In its production Hermes IV version, this civil transport was one of the first new British airliners to enter post-war service with British Overseas Airways Corporation. The Handley Page Hermes was basically a commercial version of the RAF's Hastings, and it had been the company's original intention to develop the civil Hermes first, but when the H.P.68 Hermes I prototype crashed on its maiden flight, on 3rd December 1945, priority was given to development of the military transport for which the RAF then had a most urgent requirement. As a result it was not until 2nd September 1947 that the next Hermes development aircraft was flown, this being the H.P.74 Hermes II (G-AGUB) which, by comparison with the Hastings, had the fuselage lengthened.
Successful testing of the Hermes II led to the H.P.81 Hermes IV, the definitive production version, of which the first (G-AKFP) was flown initially on 5th September 1948. It differed primarily by having tricycle landing gear and more powerful Hercules engines, and was followed by 24 similar production aircraft. The type entered service with BOAC on 6th August 1950 (on the airline's London-Accra route) and was equipped for operation by a crew of five. Standard interior layout was for 40 passengers, but as many as 63 could be seated in a high-density arrangement.
After some two years of service BOAC replaced the Hermes fleet by Canadair Argonauts, but had little difficulty in disposing of the surplus aircraft. Most were re-engined subsequently with Hercules 773 engines, bringing a redesignation as the Hermes IVA and, in addition, Handley Page built two H.P.82 Hermes V aircraft. These were intended to evaluate the performance of the Hermes with turbine powerplant, each having four 2,220 hp Bristol Theseus turboprops, but no further examples were built. Hermes IV/IVA aircraft remained in service with a number of operators until the mid-1960s.