Книги
Putnam
A.Jackson
De Havilland Aircraft since 1909
107
A.Jackson - De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 /Putnam/
De Havilland Biplane No. 1
This was a single seat biplane of cotton covered, white wood construction with a fixed tailplane, front elevator, uncompensated ailerons, a large rudder above the tailplane but no fixed fin. It was braced with piano wire and mounted on an undercarriage of bicycle tubing with four bicycle wheels. The pilot sat in a wicker chair with a lever on the left which controlled the elevator, one on the right which moved the rudder, and a footbar connected to the ailerons.
The four cylinder, horizontally opposed, water-cooled engine, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and made by the Iris Motor Company at Willesden, developed 45 h.p. at 1,500 r.p.m. It weighed 2 cwt. and was mounted at right angles to the direction of flight in order to drive two pusher propellers with adjustable aluminium blades through steel shafting and bevel gears.
There were no working drawings but the aircraft was completed from rough sketches early in 1909 in a rented workshop off Bothwell Street, Fulham, London, with the assistance of F. T. Hearle and of Mrs. De Havilland who sewed on the cotton covering. In May 1909 it was taken on a Commer lorry to Seven Barrows near Newbury, Berks, but over six months elapsed before undercarriage, propeller drive, engine and control adjustments were finished so that fast taxying could be attempted whenever the wind was calm.
It flew for the first and only time in December 1909 after a downhill takeoff into wind. Without pilot training and deprived of instinctive control by his complex system of levers, de Havilland overcorrected when he felt himself airborne and pulled the nose up so steeply that the wing spars failed and the aircraft broke up when it crashed from a height of 15 ft. The designer was uninjured and the engine was salvaged.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By G. de Havilland and F. T. Hearle at Bothwell Street, Fulham, London, S.W.6
Power Plant: One 45 h.p. de Havilland / Iris
Dimensions:
Span 36 ft. 0 in. Length 29 ft. 0 in.
Wing area 408 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 850 lb.
This was a single seat biplane of cotton covered, white wood construction with a fixed tailplane, front elevator, uncompensated ailerons, a large rudder above the tailplane but no fixed fin. It was braced with piano wire and mounted on an undercarriage of bicycle tubing with four bicycle wheels. The pilot sat in a wicker chair with a lever on the left which controlled the elevator, one on the right which moved the rudder, and a footbar connected to the ailerons.
The four cylinder, horizontally opposed, water-cooled engine, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and made by the Iris Motor Company at Willesden, developed 45 h.p. at 1,500 r.p.m. It weighed 2 cwt. and was mounted at right angles to the direction of flight in order to drive two pusher propellers with adjustable aluminium blades through steel shafting and bevel gears.
There were no working drawings but the aircraft was completed from rough sketches early in 1909 in a rented workshop off Bothwell Street, Fulham, London, with the assistance of F. T. Hearle and of Mrs. De Havilland who sewed on the cotton covering. In May 1909 it was taken on a Commer lorry to Seven Barrows near Newbury, Berks, but over six months elapsed before undercarriage, propeller drive, engine and control adjustments were finished so that fast taxying could be attempted whenever the wind was calm.
It flew for the first and only time in December 1909 after a downhill takeoff into wind. Without pilot training and deprived of instinctive control by his complex system of levers, de Havilland overcorrected when he felt himself airborne and pulled the nose up so steeply that the wing spars failed and the aircraft broke up when it crashed from a height of 15 ft. The designer was uninjured and the engine was salvaged.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By G. de Havilland and F. T. Hearle at Bothwell Street, Fulham, London, S.W.6
Power Plant: One 45 h.p. de Havilland / Iris
Dimensions:
Span 36 ft. 0 in. Length 29 ft. 0 in.
Wing area 408 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 850 lb.
De Havilland Biplane No. 2
A two seater of spruce and ash construction with interconnected tail and front elevators, balanced ailerons and simplified undercarriage, built in the same Fulham workshop. The engine, salvaged from Biplane No. 1, drove a single pusher propeller and a first successful flight of 1/4 mile was made by de Havilland at Seven Barrows on September 10, 1910.
In December it went by road to Farnborough where, after a one hour acceptance flight on January 14, 1911, it was purchased by the War Office for ?400 and restyled F.E.I (Farman Experimental). It was repeatedly modified and de Havilland flew it on March 31 with a larger tailplane and rear elevator; and again on April 11 with wing and aileron extensions, 65 sq. ft. in area, which were removed and refitted several times.
Trials over the measured course on Laffan's Plain on May 15 gave the maximum speed as 38 m.p.h. but with the extensions fitted, aileron drag made the aircraft unstable in yaw, partially cured on May 26 by installing new rudders above and below the tailplane. It flew again on July 3 with the front elevator removed but this pushed the CG too far back, corrected next day by moving back the upper mainplane.
Geoffrey de Havilland carried many passengers in this aircraft, including Harold Bolas and Lt. J. T. Ridge on May 5. He completed 80 miles of circuit flying with 17 officers and men of the London Balloon Company on July 28 and three days later reached an altitude of 1,000 ft. On August 2 he flew to Laffan's Plain with Lt. Ridge who then taxied the machine and flew a few yards. During his next lesson on August 5 the aircraft nosed over in a freshening wind but when Lt. Ridge took it out again on August 15 after repairs, a broken bolt loosened two cylinders. The historic engine was beyond repair and the aircraft did not fly again.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By G. de Havilland and F. T. Hearle at Bothwell Street, Fulham, London. S.W.6
Power Plant: One 45 h.p. de Havilland / Iris
Dimensions:
Span 33 ft. 6 in. Length 29 ft. 0 in.
Wing area 356 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 1,000 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed 38 m.p.h. Endurance 1 hour 20 minutes
A two seater of spruce and ash construction with interconnected tail and front elevators, balanced ailerons and simplified undercarriage, built in the same Fulham workshop. The engine, salvaged from Biplane No. 1, drove a single pusher propeller and a first successful flight of 1/4 mile was made by de Havilland at Seven Barrows on September 10, 1910.
In December it went by road to Farnborough where, after a one hour acceptance flight on January 14, 1911, it was purchased by the War Office for ?400 and restyled F.E.I (Farman Experimental). It was repeatedly modified and de Havilland flew it on March 31 with a larger tailplane and rear elevator; and again on April 11 with wing and aileron extensions, 65 sq. ft. in area, which were removed and refitted several times.
Trials over the measured course on Laffan's Plain on May 15 gave the maximum speed as 38 m.p.h. but with the extensions fitted, aileron drag made the aircraft unstable in yaw, partially cured on May 26 by installing new rudders above and below the tailplane. It flew again on July 3 with the front elevator removed but this pushed the CG too far back, corrected next day by moving back the upper mainplane.
Geoffrey de Havilland carried many passengers in this aircraft, including Harold Bolas and Lt. J. T. Ridge on May 5. He completed 80 miles of circuit flying with 17 officers and men of the London Balloon Company on July 28 and three days later reached an altitude of 1,000 ft. On August 2 he flew to Laffan's Plain with Lt. Ridge who then taxied the machine and flew a few yards. During his next lesson on August 5 the aircraft nosed over in a freshening wind but when Lt. Ridge took it out again on August 15 after repairs, a broken bolt loosened two cylinders. The historic engine was beyond repair and the aircraft did not fly again.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By G. de Havilland and F. T. Hearle at Bothwell Street, Fulham, London. S.W.6
Power Plant: One 45 h.p. de Havilland / Iris
Dimensions:
Span 33 ft. 6 in. Length 29 ft. 0 in.
Wing area 356 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 1,000 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed 38 m.p.h. Endurance 1 hour 20 minutes
De Havilland D.H.1
Geoffrey de Havilland's first design after joining the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. as Chief Designer in June 1914, was a two seat reconnaissance biplane armed with a forward firing machine gun. Following contemporary practice, it was a twin boom, two bay, wire braced biplane of fabric covered wooden construction and the mainplanes were of the normal two spar type, wire braced internally. A pusher layout was chosen to give the observer/gunner the maximum possible arc of fire from the front cockpit, and the design included three unusual features; coil springs in the undercarriage to absorb landing shocks, an elementary form of oleo leg to damp out the rebound, and the provision of air brakes. These were in the form of rotatable auxiliary aerofoils protruding some three feet on each side of the nacelle just behind the front centre section struts. The diversion of all available supplies of its intended engine, the 120 h.p. watercooled Beardmore, to F.E.2 and R.E.5 production resulted in the 70 h.p. aircooled Renault being fitted instead.
The prototype, designated Airco D.H.1, was completed and flown at Hendon in January 1915 and the designer showed his confidence in it by taking off without any preliminary straight hops and at once commencing to circle. He also piloted it during tests which not only showed it to be inherently stable and capable of being flown 'hands off' but also that the air brakes were ineffective. They were consequently removed. A small number of production D.H.1s were then built but these had the more normal type of rubber cord shock absorbers in the undercarriage, forward facing exhaust pipes and the front cockpit coaming lowered to the top longerons to improve the pilot's view and to permit free rotation of the single Lewis gun on its pillar mounting. Five of these aircraft reached Royal Flying Corps training units during 1915.
Production on a larger scale was delayed until the 120 h.p. Beardmore was available in quantity but was finally undertaken by Savages Ltd. At King's Lynn in order to leave Airco free to develop newer types. With the Beardmore engine the machine carried the designation D.H.1A and was identified by the upright six cylinder engine, the large radiator behind the pilot's head and the gravity fuel tank mounted under the port upper wing root. The prototype D.H.1A, which bore the R.F.C. serial 4606, was converted from an Airco-built D.H.1. Although 73 D.H.1s and D.H.1As were delivered to the Royal Flying Corps, they saw little war service and in 1916 six were shipped to the Middle East Brigade for operational use by No. 14 Squadron. Home Defence squadrons received 24 and a further 43 went to training units such as No. 35 Reserve Squadron, Northolt and No. 199 Training Squadron. The type remained operational until early in 1917 after which it was relegated to second line duties until finally withdrawn from service at the end of 1918.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Savages Ltd., King's Lynn, Norfolk
Power Plants:
(D.H.1) One 70 h.p. Renault
(D.H.1A) One 120 h.p. Beardmore
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
D.H.1 D.H.1A
Span 41 ft. 0 in. 41 ft. 0 in.
Length 28 ft. 11 5/8 in. 28 ft. 11 1/4 in.
Height 11 ft. 4 in. 11 ft. 2 in.
Wing area 426 1/4 sq. ft. 426 1/4 sq. ft.
Tare weight 1,356 lb. 1,610 1b.
All-up weight 2,044 lb. 2,340 lb.
Maximum speed 80 m.p.h. 90 m.p.h.
Initial climb 350 ft./min. 600 ft./min.
Service ceiling - 13,500 ft.
Production: Prototype and 100 production aircraft with R.F.C. serial ranges 4600-4649 and A1611-A1660.
Geoffrey de Havilland's first design after joining the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. as Chief Designer in June 1914, was a two seat reconnaissance biplane armed with a forward firing machine gun. Following contemporary practice, it was a twin boom, two bay, wire braced biplane of fabric covered wooden construction and the mainplanes were of the normal two spar type, wire braced internally. A pusher layout was chosen to give the observer/gunner the maximum possible arc of fire from the front cockpit, and the design included three unusual features; coil springs in the undercarriage to absorb landing shocks, an elementary form of oleo leg to damp out the rebound, and the provision of air brakes. These were in the form of rotatable auxiliary aerofoils protruding some three feet on each side of the nacelle just behind the front centre section struts. The diversion of all available supplies of its intended engine, the 120 h.p. watercooled Beardmore, to F.E.2 and R.E.5 production resulted in the 70 h.p. aircooled Renault being fitted instead.
The prototype, designated Airco D.H.1, was completed and flown at Hendon in January 1915 and the designer showed his confidence in it by taking off without any preliminary straight hops and at once commencing to circle. He also piloted it during tests which not only showed it to be inherently stable and capable of being flown 'hands off' but also that the air brakes were ineffective. They were consequently removed. A small number of production D.H.1s were then built but these had the more normal type of rubber cord shock absorbers in the undercarriage, forward facing exhaust pipes and the front cockpit coaming lowered to the top longerons to improve the pilot's view and to permit free rotation of the single Lewis gun on its pillar mounting. Five of these aircraft reached Royal Flying Corps training units during 1915.
Production on a larger scale was delayed until the 120 h.p. Beardmore was available in quantity but was finally undertaken by Savages Ltd. At King's Lynn in order to leave Airco free to develop newer types. With the Beardmore engine the machine carried the designation D.H.1A and was identified by the upright six cylinder engine, the large radiator behind the pilot's head and the gravity fuel tank mounted under the port upper wing root. The prototype D.H.1A, which bore the R.F.C. serial 4606, was converted from an Airco-built D.H.1. Although 73 D.H.1s and D.H.1As were delivered to the Royal Flying Corps, they saw little war service and in 1916 six were shipped to the Middle East Brigade for operational use by No. 14 Squadron. Home Defence squadrons received 24 and a further 43 went to training units such as No. 35 Reserve Squadron, Northolt and No. 199 Training Squadron. The type remained operational until early in 1917 after which it was relegated to second line duties until finally withdrawn from service at the end of 1918.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Savages Ltd., King's Lynn, Norfolk
Power Plants:
(D.H.1) One 70 h.p. Renault
(D.H.1A) One 120 h.p. Beardmore
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
D.H.1 D.H.1A
Span 41 ft. 0 in. 41 ft. 0 in.
Length 28 ft. 11 5/8 in. 28 ft. 11 1/4 in.
Height 11 ft. 4 in. 11 ft. 2 in.
Wing area 426 1/4 sq. ft. 426 1/4 sq. ft.
Tare weight 1,356 lb. 1,610 1b.
All-up weight 2,044 lb. 2,340 lb.
Maximum speed 80 m.p.h. 90 m.p.h.
Initial climb 350 ft./min. 600 ft./min.
Service ceiling - 13,500 ft.
Production: Prototype and 100 production aircraft with R.F.C. serial ranges 4600-4649 and A1611-A1660.
