taken up as passengers on test flights. At the time of the crash, this was the last Vickers Vulcan flying. In the background is Argosy I G-EBLO of Imperial Airways.

The prototype DH.66 Hercules. Registered 11 Dec.1925. First flight 30 Sept.1926. While on a trial mail flight from India to Australia 19 April 1931, it suffered fuel starvation in bad weather on the leg from Surabaya to Koepang and with all three engines stopped, it made a forced landing 10 miles from Koepang, Timor. After landing it struck rocks, lost its landing gear and came to rest. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair but the two crew were uninjured. Cancelled June 1931.

Registered 25th Nov.1925. Sold to Sir Alan Cobham and registered to his National Aviation Displays Ltd on 27th Nov.1933. Converted to an in-flight tanker in 1934 and flew out to Hal Far, Malta later that year to refuel Sir Alan's Airspeed Courier G-ABXN on its attempted non-stop flight to India. There are conflicting reports as to whether it did carry out the proposed refuelling over the Mediterranean or not but the Courier suffered a throttle problem, which necessitated Cobham forced-landing on Malta. That flight was abandoned and W.10 G-EBMR was sold locally for scrap. Cancelled Nov.1934.

Registered 2nd April 1925. Aircraft was damaged beyond repair when it crashed on take-off from Roborough, Plymouth while outbound to Croydon on 23rd October 1928. The pilot and four passengers were uninjured. Cancelled 2nd January 1929. (In the background is G-EBLO, an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy of Imperial Airways).

Registered January 1922. To Imperial Airways March 1924. DBR in gales following a precautionary landing in very rough weather near Abbeville, France 15th February 1928.

G-AFCV on its arrival after Imperial Airways' inaugural UK-Canada service . Photo from: Library and Archives Canada

Crashed into Lake Habbaniyah, Iraq on 27 November 1938.

Opening of Kallang airport. The governor of Singapore hopped over from Seletar to Kallang in Artemis, which is flanked by RAF Vildebeest torpedo-bombers and a flight of blue and yellow Netherlands East Indies army Martin 139 bombers. The tail of KNILM DC-2 PK-AFK is also seen. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

The Short S.23 was rather short on range and it seems that a stop on the Saône river in Mâcon was sometimes necessary on the leg between Portsmouth and Marseille. The Hôtel d'Europe et d'Angleterre in Mâcon says the flying boats moored at their doorsteps and this seems to be correct - the Pont Saint-Laurent bridge is just visible under the wing and the pointy house seen above the cockpit still stands. Photo from: Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon

'Resting in the water off Long Island Sound prior to its flight to Bermuda.' Photo by: Margaret Bourke-White / Life

G-AAUE was blown over in a gale at Doncaster on December 6, 1940. Photo from: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Astraea at Palembang's Talangbetoetoe airfield during its flight to Australia. Photo from: Leiden University Libraries

Photographed over Rochester presumably before delivery on 30 September 1937 - the factory is just beyond the bottom of the picture. Destroyed at Broome, Australia in Japanese raid on 3 March 1942. Photo by: Charles E Brown

Connemara on the Medway 'before its first flight' but the date of that does not seem to be known. This aircraft burnt at Southampton on 19 June 1939. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

Cassiopeia crashed at Sabang on 29 December 1941, hitting debris on take-off while carrying a load of ammunition from India to Singapore following the outbreak of the Pacific War. The flying boat is seen with a type of embarkation raft first used in April 1937, designed to prevent damage to the hull. From 1938, passengers boarded straight from the shore at Berth 108 in the port of Southampton, rather than from the Hythe facility.

To Royal Air Force at start of World War II. Photo from: Norman Melrose

Operated by Imperial Airways. Dating approximate. Built in 1931, scrapped in 1938. Photo from: Library of Congress