The First International Airline To India, 1926 Photo
A rare 1926 press photograph of Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.66 Hercules preparing at Croydon for the pioneering flight to India. On December 18, 1926, a crowd gathered at London’s Croydon Aerodrome to witness a historic moment in aviation: the departure of the survey and inaugural flight to India, intended to chart the long-distance air route from England.
After departing Croydon, the fourteen-seater plane flew with four passengers through Cairo and reached Karachi (undivided India) on January 6, 1927. It arrived at its final destination, Delhi, on January 8, 1927, covering the long distance in roughly 62–63 flying hours. Thus, the fourteen-seater biplane carrying four passengers was directly connected with the beginnings of the England-India air route.
On 10 January 1927, Lady Irwin, wife of the Viceroy of India, ceremonially named the aircraft City of Delhi. The DH.66 Hercules was specifically designed for this long-distance Empire route. The regular service was initially developed in stages. The Cairo–Basra service began in January 1927, while the extension toward Karachi required further negotiations and did not become a through London–Karachi service until 1929.
Thus, the machine in this photograph was directly connected with the beginnings of Imperial Airways’ regular long-distance aviation network linking Britain with India in 1929.
Did you know – it wasn’t until March 1929 that Imperial Airways finally stitched these segments together to launch a unified London to Karachi service. And even then, it still required a train segment through Italy and flying boats across the Mediterranean.