De Havilland D.H.2
As First World War military authorities were slow to realise its importance, no British interruptor gear had been developed to permit the use of a machine gun firing forward through the airscrew of a tractor aeroplane. The D.H.2 single seat fighter was consequently a pusher and resembled a scaled down D.H.1, its main components being similar but smaller versions of those of the earlier type. It was an unstaggered two bay biplane of orthodox fabric covered wooden construction, powered by a 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape rotary aircooled engine, using tubular steel instead of wooden tail booms and employing a steerable tail skid. The prototype D.H.2, first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on June 1,1915, proved to be tail heavy but next day, with 30 lb. of ballast in the nose, he reached 3,500 ft. in 5 minutes - a truly remarkable rate of climb for those days. On June 3rd it went back into the works for the nacelle to be moved 4 inches forward and the gun and a larger rudder fitted, after which large scale production for the Royal Flying Corps was wholly undertaken in the Airco factory at Hendon and four hundred D.H.2s were ultimately delivered. These carried a single Lewis gun on a flexible mounting in front of the pilot, necessitating a slightly reshaped nacelle, and a few were fitted with the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary in place of the Gnome. R.F.C. pilots were quick to learn the technique of aiming the whole aeroplane at their targets and thereafter used the Lewis gun as a fixed weapon. Sensitivity of control, a limited speed range, and the inexperience of pilots, resulted in a number of early accidents through spinning, while others were caused by structural damage following the disintegration of the rotary engines in flight. In time however, its many lurid soubriquets gave way to an appreciation of its immensely strong structure and delightful handling qualities, so that it became a fully aerobatic fighting machine of great merit. The first squadron to use the D.H.2 operationally was No. 24, commanded by Major Lanoe G. Hawker who led his twelve machines from Hounslow to St. Omer on February 7, 1916. Within three months No. 29 and No. 32 Squadrons had also been re-equipped and sent to France and their D.H.2s, together with those of No. 24 Squadron, took part in the Battle of the Somme and fought continuously against the Fokker monoplane and other enemy fighters until the early part of 1917. A total of 266 served with the British Expeditionary Force in France, where they formed part of the equipment of Nos. 5, 11, 16 and 18 Squadrons and contributed handsomely to the establishment of Allied air supremacy.
Among the many epic events in the fighting life of this historic aircraft, three were of outstanding importance, the first on July 1, 1916 when Major L. W. B. Rees, Commanding Officer of No. 32 Squadron, won the Victoria Cross for a single-handed attack on a formation of ten German two seaters which lost two of their number. Later that year, on October 28th, a D.H.2 of No. 24 Squadron was the unwitting cause of the death of the leading German fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke. While diving to attack the D.H.2, Boelcke's Albatros was struck by the undercarriage of another of his flight and dived into the ground when the mainplanes came off. A few weeks afterwards, on November 23rd, another well-known German pilot, Manfred von Richtofen, shot down Major Lanoe G. Hawker in his D.H.2 after one of the longest single combats of the war. In 774 combats, the D.H.2s of No. 24 Squadron destroyed 44 enemy aircraft.
Two D.H.2s were issued to Home Defence squadrons and on June 17, 1917, a machine from the Orfordness Experimental Station, flown by Capt. R. H. M. S. Saundby, took part in an attack on the Zeppelin L.48. When ousted from the Western Front by the D.H.5 and other tractor fighters, thirty-two D.H.2s were despatched to the Near East where they saw service in Palestine with No. 17 and No. 111 Squadrons and in Macedonia with No. 47 Squadron and the R.F.C. R.N.A.S. Composite Fighting Squadron. At home, one hundred D.H.2s were issued to training units including No. 10 Reserve Squadron at Joyce Green, but by the autumn of 1918 all D.H.2s had been struck from R.A.F. charge.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9.
Power Plants:
One 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape
One 110 h.p. Le Rhone
Dimensions:
Span 28 ft. 3 in. Length 25 ft. 2 1/2 in.
Height 9 ft. 6 1/2 in. Wing area 249 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
Gnome Le Rhone
Tare weight 943 lb. 1.004 lb.
All-up weight 1,441 lb.* 1,547 lb.
Maximum speed 93 m.p.h. 92 m.p.h.
Climb
to 6,500 ft. 12 mins. 12mins.
Service ceiling 14,000 ft. -
Endurance 2 3/4 hours 3 hours
* Prototype 1,310 lb.
Production: R.F.C. serials 4732 (prototype), 5916 to 6015. 7842 t o 7941,8725, A2533 to 42652, A4764 to A4813, A4988 to A5087. Not all delivered.
As First World War military authorities were slow to realise its importance, no British interruptor gear had been developed to permit the use of a machine gun firing forward through the airscrew of a tractor aeroplane. The D.H.2 single seat fighter was consequently a pusher and resembled a scaled down D.H.1, its main components being similar but smaller versions of those of the earlier type. It was an unstaggered two bay biplane of orthodox fabric covered wooden construction, powered by a 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape rotary aircooled engine, using tubular steel instead of wooden tail booms and employing a steerable tail skid. The prototype D.H.2, first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on June 1,1915, proved to be tail heavy but next day, with 30 lb. of ballast in the nose, he reached 3,500 ft. in 5 minutes - a truly remarkable rate of climb for those days. On June 3rd it went back into the works for the nacelle to be moved 4 inches forward and the gun and a larger rudder fitted, after which large scale production for the Royal Flying Corps was wholly undertaken in the Airco factory at Hendon and four hundred D.H.2s were ultimately delivered. These carried a single Lewis gun on a flexible mounting in front of the pilot, necessitating a slightly reshaped nacelle, and a few were fitted with the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary in place of the Gnome. R.F.C. pilots were quick to learn the technique of aiming the whole aeroplane at their targets and thereafter used the Lewis gun as a fixed weapon. Sensitivity of control, a limited speed range, and the inexperience of pilots, resulted in a number of early accidents through spinning, while others were caused by structural damage following the disintegration of the rotary engines in flight. In time however, its many lurid soubriquets gave way to an appreciation of its immensely strong structure and delightful handling qualities, so that it became a fully aerobatic fighting machine of great merit. The first squadron to use the D.H.2 operationally was No. 24, commanded by Major Lanoe G. Hawker who led his twelve machines from Hounslow to St. Omer on February 7, 1916. Within three months No. 29 and No. 32 Squadrons had also been re-equipped and sent to France and their D.H.2s, together with those of No. 24 Squadron, took part in the Battle of the Somme and fought continuously against the Fokker monoplane and other enemy fighters until the early part of 1917. A total of 266 served with the British Expeditionary Force in France, where they formed part of the equipment of Nos. 5, 11, 16 and 18 Squadrons and contributed handsomely to the establishment of Allied air supremacy.
Among the many epic events in the fighting life of this historic aircraft, three were of outstanding importance, the first on July 1, 1916 when Major L. W. B. Rees, Commanding Officer of No. 32 Squadron, won the Victoria Cross for a single-handed attack on a formation of ten German two seaters which lost two of their number. Later that year, on October 28th, a D.H.2 of No. 24 Squadron was the unwitting cause of the death of the leading German fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke. While diving to attack the D.H.2, Boelcke's Albatros was struck by the undercarriage of another of his flight and dived into the ground when the mainplanes came off. A few weeks afterwards, on November 23rd, another well-known German pilot, Manfred von Richtofen, shot down Major Lanoe G. Hawker in his D.H.2 after one of the longest single combats of the war. In 774 combats, the D.H.2s of No. 24 Squadron destroyed 44 enemy aircraft.
Two D.H.2s were issued to Home Defence squadrons and on June 17, 1917, a machine from the Orfordness Experimental Station, flown by Capt. R. H. M. S. Saundby, took part in an attack on the Zeppelin L.48. When ousted from the Western Front by the D.H.5 and other tractor fighters, thirty-two D.H.2s were despatched to the Near East where they saw service in Palestine with No. 17 and No. 111 Squadrons and in Macedonia with No. 47 Squadron and the R.F.C. R.N.A.S. Composite Fighting Squadron. At home, one hundred D.H.2s were issued to training units including No. 10 Reserve Squadron at Joyce Green, but by the autumn of 1918 all D.H.2s had been struck from R.A.F. charge.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9.
Power Plants:
One 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape
One 110 h.p. Le Rhone
Dimensions:
Span 28 ft. 3 in. Length 25 ft. 2 1/2 in.
Height 9 ft. 6 1/2 in. Wing area 249 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
Gnome Le Rhone
Tare weight 943 lb. 1.004 lb.
All-up weight 1,441 lb.* 1,547 lb.
Maximum speed 93 m.p.h. 92 m.p.h.
Climb
to 6,500 ft. 12 mins. 12mins.
Service ceiling 14,000 ft. -
Endurance 2 3/4 hours 3 hours
* Prototype 1,310 lb.
Production: R.F.C. serials 4732 (prototype), 5916 to 6015. 7842 t o 7941,8725, A2533 to 42652, A4764 to A4813, A4988 to A5087. Not all delivered.
De Havilland D.H.3.
The D.H.3, Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland's third design for the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., which appeared in 1916, was a large two bay biplane capable of bombing German industrial centres. Contrasting in every way with his previous small pusher fighters but owing something to the Royal Aircraft Factory's F.E.4, in the early design of which Capt. De Havilland had collaborated, the D.H.3 was equipped with two 120 h.p. Beardmore water-cooled engines in nacelles between the mainplanes. The long, slender, wire braced Warren girder fuselage was built of spruce, covered with plywood at the forward end and carried low to the ground on a wide track, short legged undercarriage. A pair of bumper wheels was provided under the nose. The four bladed, nine foot diameter pusher airscrews were carried clear of the mainplane trailing edges by short extension shafts and the D.H.3 was also the first aeroplane to feature the graceful curving rudder which was to become characteristic of almost every future de Havilland design. As might be expected on so large an aeroplane it was necessary to ensure good handling qualities by using an elevator with generous horn balances. The crew of three consisted of the pilot in an open cockpit just ahead of the mainplanes, and front and rear gunners whose cockpits were each equipped with two Lewis gun pillar mountings. For its day the D.H.3 had a very lively performance and when engaged on long range duties could carry a military load of 680 lb. and fuel for eight hours.
Only the prototype was built and this carried no serial number. A second version, carrying R.F.C. serial 7744, was powered by two 160 h.p. Beardmore engines and so modified as to warrant the designation D.H.3A. These modifications included the cutting back of mainplane trailing edges in order to obviate the use of engine extension shafts, while to lighten the controls still further, the rudder was given increased balance area. An order was placed for 50 production D.H.3As but when the first, A5088, was still under construction, the War Office shortsightedly cancelled the contract in the belief that strategic bombing of Germany was unnecessary and that the twin engined bomber was impracticable. Both prototypes were flown by pilots of the Upavon evaluation unit but were then relegated to the dump behind the Hendon hangars. It is said that the prototype D.H.3s were actually burning on the factory scrap heap on July 7, 1917 while London was being bombed by their German counterpart, the Gotha. This and later bombardments encouraged a rapid change of official attitude which resulted in the D.H.3 being redesigned and eventually built in quantity as the D.H. 10.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9.
Power Plants:
(D.H.3) Two 120 h.p. Beardmore
(D.H.3A) Two 160 h.p. Beardmore
Dimensions:
Span 60 ft. 10 in. Length 36 ft. 10 in.
Height 14 ft. 6 in. Wing area (D.H.3) 793 sq. ft. (D.H.3A) 770 sq. ft.
Weights:
Tare weight (D.H.3) 3,980 lb.
All-up weight (D.H.3) 5.810 lb . (D.H.3A) 5,776 lb.
Performance: (D.H.3)
Maximum speed 95 m.p.h. Initial climb 550 ft./min.
Endurance 8 hours Range 700 miles
Production:
Prototypes - D.H.3 unmarked, D.H.3A serial 7744
Others - 7745 and A5088 unfinished, A5089 to A5137 cancelled
The D.H.3, Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland's third design for the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., which appeared in 1916, was a large two bay biplane capable of bombing German industrial centres. Contrasting in every way with his previous small pusher fighters but owing something to the Royal Aircraft Factory's F.E.4, in the early design of which Capt. De Havilland had collaborated, the D.H.3 was equipped with two 120 h.p. Beardmore water-cooled engines in nacelles between the mainplanes. The long, slender, wire braced Warren girder fuselage was built of spruce, covered with plywood at the forward end and carried low to the ground on a wide track, short legged undercarriage. A pair of bumper wheels was provided under the nose. The four bladed, nine foot diameter pusher airscrews were carried clear of the mainplane trailing edges by short extension shafts and the D.H.3 was also the first aeroplane to feature the graceful curving rudder which was to become characteristic of almost every future de Havilland design. As might be expected on so large an aeroplane it was necessary to ensure good handling qualities by using an elevator with generous horn balances. The crew of three consisted of the pilot in an open cockpit just ahead of the mainplanes, and front and rear gunners whose cockpits were each equipped with two Lewis gun pillar mountings. For its day the D.H.3 had a very lively performance and when engaged on long range duties could carry a military load of 680 lb. and fuel for eight hours.
Only the prototype was built and this carried no serial number. A second version, carrying R.F.C. serial 7744, was powered by two 160 h.p. Beardmore engines and so modified as to warrant the designation D.H.3A. These modifications included the cutting back of mainplane trailing edges in order to obviate the use of engine extension shafts, while to lighten the controls still further, the rudder was given increased balance area. An order was placed for 50 production D.H.3As but when the first, A5088, was still under construction, the War Office shortsightedly cancelled the contract in the belief that strategic bombing of Germany was unnecessary and that the twin engined bomber was impracticable. Both prototypes were flown by pilots of the Upavon evaluation unit but were then relegated to the dump behind the Hendon hangars. It is said that the prototype D.H.3s were actually burning on the factory scrap heap on July 7, 1917 while London was being bombed by their German counterpart, the Gotha. This and later bombardments encouraged a rapid change of official attitude which resulted in the D.H.3 being redesigned and eventually built in quantity as the D.H. 10.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9.
Power Plants:
(D.H.3) Two 120 h.p. Beardmore
(D.H.3A) Two 160 h.p. Beardmore
Dimensions:
Span 60 ft. 10 in. Length 36 ft. 10 in.
Height 14 ft. 6 in. Wing area (D.H.3) 793 sq. ft. (D.H.3A) 770 sq. ft.
Weights:
Tare weight (D.H.3) 3,980 lb.
All-up weight (D.H.3) 5.810 lb . (D.H.3A) 5,776 lb.
Performance: (D.H.3)
Maximum speed 95 m.p.h. Initial climb 550 ft./min.
