The Contemporary Newspapers  March 1940

 
The Contemporary Newspapers
 

The newspapers of the time are now available online and many of the reports concur with the known story about the loss of Hannibal. Some offer a different perspective from overseas to that published in Britain.

 

 

March 2 1940 India The Indian Express, 3 March 1940, Page 6
    IMPERIAL AIRWAYS PLANE MISSING IN PERSIAN GULF
New Delhi  March 2
   

Extensive detailed article

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zbE-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=QkwMAAAAIBAJ&dq=hannibal%20missing&pg=2497%2C4809249

March 2nd 1940 New Zealand Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 54, 4 March 1940, Page 10
   

AIRLINER OVERDUE
BRITISH MACHINE
PERSIAN GULF VICINITY
CALCUTTA, March 2

   

   The Imperial Airways liner Hanni-bal, which left Jiwani (Arabia) for Sharja in the Persian Gulf, radioed that it was trying to contact Sharja after which it has not been traced. The plane carried four passengers and a crew of four. It was over the most inhospitable mountains on the whole route.
   A British Official Wireless message says the Hannibal is commanded, by Captain Townsend. The liner left Jiwani at 3.32 p.m. on Friday and was due at Sharja five hours later. The Hannibal was reported over Jask at 6.50 p.m.
 Imperial Airways announced tonight that there was still no news of the Hannibal. At dawn this morning a. [search began in which several R.A.F.  craft and the Empire flying-boat Coogee took part. They. received cooperation of naval and merchant ships.
  A message from New Delhi says a wide search by air failed to locate the Hannibal, which was carrying mail from India. Passengers included Sir A. T. Pannir Selvam, Minister for Madras, who was flying to join the Council of the Secretary of State for India.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19400304.2.92&srpos=6&e=--1939---1941--10--1----0Hannibal--

March 5 1940   Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 55, 5 March 1940, Page 8
    HANNIBAL FOUND
WRECKAGE ON COAST
OCCUPANTS MAY BE ALIVE
CALCUTTA, March 4,
   

The wreckage of the Imperial Air-ways liner Hannibal, which has been missing in the Persian Gulf area, has been located from the air two miles east of Ras al-Kuh, on the south coast of Iran. .There is a faint hope that the occupants have come ashore.,

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19400305.2.95&srpos=2&e=--1939---1941--10--1----0Hannibal--

March 5,1940   Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 56, 6 March 1940, Page 8
    NOT THE HANNIBAL
WRECKAGE ON IRAN COAST
(Received March 6, 11 a.m.)
LONDON, March 5
 

  The commander of the Imperial Air-ways plane Horsa, who located the wreckage near Ras al-Kuh, on the south coast of Iran, said it belonged to a local boat and was not the air-liner Hannibal, which has been miss-ing in the Persian Gulf area since the weekend.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19400306.2.45&srpos=3&e=--1939---1941--10--1----0Hannibal--

March 8, 1940   Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 58, 8 March 1940, Page 8
   

RECORD SPOILT
LOSS OF THE HANNIBAL
     
(British Official Wireless.)
    (Received March 8, 1.40 p.m.)

     RUGBY, March 7.
   Imperial Airways has officially an-nounced that the search for the air-liner Hannibal has been abandoned. It is feared that she was lost at sea and that there were no survivors of the four passengers and the crew of four.
  The statement makes it clear that the wreckage seen by the Horsa proved not to be that of the Hannibal and con-cludes: "The accident brings to an end the proud record of the eight Handley Page 42 airliners used by Imperial Airways. Although between them they carried several hundred thousand pass-engers not one passenger had suffered injury or loss of life."

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19400308.2.111&srpos=5&e=--1939---1941--10--1----0Hannibal--

 
Friday 8th March 1940 Norway  “Aftenposten”small notice on the front page
   

  Imperial Airways meddeler at letingen efter ruteflyet “Hannibal” er gitt op. Man antar at det er styrtet i havet, og at alle de ombordværende er omkommet.

   

 

 translation:

”Imperial Airways reports that the search for the scheduled plane “Hannibal” has been given up. It is assumed that it has crashed into the sea, and everybody on board has died.”

 

Flight March 21st 1940

Mail on "Hannibal"
THE Postmaster-General announces that air mail from India for this country was on board the air liner Hannibal,
which left Karachii on March 1 and is now missing.  It is not yet known whether any of the mail is likely to be recovered.

 

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1940/1940%20-%200870.html?search=hannibal

Flight MARCH 21, 1940 271 Hannibal Search Abandoned
THE search for the Imperial Airways liner Hannibal, which was lost near Jask on the Iranian coast on March 1, has been abandoned. Previous reports, which stated that wreckage of the aeroplane had been found, were incorrect as the wreckage proved to be that of an old boat. No information on the cause of the accident is yet available. It must be presumed that the lives of the four passengers and four crew have been lost. The mail from India, Colombo and Goa has also been lost and that transferred at Jask from the preceding aeroplane.
 

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1940/1940%20-%200875.html?search=Jask 
November 13, 1930 New Zealand
Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 116, 13 November 1930, Page 9
   

Eao Bahadur A. T. Pannirselvam.— Member of Justice Party of Madras. Has taken a leading part in matters affecting Indian Christians in South India.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19301113.2.53.3&cl=search&srpos=1&e=-------10--1----0pannirselvam--&st=1

 
 

 
 
   
   

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Richard Hobby, 2002 - 13. ( This page is a collation of information from various sources, please address any concerns about source and accreditation to page author )