Handley Page V / 1500 The Handley Page V / 1500 was a British night - flying heavy bomber built by Handley Page towards the end of the First World War . It was a large four - engined biplane , which resembled a larger version of Handley Page ' s earlier O / 100 and O / 400 bombers , intended to bomb Berlin from East Anglian airfields . The end of the war stopped the V / 1500 being used against Germany , but a single aircraft was used to carry out the first flight from England to India , and later carried out a bombing raid on Kabul during the Third Anglo - Afghan War . It was colloquially known within the fledgling Royal Air Force as the " Super Handley " . Development and design . The V / 1500 was produced to meet a British Air Board 1917 requirement for a large night bomber capable of reaching deeper into Germany than the Handley Page O / 100 which had recently entered service , carrying a 3 , 000 lb ( 1 , 400 kg ) bombload . This implied the ability to bomb Berlin from bases in East Anglia . While the V / 1500 had a similar fuselage to that of the O / 900 , it had longer - span , four - bay biplane wings and was powered by four 375 hp ( 280 kW ) Rolls - Royce Eagle VIII engines mounted in two nacelles , so two engines were pulling in the conventional manner and two pushing , rather than the two Eagles of the smaller bomber . Construction was of wood and fabric materials . A relatively novel design feature was the gunner ' s position at the extreme rear of the fuselage , between the four fins . Owing to pressure of work at Handley Page ' s Cricklewood factory , and to ensure security , the first prototype was constructed by Harland and Wolff at Belfast , Northern Ireland , being assembled at Cricklewood and first flying on 22 May 1918 . Orders were placed with a number of companies ( including Harland and Wolff , Beardmore , Handley Page , Grahame - White and Alliance Aircraft for a total of 210 V / 1500s , although only 40 aircraft were completed , with a further 22 produced as spares . Service . Three aircraft were delivered to No . 166 Squadron at RAF Bircham Newton ( Norfolk ) during October 1918 . The squadron commander did not get clear orders for his mission until November 8 , due to debate at high level . A mission was scheduled for that night ( bomb Berlin , fly on to Prague as the Austro - Hungarian forces had surrendered by then , refuel , re - arm , bomb Düsseldorf on the way back ) . No mission was flown - a technical expert insisted that all the engines on one aircraft be changed . The same happened the following day ( but with a different aircraft ) . The three aircraft were about to taxi out after the second set of engine changes when an excited ground crew member ran out to stop them — the Armistice had just been declared . One of the original batch of aircraft ( J1936 , " Old Carthusian " ) went on to record two significant ' firsts ' . On 13 December 1918 , the bomber , flown by Major A . C . S . Maclaren and Captain Robert Halley , accompanied by Brigadier General N . D . K . McEwan , made the first ever ' through - flight ' from England to India . Taking off from Britain the aircraft flew via Rome , Malta , Cairo , and Baghdad , finally reaching Karachi on 15 January 1919 . The same aircraft played a pivotal role in ending the Third Anglo - Afghan War . On 25 May 1919 , flying from Risalpur piloted by Captain Halley and with Lt E . Villiers as observer , the V / 1500 reached Kabul in three hours . Of its payload of four 112 lb ( 51 kg ) bombs on improvised bomb racks removed from B . E . 2c s and 16 20 lb ( 10 kg ) bombs carried in the fuselage and dropped by hand , four bombs hit the royal palace . Although the bombing did little physical damage , it had a great psychological impact on the citizens - the ladies of the royal harem rushed onto the streets in terror , causing great scandal . A few days later King Amanullah sued for peace , bringing an end to the war after less than one month of hostilities . The Handley Page V / 1500 aircraft " Atlantic " was shipped to Newfoundland in early 1919 to attempt the first non - stop Transatlantic flight . However , the prize was won by Alcock and Brown in a Vickers Vimy in June 1919 . The crew departed for New York but was forced to land in Parrsboro , Nova Scotia on 5 July 1919 where it was repaired over the course of the summer . The " Atlantic " continued to New York on 9 October 1919 carrying with it the first Airmail from Canada to the United States of America . Final production of the V / 1500 totalled 60 aircraft . They were eventually replaced in service by the Vickers Vimy . J1936 ended its life being consumed by termite s .