Endurance 8 hours Range 700 miles
Production:
Prototypes - D.H.3 unmarked, D.H.3A serial 7744
Others - 7745 and A5088 unfinished, A5089 to A5137 cancelled
De Havilland D.H.4
The Airco D.H.4 day bomber, the prototype of which was numbered 3696 and first flew at Hendon in August 1916, was without question one of the outstanding aeroplanes of the First World War. Its fabric covered, wire braced, spruce and ash structure was typical of the day but the front fuselage, housing the cockpits and main fuel tanks, was strengthened with a plywood covering. Mainplanes and tailplane followed the usual two spar layout but the spars were lightened by spindling between the ribs and the tailplane was fitted with variable incidence gear. Rubber cord suspension was used in the undercarriage (two 6 ft. 9 in. lengths wound into nine turns for each wheel), and the fin and rudder conformed to the de Havilland family shape first used on the D.H.3. Standard armament consisted of one synchronised forward firing Vickers gun mounted on top of the fuselage, single or twin Lewis guns on a Scarff ring for the observer, and two 230 lb. and four 112 lb. bombs were carried in racks under the fuselage and wings respectively.
The prototype was fitted with a 230 h.p. B.H.P. six cylinder watercooled engine and was unique in having rear centre section struts which raked sharply forward. Production D.H.4s had the rear struts shortened and made parallel to the front and were powered by a variety of engines, including the 200 h.p. R.A.F. 3A, 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma, 250 h.p. Rolls-Royce III and 260 h.p. Fiat. Pilots were warned not to damage the airscrew by taking off with the tail too high, so that when more powerful engines such as the 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII were developed and larger airscrews were needed, it was necessary to fit a taller undercarriage and this eventually became standard on all D.H.4s. The incidence was also increased to shorten the landing run. All these engines were cooled by frontal radiators except the Fiat, first installed in A7532, the radiator for which was between the front undercarriage legs, permitting the use of close fitting engine cowlings in the manner of the later D.H.9. In addition to the modified undercarriage, late production D.H.4s also had the rear Scarff ring raised to improve the field of fire and the rear decking was made fiat. Orders were placed with Airco and six sub-contractors for some 1,700 D. H.4s, of which 1,449 were actually delivered.
Pilots who flew the D.H.4 were unanimous in praise of its fine handling qualities, wide speed range and a performance which made it almost immune from interception. No previous aeroplane had had so wide a speed range (45-143 m.p.h. On the Eagle VIII version) and pilots' notes emphasised its slow speed docility, recommending that the approach be made at 60 and the touch down at 50 m.p.h. Operating at heights above 15,000 ft. the D.H.4 could outfly contemporary single seat fighters but if caught was usually an easy victim because the cockpits were so far apart that in the noise of battle Gosport tubes were useless as a means of coordinating defence and the aircraft went down in flames when bullets punctured the 60 gallon fuel tank between the seats. Late in 1917 fire hazards were much reduced when the pressurised fuel system was replaced by two wind driven pumps on top of the fuselage behind the pilot.
The first D.H.4s in France, delivered by air to No. 55 Squadron on March 6, 1917, were first used operationally at Valenciennes on April 6. As an R.A.F. Squadron at the end of the war, it bombed munitions factories at Frankfurt, Mannheim and Stuttgart but French and Belgian based D.H.4s were not entirely employed as day bombers but also made high level photographic reconnaissance flights, fighter sweeps and anti-Zeppelin and submarine patrols. The majority of naval D.H.4s were among 150 built under sub-contract by the Westland Aircraft Works. They were Eagle powered and fitted with twin, instead of single front guns and also a raised Scarff ring mounting for the rear gunner, but increases in weight and parasitic drag somewhat impaired their performance. The first D.H.4 to be built at Yeovil was flight tested by B. C. Hucks in April 1917 and delivered in France the next morning. Coastal patrols were also undertaken by R.N.A.S. Squadrons and at least one D.H.4 was experimentally fitted with twin floats for this task. No. 202 Squadron also took a complete set of oblique and vertical photographs of Zeebrugge in preparation for the historic raid of April 22-23, 1918 during which the Mole was bombed with great daring by Wg. Cdr. Fellowes flying a D.H.4. To No. 217 Squadron fell the honour of sinking the German submarine U.B.12 on August 12, 1918. R.N.A.S., Great Yarmouth, was armed with D.H.4s, one of which was ditched in the North Sea on September 5, 1917 after an unsuccessful attack on the Zeppelin L.44, the crew being picked up by flying boat. On August 5, 1918 however, A8032 piloted by Major Egbert Cadbury shot down L.70 when 41 miles N.E. of base, from a height of over 16,000 ft. The Home Defence D.H.4s were operated far over the North Sea and efforts were made at the M.A.E.E., Isle of Grain, to equip them with flotation gear or as an alternative, hydrovanes and wing tip floats for use after the undercarriage was jettisoned. These devices were developed and test flown by Harry Busteed using D.H.4s A 7457 and D1769. The latter was also used for trailing mine experiments and hydrovanes were also fitted to an American built DH-4 at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. Two D.H.4s, one of which was numbered A2168, were fitted with H pounder Coventry Ordnance Works quick firing anti-Zeppelin guns. In 1917-18 the type was used overseas in small numbers as shown on page 67, while in the period 1919-21 many went as Imperial Gifts to assist the formation of air forces in Canada (12 aircraft) and South Africa (e.g. serials 26 and 401). Airco-built D.H.4s A7893 and A7929, taken to New Zealand in 1919 by Col. A. V. Bettington. were stationed at Sockburn and A7893, piloted by Capt. T. Wilkes and L. M. Isitt was the first aircraft to fly over Mt. Cook.
As an engine test bed the D.H.4 made a major contribution to Allied technical superiority and among the several experimental installations were those of the 300 h.p. Renault 12Fe in A2148, the 400 h.p. Sunbeam Matabele in A8083, the 353 h.p. Rolls-Royce G and the Ricardo-Halford inverted supercharged engine. One of the new American 400 h.p. Liberty 12 engines was fitted into a British built D.H.4 delivered at McCook Field in August 1917. It first flew with the Liberty on October 29th of that year and heralded the mass production of the D.H.4 in America. By the Armistice 3,227 had been constructed, 1,885 of which were shipped to France and by the end of 1918 the total of American built DH-4s had risen to 4,587, or more than three times the British production of 1,449. Eventually, the three American contractors delivered 4,846 examples of the DH-4, but after the war they were disposed of in considerable numbers to the Nicaraguan and other Latin American army air services.
Financial depression virtually stopped the procurement of new American aircraft during the postwar years but maintenance funds permitted a considerable rebuilding programme. This gave rise to over 60 DH-4 variants, many of which remained on the active list for nearly a decade. The majority of such variants received an American-style hyphenated model number, commencing with DH-4A, applied to the single Dayton-Wright DH-4 which was fitted in July 1918 with an improved fuel system by the Engineering Division of the Army's Department of Aircraft Production. This aircraft should not be confused with the British cabin conversion designated D.H.4A. In October 1918, more extensive modifications by the Engineering Division produced the DH-4B in which the pilot's cockpit was moved back next to that of the gunner. One DH-4B, piloted by Lt. Maynard, won the New York-Toronto Aerial Derby on August 25, 1919 in a flying time of 7 hours 45 minutes. The total of such conversions made in 1918-24 reached 1,540 when the two final rebuilds were made by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. to the order of Maj. Davidson for the use of Naval and Military Attaches of the U.S. Embassy in London. These aircraft, c/n 138 and 139, were test flown by Hubert Broad in August 1926 and based at Kenley and Stag Lane respectively in full U.S. military markings until replaced by a D.H.60 Moth in 1927.
American conversions fell into two main categories - specialized versions for military purposes, the surviving designations for which are listed in an accompanying table, and experimental conversions of the early DH-4B, mainly as engine testbeds or trial installations aircraft. Military models included the DH-4B-2 trainer, sometimes known as the Blue Bird, the DH-4B-5 two passenger Honeymoon cabin transport devised by the Engineering Division of the Bureau of Aeronautics, and ambulance versions for one or two stretchers. Two of the last named, U.S. Marine serials A5811 and A5883, were used in 1922 in the island of Haiti, starting point of the longest flight in U.S. history up to that time, made in 1924 by two U.S. Army DH-4Bs which successfully covered the 10,953 miles to San Francisco and back.
DH-4 variants remained in military service with the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines until 1929, one DH-4B-3 being re-engined with a Packard 2A-1500 by the U.S. Navy at Quantico in 1926, but the last of the major variants had already appeared in 1924. They were built for the Corps Observation role, three by the Boeing company and one by Atlantic. The Boeings were ungainly sesquiplanes using steel DH-4M-1 fuselages and thick section wings of new design. The first, designated XCO-7, became the XCO-7A when fitted with a wide track undercarriage but crashed and was replaced by the XCO-7B, a similar machine powered by a 420 h.p. Liberty V-1410 experimental inverted engine. These prototypes scarcely resembled the DH-4B at all but the origins of the remaining Corps Observation conversion, XCO-8, could hardly be mistaken, being a reproduction of an undesignated conversion made in 1922 by the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation which fitted a standard Liberty powered DH-4B with the mainplanes and N type interplane struts from a Loening COA-1 amphibian. The true XCO-8 was an exactly similar conversion made two years later by the Atlantic company.
Steel tube fuselages were built by the Boeing and Atlantic companies in 1920-25 to extend the useful lives of these veterans under the designations DH-4M, DH-4M-1 and DH-4M-2, 186 of which were by Boeing and at least 135 by Atlantic. Considerable interest was aroused when two reworked and specially modified DH-4s took off from Rockwell Field, San Diego, California on June 27, 1923 to conduct one of the first flight refuelling experiments. Lts. Lowell Smith and Paul Richter remained airborne for 6 1/2 hours, during which time they were refuelled twice by hose from the DH-4 flown by Lts. Hine and Seifert. After minor adjustments they kept aloft for 37 1/4 hours on August 27-28th and landed only when fog prevented further contact with the tanker. On December 13, 1923 a DH-4 with supercharged Liberty, piloted by Lt H. Harris and carrying a passenger, climbed to an altitude of 27,000 ft. over McCook Field, increased later to 30,500 ft., reached in 69 minutes in a special DH-4B, N.A.C.A. 8, fitted with a Roots type supercharger behind the engine. In 1927 a DH-4M-2, N.A.C.A. 25, with Model II Roots blower, reached 26,500 ft. in 51 minutes using camera recorded automatic observer equipment in an enclosed rear cockpit.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.10
Glendower Aircraft Co. Ltd., 54 Sussex Place, South Kensington, London, S.W.7
Palladium Autocars Ltd., Felsham Road, Putney, London, S.W.15
The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co. (1906) Ltd., Southport, Lanes.
Waring and Gillow Ltd., Cambridge Road, Hammersmith, London, W.6
Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, Somerset
SABCA, Haren Airport, Brussels, Belgium (15 built in 1926 for Belgian Air Force)
Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, Teterboro, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
The Dayton-Wright Airplane Co., Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. (3,106 built)
The Fisher Body Corporation, U.S.A. (1,600 built)
Standard Aircraft Corporation, Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.A. (140 built)
Power Plants:
One 200 h.p. R.A.F. 3A
One 230 h.p. B.H.P.
One 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma
One 250 h.p. Rolls-Royce Mk. III or M k. IV
One 260 h.p. Fiat
One 275 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VI
*One 300 h.p. Renault 12Fe
*One 300 h.p. Wright H
*One 300 h.p. Packard 1A-1116 o r 1A-1237
*One 320 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar I
One 325 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VII
*One 353 h.p. Rolls-Royce G
One 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
*One Ricardo-Halford supercharged engine
One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
*One 400 h.p. Sunbeam Matabele
*One 420 h.p. Liberty V-1410
One 435 h.p. Liberty 12A
*One 435 h.p. Curtiss D-12
*One 525 h.p. Packard 2A-1500
* Experimental installation
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
(a) British
B.H.P. Puma Rolls III Eagle VIII RAF. 3A Fiat Liberty 12
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft, 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 6 in.
Length 30 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 8 in. 29 ft. 8 in. 29 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 6 in.
Height 10 ft. 1 in. 10 ft. 1 in. 10 ft. 5 in . 11ft. 0in, 10 ft. 5 in. 10 ft. 5 in. 10ft. 3 5/8 in.
Wing area 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 440 sq. ft.
Tare weight 2,197 lb. 2,230 lb. 2,303 lb. 2,387 lb. 2,304 lb. 2,306 lb. 2,391 lb.
All-up weight 3,386 lb. 3,344 lb. 3,313 lb. 3,472 lb. 3,340 lb. 3.360 lb. 4,297 lb.
Maximum speed 108 m.p.h. 106 m.p.h. 119 m.p.h. 143 m.p.h. 122 m.p.h. 114 m.p.h. 124 m.p.h.
Initial climb 700 ft./min. 1,000 ft./min. 925 ft./min. 1,350 ft./min. 800 ft./min. 1,000 ft./min.
Ceiling 17,500 ft. 17,400 ft. 16,000 ft. 22,000 ft. 18,500 ft. 17,000 ft. 17,500 ft.
Endurance 4 1/2 hours 4 1/2 hours 3 1/2 hours 3 3/4 hours 4 hours 4 1/2 hours 3 hours
(b) American
DH-4B DH-4M-1 DH-4M-2 XCO-7 XCO-7A XCO-7B XCO-8
Engine Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty V-1410 Liberty 12A
Span 42 ft. 5 1/2 in. 42ft. 5 1/2 in. 42 ft. 5 1/2 in. 45 ft. 0 in. 45 ft. 0 in. 45 ft. 0 in. 45 ft. 0 in.
Length 29ft. 11 in. 29 ft. 11 in. 29ft. 11 in. 30ft. 4 in. 30ft. 4 in. 30ft. 11 in. 30ft. 0in.
All-up weight 4,600 lb. 4,595 lb. 4,595 lb. 4,798 lb. 4,800 lb. 4,652 lb. 4.680 lb.
Maximum speed 124 m.p.h. 118 m.p.h. 118 m.p.h. 130 m.p.h. 122 m.p.h. 130 m.p.h.
