The
Handley Page Type O was a
biplane bomber used by Britain during the
First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and also one of the largest in the world. There were two main variants, the
Handley Page O/100 (H.P.11) and the
Handley Page O/400 (H.P.12).
The aircraft were used in France for
tactical night attacks on targets in
German-occupied France and
Belgium and for
strategic bombing of industrial and transport targets in the
Rhineland. Some aircraft were temporarily diverted to
anti-submarine reconnaissance and bombing in the
Tees estuary in 1917 and two aircraft operated in the eastern Mediterranean. The impression made by the Type O was such that for many years after the war any large aircraft came to be called a "Handley Page" in Britain and entered the dictionary as such.