To meet the requirements of Air Ministry Specification 31/22, Handley Page developed from the W.8 airliners a twin-engine heavy night bomber which entered service with the RAF as the Handley Page Hyderabad. The prototype, then identified as the W.8d (later H.P.24), was flown for the first time during October 1923, its powerplant comprising two 450 h.p. (336 kW) Napier Lion IIB engines. Service trials proved it superior in performance to the competing Vickers Virginia Mk III, and production for the RAF eventually totalled 45 aircraft. The type entered service first with No. 99 Squadron in December 1925, remaining in first-line service until 1930, and then continued in use with the Auxiliary Air Force until the end of 1933.
An improved version was developed from the Hyderabad to meet the requirement of Air Ministry Specification 13/29. Known as the Hinaidi Mk I, this H.P.33 differed primarily by having as powerplant two 440 h.p. (328 kW) Bristol Jupiter VIII radial engines. The initial prototype was a Hyderabad conversion, but was followed by two additional prototypes built as new by Handley Page, the second of these incorporating a W.10 fuselage for evaluation as a troop transport. Six production Hinaidi Mk Is followed, the last three completed with an all-metal basic fuselage structure, and leading to the construction of one prototype H.P.36 and 33 production Hinaidi Mk II aircraft with the same all-metal basic structure. In addition to the new-manufacture aircraft, seven RAF Hyderabads were converted to Hinaidi Mk I configuration. Like the Hyderabad before it, the Hinaidi entered service first with No. 9 Squadron, remaining in first-line use until replaced by the Handley Page Heyford from November 1933.
The second Hinaidi Mk I prototype, which was of all-wood construction and incorporated the W.10 fuselage, was later redesignated Clive Mk I. This H.P.35 provided accommodation for 23 troops and
was followed into service by two production Clive Mk II transports, which had all-metal basic structure but were otherwise similar. The Clive Mk IIs were based at Lahore in India, serving for a number of years with the RAF Heavy Transport Flight. The Clive Mk I was converted subsequently to W.10 standard to meet an Air Council requirement, becoming redesignated Clive Mk III, but when this failed to materialize it was sold to Sir Alan Cobham who used it in his National Aviation Day Displays and for inflight-refuelling experiments.