De Havilland D.H.4 (Civil)
Several million pounds worth of war surplus aircraft, including hundreds of D.H.4s, the majority brand new from the Airco and Waring and Gillow factories, were acquired by Handley Page Ltd. in 1919-20 and later reconditioned by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. at Croydon to become the postwar equipment of the air forces of Spain (14 aircraft), Belgium, Greece, Japan and other small nations. With few exceptions these were powered by the 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine and those for Spain and Belgium were flown out in the autumn of 1921 under temporary civil marks by many well known pilots of the day, including F. T. Courtney, H. Shaw, E. D. Hearne, F. J. Ortweiler, C. D. Barnard, E. L. Foot and Norman Macmillan. In Spain the D.H.4 formed the main equipment of the Air Force training establishment at Cuatros Vientos and was used extensively in the Moroccan War.
Two Eagle powered D.H.4s were also used in a purely civil capacity on the Continental services of Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. late in 1919 as temporary crash replacements and two others were shipped to Australia by C. J. de Garis and there fitted with cockpits for two passengers behind the pilot. One of them, F2691/G-AUCM was erected and test flown at Glenroy on November 27, 1920 and piloted by F. S. Briggs with the owner as passenger, arrived at Perth on December 2nd after making the first Melbourne-Perth flight in two days. A week later it made the first Perth-Sydney flight, also in two days, and on January 16, 1921 became the first aircraft to fly from Brisbane to Melbourne in one day. Again piloted by F. S. Briggs it left Melbourne on September 9, 1921 to survey the route of the proposed North-South railway and covered 3,000 miles in exactly one month, becoming the first aircraft ever to land at Alice Springs. From August 1924 it carried mail on the Adelaide-Sydney service of Australian Aerial Services Ltd. with the name "Scrub Bird" and was still flying miners and supplies between Port Moresby and Lae, New Guinea for Bulolo Goldfields Ltd. in 1927.
C. J. de Garis sold the other D.H.4, F2682/G-AUBZ to R. J. P. Parer who flew it to victory in the first Australian Aerial Derby on December 28, 1920 at 142 m.p.h. It was then used for joyriding and other pioneering work until delivered to QANTAS at Longreach by rail on August 12, 1922. In the last two months of the year it covered over 5,000 air miles, mainly on the Charleville-Cloncurry mail service but was extensively damaged when it struck telephone wires while landing at Gilford Park station, south west of Longreach, on June 6, 1923. During repairs the two open passenger cockpits were roofed over to make an open-sided cabin and it first flew in this form in May 1924. It opened the extension service between Cloncurry and Camooweal on February 7,1925 piloted by Capt. L. J. Brain but, when ousted by the new D.H.50s at the end of 1927, was sold to Matthews Aviation Ltd. at Essendon Aerodrome, Melbourne where the fuselage was modified for joyriding with no less than four separate passenger cockpits behind the pilot. At this stage it was named "Cock Bird" on the fin but in 1930 it returned to taxi work with a full D.H.4A-style cabin with sliding windows as "Spirit of Melbourne". It was last in service with Pioneer Air Services who acquired it in September 1934.
In Canada, all 12 Imperial Gift D.H.4s were equipped with air to ground W/T sets for use on forestry patrol work by the Air Board Civil Operations Branch and in 1921 one of these aircraft made the first recorded geological reconnaissance flight piloted by F/Lt. A. W. Carter. From August 1920 their pilots spotted hundreds of forest fires and helped save millions of dollars worth of timber, operating mainly from an airstrip at High River, Alberta where the D.H.4's performance alone could combat wind ridden skies near the Rockies. Special skis were designed for winter flying and as late as 1924 these veterans continued to give photographic coverage of the district but by that time showed such deterioration that they were permanently grounded at the end of the season. The one exception, G-CYDM, still airworthy in 1927, was reworked to D.H.4B standard with underslung radiator and observation panels in the lower wing roots.
The D.H.4's greatest contribution to the embryo air transport industry however, was made in Europe by four machines supplied by Handley Page Ltd. to the Belgian concern Syndicat National pour l'Etude des Transports Aeriens (SNETA). In company with a number of D.H.9s, they ran spasmodically on the Brussels-London, Brussels-Paris and Brussels-Amsterdam services in 1920-21, and although their normal London terminal was Croydon, many flights terminated at Cricklewood for convenience of servicing. After the departure to Brussels of D.H.4 O-BABI on January 15, 1921, Cricklewood was used no more and the D.H.4's commercial life ended soon afterwards in two major crashes and the destruction of most of the SNETA fleet in a disastrous hangar fire at Brussels on September 27, 1921. An accompanying table lists all the civil D.H.4s for which records still exist.
Apart from two machines employed by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. as temporary replacements for crashed D.H.4As, the standard D.H.4 saw little civilian service in England. On June 21, 1919 however, Marcus D. Manton came third at an average speed of 117-39 m.p.h. in the Aerial Derby at Hendon in K-142, a new aircraft with Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII, specially demilitarised by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. It competed against a 'one-ofF racing version registered K-141 and designated D.H.4R to signify D.H.4 Racer. This monster was built in ten days by an enthusiastic team led by F. T. Hearle who fitted a 450 h.p. Napier Lion with chin radiator, clipped the lower mainplane at the first bay and braced the overhanging portion of the upper wing by slanting struts. Without stagger and with the rear cockpit faired over, it was scarcely recognisable as a D.H.4 derivative but Airco test pilot Capt. Gerald Gathergood flew it twice round London in 1 hour 2 minutes and set up a British closed circuit record of 129-3 m.p.h. This was indeed a creditable day's flying by two machines which had left the ground for the first time only that morning! The one other British civil example was G-EAMU acquired by the shipping firm of S. Instone and Co. Ltd., primarily for the fast carriage of ship's papers but also accommodating two passengers in the open rear cockpit. With Capt. F. L. Barnard as pilot and appropriately named "City of Cardiff', it emulated the Aerial Derby machines by making its first flight on the morning of October 13, 1919, a return flight to the Welsh capital in the afternoon and its maiden trip to Paris the next day. During 1920 several trips were made to Paris, Brussels, Nice, and on one occasion, to Prague.
In America DH-4s with Liberty 12 motors went into regular service with the United States Postal Department on August 12, 1918 and from June 1919 onwards a considerable number of DH-4Bs and DH-4Ms were converted for the carriage of 400 lb. of mail in a watertight compartment that had once been the front cockpit. The aircraft was thereafter flown from the rear as a single seater. In addition, thirty machines were reconstructed by the Lowe, Willard and Fowler Engineering Company to have increased span, two 200 h.p. Hall-Scott L-6 watercooled engines outboard and a large mail compartment in the nose. One normal DH-4B, No. 299, was given a special fuselage having a cargo hold for 800 lb. of mail between the undercarriage legs. New wings of modified section were built by the Aeromarine Company and in 1922 No. 299 carried a record load of 1,032 lb. from New York to Washington at its economical cruising speed of 68 m.p.h. Other important and unusual DH-4 mailplanes included one fitted with Wittemann-Lewis unstaggered wings and strengthened centre section as well as several rebuilt by G. I. Bellanca with new, single bay, sesquiplane wings braced by his patent inclined lift struts. Pioneer mail pilots, not the least of whom was Charles Lindbergh, flew the DH-4s night and day in any weather between New York, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Omaha, finally linking the East and West coasts when the final section to San Francisco was opened in August 1920. The bass Liberty voice of the veteran DH-4s spanned the continent until 1927, by which time many had been equipped with large belly tanks giving incredible range, and enormous cone shaped floodlights for night landings in rough pasture at small townships en route. Surviving in the U.S.A. in 1987 were N249B (rebuilt 1961 68 with parts and engine recovered from its 1922 crash site in Utah) at the National Air and Space Museum. Washington; N489 at the Dayton U.S.A.F. Museum; and the Aireo-built A2169 (once used in films as NX3258). The last, formerly part of the 'Wings and Wheels' Collection was sold to a private owner from Georgia in 1981.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9, and the sub-contractors.
Power Plants:
(D.H.4) One 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
(DH-4) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(D.H.4R) One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
D.H.4 DH-4 D.H.4R
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 5 3/4 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in.
Length 30 ft. 6 in. 30 ft. 6 in. 27 ft. 5 in.
Height 11ft. 0 in. 10 ft. 3 5/8 in. 11ft. 0 in.
Wing area 434 sq. ft. 440 sq. ft.
Tare weight 2.387 lb.** 2,391 lb. 2,490 lb.
All-up weight 3,472 lb. 4,297 lb. 3,191 lb.
Maximum speed 143 m.p.h. 120 m.p.h.* 150 m.p.h.
Landing speed 50 m.p.h. 60 m.p.h.*
Initial climb 1,300 ft./min. 1,000 ft./min.*
Ceiling 23.500 ft. 19,500 ft.
Endurance 3 3/4 hours 3 hours
* No. 299 modified: 115 m.p.h., 50 m.p.h., 800 ft./min. respectively.
** G-AUBZ with cabin: 2,403 lb. Cruising speed. 85 m.p.h.
The Airco D.H.4 day bomber, the prototype of which was numbered 3696 and first flew at Hendon in August 1916, was without question one of the outstanding aeroplanes of the First World War. Its fabric covered, wire braced, spruce and ash structure was typical of the day but the front fuselage, housing the cockpits and main fuel tanks, was strengthened with a plywood covering. Mainplanes and tailplane followed the usual two spar layout but the spars were lightened by spindling between the ribs and the tailplane was fitted with variable incidence gear. Rubber cord suspension was used in the undercarriage (two 6 ft. 9 in. lengths wound into nine turns for each wheel), and the fin and rudder conformed to the de Havilland family shape first used on the D.H.3. Standard armament consisted of one synchronised forward firing Vickers gun mounted on top of the fuselage, single or twin Lewis guns on a Scarff ring for the observer, and two 230 lb. and four 112 lb. bombs were carried in racks under the fuselage and wings respectively.
The prototype was fitted with a 230 h.p. B.H.P. six cylinder watercooled engine and was unique in having rear centre section struts which raked sharply forward. Production D.H.4s had the rear struts shortened and made parallel to the front and were powered by a variety of engines, including the 200 h.p. R.A.F. 3A, 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma, 250 h.p. Rolls-Royce III and 260 h.p. Fiat. Pilots were warned not to damage the airscrew by taking off with the tail too high, so that when more powerful engines such as the 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII were developed and larger airscrews were needed, it was necessary to fit a taller undercarriage and this eventually became standard on all D.H.4s. The incidence was also increased to shorten the landing run. All these engines were cooled by frontal radiators except the Fiat, first installed in A7532, the radiator for which was between the front undercarriage legs, permitting the use of close fitting engine cowlings in the manner of the later D.H.9. In addition to the modified undercarriage, late production D.H.4s also had the rear Scarff ring raised to improve the field of fire and the rear decking was made fiat. Orders were placed with Airco and six sub-contractors for some 1,700 D. H.4s, of which 1,449 were actually delivered.
Pilots who flew the D.H.4 were unanimous in praise of its fine handling qualities, wide speed range and a performance which made it almost immune from interception. No previous aeroplane had had so wide a speed range (45-143 m.p.h. On the Eagle VIII version) and pilots' notes emphasised its slow speed docility, recommending that the approach be made at 60 and the touch down at 50 m.p.h. Operating at heights above 15,000 ft. the D.H.4 could outfly contemporary single seat fighters but if caught was usually an easy victim because the cockpits were so far apart that in the noise of battle Gosport tubes were useless as a means of coordinating defence and the aircraft went down in flames when bullets punctured the 60 gallon fuel tank between the seats. Late in 1917 fire hazards were much reduced when the pressurised fuel system was replaced by two wind driven pumps on top of the fuselage behind the pilot.
The first D.H.4s in France, delivered by air to No. 55 Squadron on March 6, 1917, were first used operationally at Valenciennes on April 6. As an R.A.F. Squadron at the end of the war, it bombed munitions factories at Frankfurt, Mannheim and Stuttgart but French and Belgian based D.H.4s were not entirely employed as day bombers but also made high level photographic reconnaissance flights, fighter sweeps and anti-Zeppelin and submarine patrols. The majority of naval D.H.4s were among 150 built under sub-contract by the Westland Aircraft Works. They were Eagle powered and fitted with twin, instead of single front guns and also a raised Scarff ring mounting for the rear gunner, but increases in weight and parasitic drag somewhat impaired their performance. The first D.H.4 to be built at Yeovil was flight tested by B. C. Hucks in April 1917 and delivered in France the next morning. Coastal patrols were also undertaken by R.N.A.S. Squadrons and at least one D.H.4 was experimentally fitted with twin floats for this task. No. 202 Squadron also took a complete set of oblique and vertical photographs of Zeebrugge in preparation for the historic raid of April 22-23, 1918 during which the Mole was bombed with great daring by Wg. Cdr. Fellowes flying a D.H.4. To No. 217 Squadron fell the honour of sinking the German submarine U.B.12 on August 12, 1918. R.N.A.S., Great Yarmouth, was armed with D.H.4s, one of which was ditched in the North Sea on September 5, 1917 after an unsuccessful attack on the Zeppelin L.44, the crew being picked up by flying boat. On August 5, 1918 however, A8032 piloted by Major Egbert Cadbury shot down L.70 when 41 miles N.E. of base, from a height of over 16,000 ft. The Home Defence D.H.4s were operated far over the North Sea and efforts were made at the M.A.E.E., Isle of Grain, to equip them with flotation gear or as an alternative, hydrovanes and wing tip floats for use after the undercarriage was jettisoned. These devices were developed and test flown by Harry Busteed using D.H.4s A 7457 and D1769. The latter was also used for trailing mine experiments and hydrovanes were also fitted to an American built DH-4 at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. Two D.H.4s, one of which was numbered A2168, were fitted with H pounder Coventry Ordnance Works quick firing anti-Zeppelin guns. In 1917-18 the type was used overseas in small numbers as shown on page 67, while in the period 1919-21 many went as Imperial Gifts to assist the formation of air forces in Canada (12 aircraft) and South Africa (e.g. serials 26 and 401). Airco-built D.H.4s A7893 and A7929, taken to New Zealand in 1919 by Col. A. V. Bettington. were stationed at Sockburn and A7893, piloted by Capt. T. Wilkes and L. M. Isitt was the first aircraft to fly over Mt. Cook.
As an engine test bed the D.H.4 made a major contribution to Allied technical superiority and among the several experimental installations were those of the 300 h.p. Renault 12Fe in A2148, the 400 h.p. Sunbeam Matabele in A8083, the 353 h.p. Rolls-Royce G and the Ricardo-Halford inverted supercharged engine. One of the new American 400 h.p. Liberty 12 engines was fitted into a British built D.H.4 delivered at McCook Field in August 1917. It first flew with the Liberty on October 29th of that year and heralded the mass production of the D.H.4 in America. By the Armistice 3,227 had been constructed, 1,885 of which were shipped to France and by the end of 1918 the total of American built DH-4s had risen to 4,587, or more than three times the British production of 1,449. Eventually, the three American contractors delivered 4,846 examples of the DH-4, but after the war they were disposed of in considerable numbers to the Nicaraguan and other Latin American army air services.
Financial depression virtually stopped the procurement of new American aircraft during the postwar years but maintenance funds permitted a considerable rebuilding programme. This gave rise to over 60 DH-4 variants, many of which remained on the active list for nearly a decade. The majority of such variants received an American-style hyphenated model number, commencing with DH-4A, applied to the single Dayton-Wright DH-4 which was fitted in July 1918 with an improved fuel system by the Engineering Division of the Army's Department of Aircraft Production. This aircraft should not be confused with the British cabin conversion designated D.H.4A. In October 1918, more extensive modifications by the Engineering Division produced the DH-4B in which the pilot's cockpit was moved back next to that of the gunner. One DH-4B, piloted by Lt. Maynard, won the New York-Toronto Aerial Derby on August 25, 1919 in a flying time of 7 hours 45 minutes. The total of such conversions made in 1918-24 reached 1,540 when the two final rebuilds were made by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. to the order of Maj. Davidson for the use of Naval and Military Attaches of the U.S. Embassy in London. These aircraft, c/n 138 and 139, were test flown by Hubert Broad in August 1926 and based at Kenley and Stag Lane respectively in full U.S. military markings until replaced by a D.H.60 Moth in 1927.
American conversions fell into two main categories - specialized versions for military purposes, the surviving designations for which are listed in an accompanying table, and experimental conversions of the early DH-4B, mainly as engine testbeds or trial installations aircraft. Military models included the DH-4B-2 trainer, sometimes known as the Blue Bird, the DH-4B-5 two passenger Honeymoon cabin transport devised by the Engineering Division of the Bureau of Aeronautics, and ambulance versions for one or two stretchers. Two of the last named, U.S. Marine serials A5811 and A5883, were used in 1922 in the island of Haiti, starting point of the longest flight in U.S. history up to that time, made in 1924 by two U.S. Army DH-4Bs which successfully covered the 10,953 miles to San Francisco and back.
DH-4 variants remained in military service with the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines until 1929, one DH-4B-3 being re-engined with a Packard 2A-1500 by the U.S. Navy at Quantico in 1926, but the last of the major variants had already appeared in 1924. They were built for the Corps Observation role, three by the Boeing company and one by Atlantic. The Boeings were ungainly sesquiplanes using steel DH-4M-1 fuselages and thick section wings of new design. The first, designated XCO-7, became the XCO-7A when fitted with a wide track undercarriage but crashed and was replaced by the XCO-7B, a similar machine powered by a 420 h.p. Liberty V-1410 experimental inverted engine. These prototypes scarcely resembled the DH-4B at all but the origins of the remaining Corps Observation conversion, XCO-8, could hardly be mistaken, being a reproduction of an undesignated conversion made in 1922 by the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation which fitted a standard Liberty powered DH-4B with the mainplanes and N type interplane struts from a Loening COA-1 amphibian. The true XCO-8 was an exactly similar conversion made two years later by the Atlantic company.
Steel tube fuselages were built by the Boeing and Atlantic companies in 1920-25 to extend the useful lives of these veterans under the designations DH-4M, DH-4M-1 and DH-4M-2, 186 of which were by Boeing and at least 135 by Atlantic. Considerable interest was aroused when two reworked and specially modified DH-4s took off from Rockwell Field, San Diego, California on June 27, 1923 to conduct one of the first flight refuelling experiments. Lts. Lowell Smith and Paul Richter remained airborne for 6 1/2 hours, during which time they were refuelled twice by hose from the DH-4 flown by Lts. Hine and Seifert. After minor adjustments they kept aloft for 37 1/4 hours on August 27-28th and landed only when fog prevented further contact with the tanker. On December 13, 1923 a DH-4 with supercharged Liberty, piloted by Lt H. Harris and carrying a passenger, climbed to an altitude of 27,000 ft. over McCook Field, increased later to 30,500 ft., reached in 69 minutes in a special DH-4B, N.A.C.A. 8, fitted with a Roots type supercharger behind the engine. In 1927 a DH-4M-2, N.A.C.A. 25, with Model II Roots blower, reached 26,500 ft. in 51 minutes using camera recorded automatic observer equipment in an enclosed rear cockpit.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.10
Glendower Aircraft Co. Ltd., 54 Sussex Place, South Kensington, London, S.W.7
Palladium Autocars Ltd., Felsham Road, Putney, London, S.W.15
The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co. (1906) Ltd., Southport, Lanes.
Waring and Gillow Ltd., Cambridge Road, Hammersmith, London, W.6
Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, Somerset
SABCA, Haren Airport, Brussels, Belgium (15 built in 1926 for Belgian Air Force)
Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, Teterboro, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
The Dayton-Wright Airplane Co., Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. (3,106 built)
The Fisher Body Corporation, U.S.A. (1,600 built)
Standard Aircraft Corporation, Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.A. (140 built)
Power Plants:
One 200 h.p. R.A.F. 3A
One 230 h.p. B.H.P.
One 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma
One 250 h.p. Rolls-Royce Mk. III or M k. IV
One 260 h.p. Fiat
One 275 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VI
*One 300 h.p. Renault 12Fe
*One 300 h.p. Wright H
*One 300 h.p. Packard 1A-1116 o r 1A-1237
*One 320 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar I
One 325 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VII
*One 353 h.p. Rolls-Royce G
One 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
*One Ricardo-Halford supercharged engine
One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
*One 400 h.p. Sunbeam Matabele
*One 420 h.p. Liberty V-1410
One 435 h.p. Liberty 12A
*One 435 h.p. Curtiss D-12
*One 525 h.p. Packard 2A-1500
* Experimental installation
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
(a) British
B.H.P. Puma Rolls III Eagle VIII RAF. 3A Fiat Liberty 12
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft, 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 6 in.
Length 30 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 8 in. 29 ft. 8 in. 29 ft. 8 in. 30 ft. 6 in.
Height 10 ft. 1 in. 10 ft. 1 in. 10 ft. 5 in . 11ft. 0in, 10 ft. 5 in. 10 ft. 5 in. 10ft. 3 5/8 in.
Wing area 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 440 sq. ft.
Tare weight 2,197 lb. 2,230 lb. 2,303 lb. 2,387 lb. 2,304 lb. 2,306 lb. 2,391 lb.
All-up weight 3,386 lb. 3,344 lb. 3,313 lb. 3,472 lb. 3,340 lb. 3.360 lb. 4,297 lb.
Maximum speed 108 m.p.h. 106 m.p.h. 119 m.p.h. 143 m.p.h. 122 m.p.h. 114 m.p.h. 124 m.p.h.
Initial climb 700 ft./min. 1,000 ft./min. 925 ft./min. 1,350 ft./min. 800 ft./min. 1,000 ft./min.
Ceiling 17,500 ft. 17,400 ft. 16,000 ft. 22,000 ft. 18,500 ft. 17,000 ft. 17,500 ft.
Endurance 4 1/2 hours 4 1/2 hours 3 1/2 hours 3 3/4 hours 4 hours 4 1/2 hours 3 hours
(b) American
DH-4B DH-4M-1 DH-4M-2 XCO-7 XCO-7A XCO-7B XCO-8
Engine Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty 12A Liberty V-1410 Liberty 12A
Span 42 ft. 5 1/2 in. 42ft. 5 1/2 in. 42 ft. 5 1/2 in. 45 ft. 0 in. 45 ft. 0 in. 45 ft. 0 in. 45 ft. 0 in.
Length 29ft. 11 in. 29 ft. 11 in. 29ft. 11 in. 30ft. 4 in. 30ft. 4 in. 30ft. 11 in. 30ft. 0in.
All-up weight 4,600 lb. 4,595 lb. 4,595 lb. 4,798 lb. 4,800 lb. 4,652 lb. 4.680 lb.
Maximum speed 124 m.p.h. 118 m.p.h. 118 m.p.h. 130 m.p.h. 122 m.p.h. 130 m.p.h.
De Havilland D.H.4 (Civil)
Several million pounds worth of war surplus aircraft, including hundreds of D.H.4s, the majority brand new from the Airco and Waring and Gillow factories, were acquired by Handley Page Ltd. in 1919-20 and later reconditioned by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. at Croydon to become the postwar equipment of the air forces of Spain (14 aircraft), Belgium, Greece, Japan and other small nations. With few exceptions these were powered by the 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine and those for Spain and Belgium were flown out in the autumn of 1921 under temporary civil marks by many well known pilots of the day, including F. T. Courtney, H. Shaw, E. D. Hearne, F. J. Ortweiler, C. D. Barnard, E. L. Foot and Norman Macmillan. In Spain the D.H.4 formed the main equipment of the Air Force training establishment at Cuatros Vientos and was used extensively in the Moroccan War.
Two Eagle powered D.H.4s were also used in a purely civil capacity on the Continental services of Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. late in 1919 as temporary crash replacements and two others were shipped to Australia by C. J. de Garis and there fitted with cockpits for two passengers behind the pilot. One of them, F2691/G-AUCM was erected and test flown at Glenroy on November 27, 1920 and piloted by F. S. Briggs with the owner as passenger, arrived at Perth on December 2nd after making the first Melbourne-Perth flight in two days. A week later it made the first Perth-Sydney flight, also in two days, and on January 16, 1921 became the first aircraft to fly from Brisbane to Melbourne in one day. Again piloted by F. S. Briggs it left Melbourne on September 9, 1921 to survey the route of the proposed North-South railway and covered 3,000 miles in exactly one month, becoming the first aircraft ever to land at Alice Springs. From August 1924 it carried mail on the Adelaide-Sydney service of Australian Aerial Services Ltd. with the name "Scrub Bird" and was still flying miners and supplies between Port Moresby and Lae, New Guinea for Bulolo Goldfields Ltd. in 1927.
C. J. de Garis sold the other D.H.4, F2682/G-AUBZ to R. J. P. Parer who flew it to victory in the first Australian Aerial Derby on December 28, 1920 at 142 m.p.h. It was then used for joyriding and other pioneering work until delivered to QANTAS at Longreach by rail on August 12, 1922. In the last two months of the year it covered over 5,000 air miles, mainly on the Charleville-Cloncurry mail service but was extensively damaged when it struck telephone wires while landing at Gilford Park station, south west of Longreach, on June 6, 1923. During repairs the two open passenger cockpits were roofed over to make an open-sided cabin and it first flew in this form in May 1924. It opened the extension service between Cloncurry and Camooweal on February 7,1925 piloted by Capt. L. J. Brain but, when ousted by the new D.H.50s at the end of 1927, was sold to Matthews Aviation Ltd. at Essendon Aerodrome, Melbourne where the fuselage was modified for joyriding with no less than four separate passenger cockpits behind the pilot. At this stage it was named "Cock Bird" on the fin but in 1930 it returned to taxi work with a full D.H.4A-style cabin with sliding windows as "Spirit of Melbourne". It was last in service with Pioneer Air Services who acquired it in September 1934.
In Canada, all 12 Imperial Gift D.H.4s were equipped with air to ground W/T sets for use on forestry patrol work by the Air Board Civil Operations Branch and in 1921 one of these aircraft made the first recorded geological reconnaissance flight piloted by F/Lt. A. W. Carter. From August 1920 their pilots spotted hundreds of forest fires and helped save millions of dollars worth of timber, operating mainly from an airstrip at High River, Alberta where the D.H.4's performance alone could combat wind ridden skies near the Rockies. Special skis were designed for winter flying and as late as 1924 these veterans continued to give photographic coverage of the district but by that time showed such deterioration that they were permanently grounded at the end of the season. The one exception, G-CYDM, still airworthy in 1927, was reworked to D.H.4B standard with underslung radiator and observation panels in the lower wing roots.
The D.H.4's greatest contribution to the embryo air transport industry however, was made in Europe by four machines supplied by Handley Page Ltd. to the Belgian concern Syndicat National pour l'Etude des Transports Aeriens (SNETA). In company with a number of D.H.9s, they ran spasmodically on the Brussels-London, Brussels-Paris and Brussels-Amsterdam services in 1920-21, and although their normal London terminal was Croydon, many flights terminated at Cricklewood for convenience of servicing. After the departure to Brussels of D.H.4 O-BABI on January 15, 1921, Cricklewood was used no more and the D.H.4's commercial life ended soon afterwards in two major crashes and the destruction of most of the SNETA fleet in a disastrous hangar fire at Brussels on September 27, 1921. An accompanying table lists all the civil D.H.4s for which records still exist.
Apart from two machines employed by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. as temporary replacements for crashed D.H.4As, the standard D.H.4 saw little civilian service in England. On June 21, 1919 however, Marcus D. Manton came third at an average speed of 117-39 m.p.h. in the Aerial Derby at Hendon in K-142, a new aircraft with Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII, specially demilitarised by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. It competed against a 'one-ofF racing version registered K-141 and designated D.H.4R to signify D.H.4 Racer. This monster was built in ten days by an enthusiastic team led by F. T. Hearle who fitted a 450 h.p. Napier Lion with chin radiator, clipped the lower mainplane at the first bay and braced the overhanging portion of the upper wing by slanting struts. Without stagger and with the rear cockpit faired over, it was scarcely recognisable as a D.H.4 derivative but Airco test pilot Capt. Gerald Gathergood flew it twice round London in 1 hour 2 minutes and set up a British closed circuit record of 129-3 m.p.h. This was indeed a creditable day's flying by two machines which had left the ground for the first time only that morning! The one other British civil example was G-EAMU acquired by the shipping firm of S. Instone and Co. Ltd., primarily for the fast carriage of ship's papers but also accommodating two passengers in the open rear cockpit. With Capt. F. L. Barnard as pilot and appropriately named "City of Cardiff', it emulated the Aerial Derby machines by making its first flight on the morning of October 13, 1919, a return flight to the Welsh capital in the afternoon and its maiden trip to Paris the next day. During 1920 several trips were made to Paris, Brussels, Nice, and on one occasion, to Prague.
In America DH-4s with Liberty 12 motors went into regular service with the United States Postal Department on August 12, 1918 and from June 1919 onwards a considerable number of DH-4Bs and DH-4Ms were converted for the carriage of 400 lb. of mail in a watertight compartment that had once been the front cockpit. The aircraft was thereafter flown from the rear as a single seater. In addition, thirty machines were reconstructed by the Lowe, Willard and Fowler Engineering Company to have increased span, two 200 h.p. Hall-Scott L-6 watercooled engines outboard and a large mail compartment in the nose. One normal DH-4B, No. 299, was given a special fuselage having a cargo hold for 800 lb. of mail between the undercarriage legs. New wings of modified section were built by the Aeromarine Company and in 1922 No. 299 carried a record load of 1,032 lb. from New York to Washington at its economical cruising speed of 68 m.p.h. Other important and unusual DH-4 mailplanes included one fitted with Wittemann-Lewis unstaggered wings and strengthened centre section as well as several rebuilt by G. I. Bellanca with new, single bay, sesquiplane wings braced by his patent inclined lift struts. Pioneer mail pilots, not the least of whom was Charles Lindbergh, flew the DH-4s night and day in any weather between New York, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Omaha, finally linking the East and West coasts when the final section to San Francisco was opened in August 1920. The bass Liberty voice of the veteran DH-4s spanned the continent until 1927, by which time many had been equipped with large belly tanks giving incredible range, and enormous cone shaped floodlights for night landings in rough pasture at small townships en route. Surviving in the U.S.A. in 1987 were N249B (rebuilt 1961 68 with parts and engine recovered from its 1922 crash site in Utah) at the National Air and Space Museum. Washington; N489 at the Dayton U.S.A.F. Museum; and the Aireo-built A2169 (once used in films as NX3258). The last, formerly part of the 'Wings and Wheels' Collection was sold to a private owner from Georgia in 1981.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9, and the sub-contractors.
Power Plants:
(D.H.4) One 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
(DH-4) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(D.H.4R) One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
D.H.4 DH-4 D.H.4R
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 5 3/4 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in.
Length 30 ft. 6 in. 30 ft. 6 in. 27 ft. 5 in.
Height 11ft. 0 in. 10 ft. 3 5/8 in. 11ft. 0 in.
Wing area 434 sq. ft. 440 sq. ft.
Tare weight 2.387 lb.** 2,391 lb. 2,490 lb.
All-up weight 3,472 lb. 4,297 lb. 3,191 lb.
Maximum speed 143 m.p.h. 120 m.p.h.* 150 m.p.h.
Landing speed 50 m.p.h. 60 m.p.h.*
Initial climb 1,300 ft./min. 1,000 ft./min.*
Ceiling 23.500 ft. 19,500 ft.
Endurance 3 3/4 hours 3 hours
* No. 299 modified: 115 m.p.h., 50 m.p.h., 800 ft./min. respectively.
** G-AUBZ with cabin: 2,403 lb. Cruising speed. 85 m.p.h.
A2129 was an early-production D.H.4 with short undercarriage, Scarff ring mounted on the top longerons, and 250 h.p. Rolls-Royce engine.
Closely resembling the British civil D.H.4A, the DH-4B-5 serial A.S.23-1200 (project number P288), was one of a number of Engineering Division airway conversions, named “Honeymoon Express” .
The high altitude DH-4B serial A.S.63630 (project number P139), with lengthened undercarriage and geared, supercharged Liberty engine driving a four bladed, large diameter airscrew.
DH-4B serial A.S.63181 (project number P190) with turbo-supercharged Liberty. The radiator and intercooler were fitted between the undercarriage struts.
DH-4B testbed A.S.63737 (project number P188) with British-built Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar I radial.
The U.S. Army Air Attache's DH-4B at Stag Lane in 1926. The Naval Air Attache's DH-4B crashed at Whyteleafe, Surrey on September 21, 1926.
The veteran D.H.4 three seater G-AUBZ of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. at Longreach in March 1923. A cabin top was fitted later.
G-AUBZ ''The Lachlan" modified for joyriding at Melbourne / Essendon in 1929 with five open cockpits and two ex QANTAS F.K.8 fuel tanks above the centre section.
The veteran D.H.4 G-AUBZ in service with Matthews Aviation Ltd. 1930 in its final form as D.H.4A VH-UBZ "Spirit of Melbourne" with D.H.50 centre-section tank.
A single seat DH-4B mail plane of the United States Postal Department fitted with wingtip landing lights.
One of a number of U.S. Mail single seaters rebuilt by Bellanca with single bay sesquiplane wings braced by Bellanca lift struts, and fitted with ailerons on the upper mainplane only.
NC489, one of the few surviving United States postal DH-4s, in its permanent home at Dayton U.S.A.F. Museum .
DH-4B fitted with the complete wing cellule from a Loening COA-1 amphibian by the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation in 1922. U.S. Army serial A.S.23-669 (project number P329).
De Havilland D.H.5
Continued use of the D.H.2 and other pusher scouts by the R.F.C. in 1916 was due mainly to the lack of a suitable British interruptor gear to enable the guns to fire forward through the airscrew. In that year however, Constantinesco perfected such a mechanism and Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland was at last able to produce a replacement aircraft known as the D.H.5 which combined the enhanced performance of the tractor biplane with the pusher's ability to fire forward. He also sought to retain the pusher pilot's magnificent all round view by rigging the D.H.5 with 27 inches of backward stagger to bring the pilot's cockpit in front of the leading edge of the upper mainplane. The fuselage of the prototype, A5172, was a wire braced, wooden box girder, strengthened with plywood at the forward end. It had rounded top decking and flat sides carrying short fairings behind the familiar circular cowling of the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary. The main fuel tank was behind the pilot's seat and surmounted by the oil tank but there was also an auxiliary gravity tank fitted on top of the starboard mainplane. Mainplanes were of the usual two spar type, with spindled spars and the small horn balanced rudder was of typical de Havilland outline. Flight trials showed the rudder to be ineffective during take off and a slightly larger one of similar shape was then fitted. Armament consisted of a single Vickers gun on top of the front fuselage, conveniently placed where the pilot could clear any stoppages.
Some 550 D.H.5s were built, 200 by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and the remainder by three main sub-contractors, but only 483 went into service with the Royal Flying Corps. A single aircraft, B7775, was also built by No. 1 (Southern) Aeroplane Repair Depot. Production aircraft differed from the prototype by virtue of their unbalanced rudders, and their fuselages were faired to a circular section behind the engine and tapered to an octagonal section towards the tail. One was experimentally fitted with a 110 h.p. Clerget rotary and another, A9186, was fitted with a Vickers gun firing forwards and upwards at 45 degrees. Service trials were conducted in France at the end of 1916 and Nos. 24 and 32 Squadrons, which had taken the first D.H.2s to France some two years earlier, were issued with the first production versions in May 1917. Several other squadrons were re-equipped during the ensuing six months.
The D.H.5 was immensely strong, fully aerobatic, and a pleasant aeroplane to fly but a number of training accidents led to a widespread and unfounded belief that its unorthodox layout imparted a high stalling speed and made recovery from a spin difficult. In squadron service, flown by experienced pilots, it proved quite docile but at heights above 10,000 ft. was easily outflown by contemporary fighters such as the Sopwith Pup. German combat reports claimed the shooting down of several D.H.5s including A9201, A9363 and A9435, some by Manfred von Richtofen on November 23, 1917 and the rest by other pilots a week later. The D.H.5 was consequently relegated to ground attack duties and in the Battle of Ypres in August 1917, enemy trenches and machine gun posts received close attention from D.H.5s of No. 41 Squadron. In November 1917 those of No. 64 and 68 Squadrons carried out low level formation attacks during the Battle of Cambrai, each aircraft carrying four 25 lb. Cooper bombs. As in the case of the D.H.4, many aircraft were provided by public subscription and received individual names such as A9242 "Australia No. 15, N.S.W. No. 14, The Women's Battleplane", A9357 "Tacati", A9414 "Dungarpur", A9415 "Australia No. 8, N.S.W. No. 7, Government", A9432 "Australia No. 16, N.S.W. No. 15, Government", A9513 "Benin", and B371 "Solanki".
Darracq-built D.H.5 A9403 was tested at Farnborough in September 1917 with plywood covered fuselage and Lott detachable petrol tank but the project was brought to an end by poor engine performance.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Darracq Motor Engineering Co. Ltd., Townmead Road, Fulham, L o n d o n , S.W.6
March, Jones and Cribb, Leeds
British Caudron Co. Ltd., Broadway, Cricklewood, London, N.W.2
Power Plants:
One 110 h.p. Le Rhone
One 110 h.p. Clerget
Dimensions:
Span 25 ft. 8 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
Height 9 ft. 1 1/2 in. Wing area 212.1 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
Prototype Production A9403
Tare weight 1,006 lb. 1,010 lb. 985 lb.
All-up weight 1,486 lb. 1,492 lb. 1,430 lb.
Maximum speed 110 m.p.h. 109 m.p.h. 104 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,000 ft./min. 1,200 ft./min. 1,200 ft./min.
Service ceiling 14,000 ft. 16,000 ft. -
Endurance 3 hours 2 3/4 hours -
Production:
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
A9163 to A9361 Airco B331 to B380 British Caudron
A9363 to A9562 Darracq *B4901 to B5000 March, Jones and Cribb
Other single aircraft: A5172 (prototype), B7775
* Not all completed.
Service Use:
(a) On the Western Front with Nos. 24, 32, 41, 64 and 68 Squadrons R.F.C.
(b) With the Advanced Air Firing School at Lympne.
(c) With Schools of Aerial Fighting at Freiston, Marske, Sedgeford and Turnberry.
Continued use of the D.H.2 and other pusher scouts by the R.F.C. in 1916 was due mainly to the lack of a suitable British interruptor gear to enable the guns to fire forward through the airscrew. In that year however, Constantinesco perfected such a mechanism and Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland was at last able to produce a replacement aircraft known as the D.H.5 which combined the enhanced performance of the tractor biplane with the pusher's ability to fire forward. He also sought to retain the pusher pilot's magnificent all round view by rigging the D.H.5 with 27 inches of backward stagger to bring the pilot's cockpit in front of the leading edge of the upper mainplane. The fuselage of the prototype, A5172, was a wire braced, wooden box girder, strengthened with plywood at the forward end. It had rounded top decking and flat sides carrying short fairings behind the familiar circular cowling of the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary. The main fuel tank was behind the pilot's seat and surmounted by the oil tank but there was also an auxiliary gravity tank fitted on top of the starboard mainplane. Mainplanes were of the usual two spar type, with spindled spars and the small horn balanced rudder was of typical de Havilland outline. Flight trials showed the rudder to be ineffective during take off and a slightly larger one of similar shape was then fitted. Armament consisted of a single Vickers gun on top of the front fuselage, conveniently placed where the pilot could clear any stoppages.
Some 550 D.H.5s were built, 200 by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and the remainder by three main sub-contractors, but only 483 went into service with the Royal Flying Corps. A single aircraft, B7775, was also built by No. 1 (Southern) Aeroplane Repair Depot. Production aircraft differed from the prototype by virtue of their unbalanced rudders, and their fuselages were faired to a circular section behind the engine and tapered to an octagonal section towards the tail. One was experimentally fitted with a 110 h.p. Clerget rotary and another, A9186, was fitted with a Vickers gun firing forwards and upwards at 45 degrees. Service trials were conducted in France at the end of 1916 and Nos. 24 and 32 Squadrons, which had taken the first D.H.2s to France some two years earlier, were issued with the first production versions in May 1917. Several other squadrons were re-equipped during the ensuing six months.
The D.H.5 was immensely strong, fully aerobatic, and a pleasant aeroplane to fly but a number of training accidents led to a widespread and unfounded belief that its unorthodox layout imparted a high stalling speed and made recovery from a spin difficult. In squadron service, flown by experienced pilots, it proved quite docile but at heights above 10,000 ft. was easily outflown by contemporary fighters such as the Sopwith Pup. German combat reports claimed the shooting down of several D.H.5s including A9201, A9363 and A9435, some by Manfred von Richtofen on November 23, 1917 and the rest by other pilots a week later. The D.H.5 was consequently relegated to ground attack duties and in the Battle of Ypres in August 1917, enemy trenches and machine gun posts received close attention from D.H.5s of No. 41 Squadron. In November 1917 those of No. 64 and 68 Squadrons carried out low level formation attacks during the Battle of Cambrai, each aircraft carrying four 25 lb. Cooper bombs. As in the case of the D.H.4, many aircraft were provided by public subscription and received individual names such as A9242 "Australia No. 15, N.S.W. No. 14, The Women's Battleplane", A9357 "Tacati", A9414 "Dungarpur", A9415 "Australia No. 8, N.S.W. No. 7, Government", A9432 "Australia No. 16, N.S.W. No. 15, Government", A9513 "Benin", and B371 "Solanki".
Darracq-built D.H.5 A9403 was tested at Farnborough in September 1917 with plywood covered fuselage and Lott detachable petrol tank but the project was brought to an end by poor engine performance.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Darracq Motor Engineering Co. Ltd., Townmead Road, Fulham, L o n d o n , S.W.6
March, Jones and Cribb, Leeds
British Caudron Co. Ltd., Broadway, Cricklewood, London, N.W.2
Power Plants:
One 110 h.p. Le Rhone
One 110 h.p. Clerget
Dimensions:
Span 25 ft. 8 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
Height 9 ft. 1 1/2 in. Wing area 212.1 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
Prototype Production A9403
Tare weight 1,006 lb. 1,010 lb. 985 lb.
All-up weight 1,486 lb. 1,492 lb. 1,430 lb.
Maximum speed 110 m.p.h. 109 m.p.h. 104 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,000 ft./min. 1,200 ft./min. 1,200 ft./min.
Service ceiling 14,000 ft. 16,000 ft. -
Endurance 3 hours 2 3/4 hours -
Production:
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
A9163 to A9361 Airco B331 to B380 British Caudron
A9363 to A9562 Darracq *B4901 to B5000 March, Jones and Cribb
Other single aircraft: A5172 (prototype), B7775
* Not all completed.
Service Use:
(a) On the Western Front with Nos. 24, 32, 41, 64 and 68 Squadrons R.F.C.
(b) With the Advanced Air Firing School at Lympne.
(c) With Schools of Aerial Fighting at Freiston, Marske, Sedgeford and Turnberry.
No. 24 Squadron D.H.5, A9435, in enemy hands at Adlersdorf in August 1917 after the pilot, Lt. Robertson, had been taken prisoner.
De Havilland D.H.6
The D.H.6 was a primary trainer conceived in 1916 to meet the increasing needs of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time expanding in readiness for the decisive battles of 1917-18. As the requirement was urgent, beauty of line and fine performance were deliberately sacrificed for ease and speed of manufacture and cheapness and simplicity of repair. All major assemblies were straight sided, upper and lower mainplanes were interchangeable and the wing tips were square cut. The airframe was of fabric covered, wire braced, wooden construction but the front fuselage was plywood covered for additional strength, the tail surfaces were of steel tubing with wooden ribs and the rubber-sprung axle of the undercarriage lay between two protecting steel spreader bars. Both occupants sat in a communal cockpit of a shape familiar to Australians to whom the D.H.6 was always "The Dung Hunter", and the instructor was provided with a lever with which to disengage the pupil's controls in an emergency. Heavily cambered mainplanes, braced by cables instead of streamlined wires also earned the D.H.6 the more common titles of "The Clutching Hand" and "Sky Hook". There were others!
Power was provided by a 90 h.p. R.A.F. 1A eight cylinder V aircooled motor, bolted straight to the top longerons without any cowlings other than a scoop on the top to direct cooling air to the back cylinders, while vertical stacks led the exhaust fumes away over the top wing. On a mere 90 h.p. the performance was lady-like in the extreme but the D.H.6 was utterly viceless and would remain airborne at an air speed of 30 m.p.h. It was a very remarkable aeroplane, which the designer deliberately made unstable so that it would be an efficient elementary trainer.
The prototype D.H.6s A5175 and A5176 were fitted with the typical D.H. rudder but production machines, built by Airco and seven sub-contractors, had rectilinear rudders. At least 2.282 D.H.6s were built, some 600 less than those actually ordered, most of which saw widespread service with Training Squadrons during 1917 in the United Kingdom, the Near East and at Point Cook in Australia. It also became the communications aircraft of many Home Defence Squadrons, so that production soon outstripped that of the R.A.F. 1A engine, making it necessary to equip some production batches with the 80 h.p. Renault and the 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5. The Curtiss OX-5 powered D.H.6 was selected as an alternative in the event of difficulty being experienced with the Canadian JN-4 programme. Although this contingency did not arise, the single D.H.6 completed in July 1917 by Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd. and successfully flown, was the first British designed aircraft built in Canada.
At the end of 1917 the Avro 504K became the R.F.C.'s standard trainer and over 300 D.H.6s were transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service for anti-submarine duties around British coasts, and for operation by United States Navy personnel on similar patrols off the North East coast of Ireland. Usually they were flown solo and carried up to 100 lb. of bombs under the wings but their only noteworthy attack was the unsuccessful bombing of U boat U.C.49 on May 30, 1918. A report issued in the same month attributing a number of accidents to the difficulty of flying an unstable aeroplane on long patrols, was followed by a number of remedial experiments. F3386 was modified by Airco and tested at the R.A.E. Farnborough in July 1918 with 10 inches of back stagger and a less cambered wing section, obtained by reducing mainplane chord from 6 ft. 3 in. to 6 ft. 0 in. Elevator chord was also reduced from 2 ft. 6 in. to 1 ft. 6 in., but in an otherwise identical set of modifications made to B2963 by the R.A.E., elevator chord shrank to 1 ft. 5 in. Yet another experiment involved the re-rigging of B2840 with 13 1/2 inches of back stagger. Ultimately the Airco modification was standardised and in this form the aircraft was sometimes referred to as the D.H.6A. Forced landings at sea were frequent and one R.A.F. engined machine was tested with flotation gear but even without this, the D.H.6 had been known to remain afloat for 10 hours.
At the end of 1918 the R.A.F. still had 1,050 D.H.6s on charge, and in the following year the majority were declared obsolete and sold. Surplus aircraft auctioned at Hendon on June 2, 1919 included a number which fetched prices ranging from ?60-?100 according to condition. About 40 were overhauled for pleasure flying within the United Kingdom during the ensuing 14 years and others were privately owned. In Australia the Point Cook machines were also declared redundant and six of these, together with one built from spares, did valuable pioneer work. B2802 and B2803, bought by the Aerial Co. Ltd. were ferried to Sydney by Capt. P. G. (later Sir Gordon) Taylor M.C. and F/Lt. R. F. Oakes in 9 3/4 hours flying time but with frequent refuelling stops the flight took from March 31, 1920 until April 8th. Great difficulty was experienced in crossing the mountains against headwinds and at one stage only four miles were covered in 25 minutes. Another D.H.6 was flown from Richmond to Bathurst by Lt. C. V. Ryvie on August 6, 1920, two were ferried to Hamilton, Victoria by Capt. R. W. McKenzie M.C. and Capt. S. G. Brearley D.F.C. for joy-riding, and the sixth was similarly operated at Bendigo, further to the north, by Lt. H. Treloar A.F.C. One of these machines, G-AUBO, later acquired by F. T. O'Dea and P. A. Moody, covered 12,000 miles in 1921 without a single forced landing.
In the United States, Chamberlain Aircraft Inc. of New Jersey offered remodelled D.H.6s having forward stagger, individual cockpits and an improved fuel system. At least one is said to have been fitted with a 150 h.p. Benz engine, and as late as 1929 others were re-engined with 110 h.p. Clerget rotaries for 'barnstorming' purposes, e.g. 2264, 4066 and 4124.
As a result of a sales tour made in 1919-20 by Maj. Hereward de Havilland in a Lion engined D.H.9, a number of D.H.6s were sold in Spain. One of these, M-AAAB, registered to Hispano-Britannica S.A. of Madrid in February 1920 is believed to have acted as 'prototype' for the 60 built under licence at Guadalajara from 1921 onwards. These were used at the main Air Force training establishment at Cuatros Vientos and also at Alcala de Henares. At least one belonged to a Royal Flight. Hispano-built D.H.6s had centre section fuel tanks of aerofoil section, wings of reduced camber and the 140 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engine. A few were later sold for civil use, one being flown by the Aero Club of Barcelona in 1932 and three by Aero Popular S.A. of Madrid in 1933.
The civil D.H.6, numbered K-100, was noteworthy as the first aeroplane in the United Kingdom to fly in civil markings. It also differed from other D.H.6s in combining wings of reduced camber with normal unstaggered rigging, vertical tail surfaces of D.H. outline as fitted to the prototypes, separate cockpits and a curved cowling round the lower half of the engine. It was flown a great deal by Airco test pilot Gerald Gathergood at Hendon race meetings in the summer of 1919 and was afterwards sold to the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd. for radio telephony experiments at Croydon. Although a few D.H.6s were used for instruction by the Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd. at Hendon, by the Cambridge School of Flying and by the Bournemouth Aviation Co. Ltd., a considerable number belonged to small firms engaged on itinerant joyriding in the Midlands, Lancashire, the North Wales beaches and the Isle of Man. C. V. Maddocks and Charles Kingsford Smith, later to become the most famous of all Australian long distance pilots, acquired four D.H.6s from No. 5 (E) A.R.D., Henlow, with the intention of shipping them to Australia. After the scheme fell through they formed one of the typical mushroom firms of the period and gave pleasure flights near London taking as much as ?40 in an afternoon. Among the dozen or so converted military aircraft in South Africa at the end of 1919 were two D.H.6s taken out from England by F. H. Solomon, who gave seaside pleasure flights, trading as Cape Coast Resorts Aviation Ltd. Such projects were foredoomed to failure and when the second D.H.6 crashed in 1921, all civil flying in South Africa was temporarily at an end. Three D.H.6s used by P. O. Flygkompani for joyriding in Sweden 1919-21, suffered a similar fate.
Although initially they earned a considerable amount of easy money, the post-war slump of 1920 forced most British concerns of this type out of business, but a few D.H.6s remained airworthy in the hands of pioneer private owners such as Dr. E. D. Whitehead Reid at Bekesbourne, H. B. Elwell at Lytham St. Annes and Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland whose G-EA WD. with wings of reduced camber, competed unsuccessfully in the Croydon Handicap Race of September 17. 1921. This machine flew for two years with the D.H. School of Flying at Stag Lane but crashed at Stanford Rivers, Essex on August 27, 1923 when a Dutch pupil lost his bearings during A Licence tests. A new and more lasting phase in the commercial life of the D.H.6 was made possible however by the Director of Research, Air Ministry, who in 1921 approved their modification to three seaters for the carriage of two fare paying passengers in tandem in the communal cockpit ahead of the pilot, at an all-up weight of 2,380 lb. The major operator was the Giro Aviation Co. Ltd. whose seven Renault and R.A.F. 1A engined machines made thousands of pleasure flights from Southport Sands in the period 1921-33. In the South the Martin Aviation Company's three D.H.6s acquired from the Brompton Motor Co. Ltd., were fitted with 80 h.p. Renault motors and did similar business from fields and beaches in the Isle of Wight during the 1921 and 1922 seasons. W. G. Chapman of the Leatherhead Motor Company also proved popular at Croydon with his Curtiss OX-5 engined G-EANU, which was further modified to have individual cockpits. The last commercial users other than Giro were British Motor and Flying Services Ltd. at Maylands, Romford, with G-EBPN and TS in 1929.
A D.H.6 was modified at Sherburn-in-Elmet in 1920 by the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co. Ltd. and fitted with the Alula parasol wing designed by A. A. Holle of the Commercial Aeroplane Wing Syndicate Ltd. Powered by a 200 h.p. Bentley B.R.2 rotary, it was registered G-EAWG and first flown by Capt. Clinch on January 2, 1921. The wing was modified in the following April with dihedral instead of anhedral and also braced to a rigid structure below the wing. After flight tests by F. T. Courtney it was dismantled and despatched to St. Cyr near Paris for completion of the tests.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Kingsbury Aviation Co. Ltd., Kingsbury, Middlesex
Harlandand Wolff Ltd., Belfast
Morgan and Co., Leighton Buzzard, Beds.
Savages Ltd., Stroud, Gloucester
Ransome, Sims and Jefferies Ltd., Ipswich
The Gloucestershire Aircraft Co. Ltd., Cheltenham
Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd., Toronto, Canada
Hispano-Suiza S.A., Guadalajara, Spain
Power Plants:
One 90 h.p. R.A.F. 1A
One 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5
One 80 h.p. Renault
One 140 h.p. Hispano-Suiza
Dimensions
Span 35 ft. 11 in. Length 27 ft. 3 1/2 in. Height 10 ft. 9 1/2 in.
Wing area (D.H.6) 436 1/4 sq. ft. (D.H.6A) 413 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
R.A.F. 1A Curtiss OX-5 Renault
2 seater 3 seater 2 seater 3 seater
Tare weight 1,460 lb. 1.670 lb. 1.539 lb. 1,360 lb.
All-up weight 2,027 lb. 2,380 lb. 1,926 lb. 1,900 lb.
Maximum speed 70 m.p.h. - 75 m.p.h. -
Stalling speed 40 m.p.h. 45 m.p.h. 40 m.p.h. 40 m.p.h.
Initial climb 225 ft./min. - 185 ft./min. -
Ceiling - - 6,100 ft. -
Duration 2 3/4 hours 2 3/4 hours 2 3/4 hours 3 1/2 hours
Production:
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
A5175 to A5176 Airco C6801 to C6900 Savages
A9563 to A9762 Grahame-White C7201 to C7600 Ransome, Sims and Jeffries
B2601 to B3100 Airco
B9031 to B9130 Airco C7601 to C7900 Grahame-White
C1951 to C2150 Grahame-White C9336 to C9485 Gloucestershire
C5126 to C5275 Kingsbury D951 to D1000 Grahame-White
C5451 to C5750 Harland and Wolff D8581 to D8780 Airco
C6501 to C6700 Morgan F3346 to F3445 Airco
Service Use:
No. 1 Training Squadron, Stamford; No. 39 Narborough; No. 42 Hounslow; No. 44 Waddington; No. 67 Heliopolis; No. 76, 77 and 99 Home Defence; No. 110; No. 144 Port Said; 20th Training Wing, Abu Qir; Central Flying School, Point Cook, Australia.
Also coastal patrols by Nos. 236, 250, 252, 254, 255, 258 and 260 Squadrons at Mullion, Padstow, Tynemouth, Prawle Point, Pembroke, Luce Bay and Westward Ho!
The D.H.6 was a primary trainer conceived in 1916 to meet the increasing needs of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time expanding in readiness for the decisive battles of 1917-18. As the requirement was urgent, beauty of line and fine performance were deliberately sacrificed for ease and speed of manufacture and cheapness and simplicity of repair. All major assemblies were straight sided, upper and lower mainplanes were interchangeable and the wing tips were square cut. The airframe was of fabric covered, wire braced, wooden construction but the front fuselage was plywood covered for additional strength, the tail surfaces were of steel tubing with wooden ribs and the rubber-sprung axle of the undercarriage lay between two protecting steel spreader bars. Both occupants sat in a communal cockpit of a shape familiar to Australians to whom the D.H.6 was always "The Dung Hunter", and the instructor was provided with a lever with which to disengage the pupil's controls in an emergency. Heavily cambered mainplanes, braced by cables instead of streamlined wires also earned the D.H.6 the more common titles of "The Clutching Hand" and "Sky Hook". There were others!
Power was provided by a 90 h.p. R.A.F. 1A eight cylinder V aircooled motor, bolted straight to the top longerons without any cowlings other than a scoop on the top to direct cooling air to the back cylinders, while vertical stacks led the exhaust fumes away over the top wing. On a mere 90 h.p. the performance was lady-like in the extreme but the D.H.6 was utterly viceless and would remain airborne at an air speed of 30 m.p.h. It was a very remarkable aeroplane, which the designer deliberately made unstable so that it would be an efficient elementary trainer.
The prototype D.H.6s A5175 and A5176 were fitted with the typical D.H. rudder but production machines, built by Airco and seven sub-contractors, had rectilinear rudders. At least 2.282 D.H.6s were built, some 600 less than those actually ordered, most of which saw widespread service with Training Squadrons during 1917 in the United Kingdom, the Near East and at Point Cook in Australia. It also became the communications aircraft of many Home Defence Squadrons, so that production soon outstripped that of the R.A.F. 1A engine, making it necessary to equip some production batches with the 80 h.p. Renault and the 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5. The Curtiss OX-5 powered D.H.6 was selected as an alternative in the event of difficulty being experienced with the Canadian JN-4 programme. Although this contingency did not arise, the single D.H.6 completed in July 1917 by Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd. and successfully flown, was the first British designed aircraft built in Canada.
At the end of 1917 the Avro 504K became the R.F.C.'s standard trainer and over 300 D.H.6s were transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service for anti-submarine duties around British coasts, and for operation by United States Navy personnel on similar patrols off the North East coast of Ireland. Usually they were flown solo and carried up to 100 lb. of bombs under the wings but their only noteworthy attack was the unsuccessful bombing of U boat U.C.49 on May 30, 1918. A report issued in the same month attributing a number of accidents to the difficulty of flying an unstable aeroplane on long patrols, was followed by a number of remedial experiments. F3386 was modified by Airco and tested at the R.A.E. Farnborough in July 1918 with 10 inches of back stagger and a less cambered wing section, obtained by reducing mainplane chord from 6 ft. 3 in. to 6 ft. 0 in. Elevator chord was also reduced from 2 ft. 6 in. to 1 ft. 6 in., but in an otherwise identical set of modifications made to B2963 by the R.A.E., elevator chord shrank to 1 ft. 5 in. Yet another experiment involved the re-rigging of B2840 with 13 1/2 inches of back stagger. Ultimately the Airco modification was standardised and in this form the aircraft was sometimes referred to as the D.H.6A. Forced landings at sea were frequent and one R.A.F. engined machine was tested with flotation gear but even without this, the D.H.6 had been known to remain afloat for 10 hours.
At the end of 1918 the R.A.F. still had 1,050 D.H.6s on charge, and in the following year the majority were declared obsolete and sold. Surplus aircraft auctioned at Hendon on June 2, 1919 included a number which fetched prices ranging from ?60-?100 according to condition. About 40 were overhauled for pleasure flying within the United Kingdom during the ensuing 14 years and others were privately owned. In Australia the Point Cook machines were also declared redundant and six of these, together with one built from spares, did valuable pioneer work. B2802 and B2803, bought by the Aerial Co. Ltd. were ferried to Sydney by Capt. P. G. (later Sir Gordon) Taylor M.C. and F/Lt. R. F. Oakes in 9 3/4 hours flying time but with frequent refuelling stops the flight took from March 31, 1920 until April 8th. Great difficulty was experienced in crossing the mountains against headwinds and at one stage only four miles were covered in 25 minutes. Another D.H.6 was flown from Richmond to Bathurst by Lt. C. V. Ryvie on August 6, 1920, two were ferried to Hamilton, Victoria by Capt. R. W. McKenzie M.C. and Capt. S. G. Brearley D.F.C. for joy-riding, and the sixth was similarly operated at Bendigo, further to the north, by Lt. H. Treloar A.F.C. One of these machines, G-AUBO, later acquired by F. T. O'Dea and P. A. Moody, covered 12,000 miles in 1921 without a single forced landing.
In the United States, Chamberlain Aircraft Inc. of New Jersey offered remodelled D.H.6s having forward stagger, individual cockpits and an improved fuel system. At least one is said to have been fitted with a 150 h.p. Benz engine, and as late as 1929 others were re-engined with 110 h.p. Clerget rotaries for 'barnstorming' purposes, e.g. 2264, 4066 and 4124.
As a result of a sales tour made in 1919-20 by Maj. Hereward de Havilland in a Lion engined D.H.9, a number of D.H.6s were sold in Spain. One of these, M-AAAB, registered to Hispano-Britannica S.A. of Madrid in February 1920 is believed to have acted as 'prototype' for the 60 built under licence at Guadalajara from 1921 onwards. These were used at the main Air Force training establishment at Cuatros Vientos and also at Alcala de Henares. At least one belonged to a Royal Flight. Hispano-built D.H.6s had centre section fuel tanks of aerofoil section, wings of reduced camber and the 140 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engine. A few were later sold for civil use, one being flown by the Aero Club of Barcelona in 1932 and three by Aero Popular S.A. of Madrid in 1933.
The civil D.H.6, numbered K-100, was noteworthy as the first aeroplane in the United Kingdom to fly in civil markings. It also differed from other D.H.6s in combining wings of reduced camber with normal unstaggered rigging, vertical tail surfaces of D.H. outline as fitted to the prototypes, separate cockpits and a curved cowling round the lower half of the engine. It was flown a great deal by Airco test pilot Gerald Gathergood at Hendon race meetings in the summer of 1919 and was afterwards sold to the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd. for radio telephony experiments at Croydon. Although a few D.H.6s were used for instruction by the Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd. at Hendon, by the Cambridge School of Flying and by the Bournemouth Aviation Co. Ltd., a considerable number belonged to small firms engaged on itinerant joyriding in the Midlands, Lancashire, the North Wales beaches and the Isle of Man. C. V. Maddocks and Charles Kingsford Smith, later to become the most famous of all Australian long distance pilots, acquired four D.H.6s from No. 5 (E) A.R.D., Henlow, with the intention of shipping them to Australia. After the scheme fell through they formed one of the typical mushroom firms of the period and gave pleasure flights near London taking as much as ?40 in an afternoon. Among the dozen or so converted military aircraft in South Africa at the end of 1919 were two D.H.6s taken out from England by F. H. Solomon, who gave seaside pleasure flights, trading as Cape Coast Resorts Aviation Ltd. Such projects were foredoomed to failure and when the second D.H.6 crashed in 1921, all civil flying in South Africa was temporarily at an end. Three D.H.6s used by P. O. Flygkompani for joyriding in Sweden 1919-21, suffered a similar fate.
Although initially they earned a considerable amount of easy money, the post-war slump of 1920 forced most British concerns of this type out of business, but a few D.H.6s remained airworthy in the hands of pioneer private owners such as Dr. E. D. Whitehead Reid at Bekesbourne, H. B. Elwell at Lytham St. Annes and Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland whose G-EA WD. with wings of reduced camber, competed unsuccessfully in the Croydon Handicap Race of September 17. 1921. This machine flew for two years with the D.H. School of Flying at Stag Lane but crashed at Stanford Rivers, Essex on August 27, 1923 when a Dutch pupil lost his bearings during A Licence tests. A new and more lasting phase in the commercial life of the D.H.6 was made possible however by the Director of Research, Air Ministry, who in 1921 approved their modification to three seaters for the carriage of two fare paying passengers in tandem in the communal cockpit ahead of the pilot, at an all-up weight of 2,380 lb. The major operator was the Giro Aviation Co. Ltd. whose seven Renault and R.A.F. 1A engined machines made thousands of pleasure flights from Southport Sands in the period 1921-33. In the South the Martin Aviation Company's three D.H.6s acquired from the Brompton Motor Co. Ltd., were fitted with 80 h.p. Renault motors and did similar business from fields and beaches in the Isle of Wight during the 1921 and 1922 seasons. W. G. Chapman of the Leatherhead Motor Company also proved popular at Croydon with his Curtiss OX-5 engined G-EANU, which was further modified to have individual cockpits. The last commercial users other than Giro were British Motor and Flying Services Ltd. at Maylands, Romford, with G-EBPN and TS in 1929.
A D.H.6 was modified at Sherburn-in-Elmet in 1920 by the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co. Ltd. and fitted with the Alula parasol wing designed by A. A. Holle of the Commercial Aeroplane Wing Syndicate Ltd. Powered by a 200 h.p. Bentley B.R.2 rotary, it was registered G-EAWG and first flown by Capt. Clinch on January 2, 1921. The wing was modified in the following April with dihedral instead of anhedral and also braced to a rigid structure below the wing. After flight tests by F. T. Courtney it was dismantled and despatched to St. Cyr near Paris for completion of the tests.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Kingsbury Aviation Co. Ltd., Kingsbury, Middlesex
Harlandand Wolff Ltd., Belfast
Morgan and Co., Leighton Buzzard, Beds.
Savages Ltd., Stroud, Gloucester
Ransome, Sims and Jefferies Ltd., Ipswich
The Gloucestershire Aircraft Co. Ltd., Cheltenham
Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd., Toronto, Canada
Hispano-Suiza S.A., Guadalajara, Spain
Power Plants:
One 90 h.p. R.A.F. 1A
One 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5
One 80 h.p. Renault
One 140 h.p. Hispano-Suiza
Dimensions
Span 35 ft. 11 in. Length 27 ft. 3 1/2 in. Height 10 ft. 9 1/2 in.
Wing area (D.H.6) 436 1/4 sq. ft. (D.H.6A) 413 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
R.A.F. 1A Curtiss OX-5 Renault
2 seater 3 seater 2 seater 3 seater
Tare weight 1,460 lb. 1.670 lb. 1.539 lb. 1,360 lb.
All-up weight 2,027 lb. 2,380 lb. 1,926 lb. 1,900 lb.
Maximum speed 70 m.p.h. - 75 m.p.h. -
Stalling speed 40 m.p.h. 45 m.p.h. 40 m.p.h. 40 m.p.h.
Initial climb 225 ft./min. - 185 ft./min. -
Ceiling - - 6,100 ft. -
Duration 2 3/4 hours 2 3/4 hours 2 3/4 hours 3 1/2 hours
Production:
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
A5175 to A5176 Airco C6801 to C6900 Savages
A9563 to A9762 Grahame-White C7201 to C7600 Ransome, Sims and Jeffries
B2601 to B3100 Airco
B9031 to B9130 Airco C7601 to C7900 Grahame-White
C1951 to C2150 Grahame-White C9336 to C9485 Gloucestershire
C5126 to C5275 Kingsbury D951 to D1000 Grahame-White
C5451 to C5750 Harland and Wolff D8581 to D8780 Airco
C6501 to C6700 Morgan F3346 to F3445 Airco
Service Use:
No. 1 Training Squadron, Stamford; No. 39 Narborough; No. 42 Hounslow; No. 44 Waddington; No. 67 Heliopolis; No. 76, 77 and 99 Home Defence; No. 110; No. 144 Port Said; 20th Training Wing, Abu Qir; Central Flying School, Point Cook, Australia.
Also coastal patrols by Nos. 236, 250, 252, 254, 255, 258 and 260 Squadrons at Mullion, Padstow, Tynemouth, Prawle Point, Pembroke, Luce Bay and Westward Ho!
A Spanish-built D.H.6 with rounded rudder, 140 h.p. Hispano-Suiza watercooled engine and Lamblin radiators between the undercarriage legs.
C. D. Pratt stripping down the R.A.F.1A engine of his first joyriding D.H.6, G-AUDO, in the Australian outback in the 1920s.
A typical joyriding team with ground engineer, pilot (Capt. Martin) and ticket salesman at Cleethorpes in 1923 alongside the Martin Aviation Company's D.H.6, G-EAWT.
D.H.6 aircraft under construction by Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies Ltd. at their Orwell Works, Ipswich, in 1917.
The D.H.6 G-EAWG fitted with Alula high lift wing by the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co. Ltd. in 1920. The engine was a 200 h.p. Bentley B.R.2 rotary.
De Havilland D.H.9
By the summer of 1917 the need had become apparent for a fast bomber capable of carrying heavier loads over greater distances than the D.H.4. Reluctant to abandon altogether the manufacturing facilities developed for this successful and well proven type, the Air Board finally sanctioned the large scale production of a version so drastically modified that it was necessary to give it the new type number D.H.9. Structurally similar to its predecessor, the D.H.9 used identical mainplanes and tail surfaces but the pilot no longer sat in jeopardy between engine and fuel tanks, but next to, and in communication with, the gunner. The nose was of a better streamlined shape and the engine installation resembled that of the Fiat engined D.H.4, but with the added refinement of a radiator retracting into the underside of the front fuselage as a means of temperature control. The prototype was a D.H.4 numbered A7559, converted by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and fitted with a 230 h.p. Galloway-built B.H.P. engine sometimes known as the Adriatic. Flight trials commenced at Hendon in July 1917 and contracts already awarded to sub-contractors were amended so that D.H.9s rolled from the production lines instead of D.H.4s.
Production machines, ultimately turned out at the rate of one every 40 minutes, were fitted initially with the Siddeley-built B.H.P. engine but the majority had the Siddeley Puma, a lightweight version of the B.H.P. modified for mass production by the Siddeley-Deasy Car Company. Teething troubles proved so serious that the Puma, although expected to deliver 300 h.p., had to be derated to 230 h.p., with the result that the D.H.9 was underpowered and consequently inferior in performance to the aircraft it was to replace. With full military load comprising 70 gallons of fuel, 4 1/2 gallons of oil, 6 1/2 gallons of water, one pilot's forward firing Vickers gun operated by Constantinesco interruptor gear, observer's Lewis gun, two 230 lb. or four 112 lb. bombs, it was unable to climb above 13,000 ft. Deliveries commenced with a batch of five at the end of 1917 and the type was in service with squadrons in France by April 1918. Inevitably serious losses were incurred such as on July 31. 1918 when only two out of twelve D.H.9s returned from a raid on Germany. The prevalence of engine trouble put an additional and intolerable burden on aircrews, and Nos. 99 and 104 Squadrons alone suffered 123 engine failures out of 848 sorties flown before the Armistice. The D.H.4 was therefore retained in service and the D.H.9 supplemented rather than superseded it. In less hotly contested areas, the D.H.9 enjoyed greater success, notably in September 1918 against the Turks in Palestine. Long range reconnaissance flights of over 300 miles were made against the Bulgars from bases in Macedonia, and ranges of over 400 miles were achieved by D.H.9s locally modified in the Aegean Islands to carry overload fuel tanks for the bombing of Constantinople.
At home the D.H.9 joined D.H.4s on coastal defence and anti-Zeppelin work, and at the end of the war replaced some of the D.H.6s on antisubmarine patrols. Thereafter the D.H.9 was relegated to non-combatant roles and on December 17, 1918 those of No. 99 Squadron, operating with D.H.4s of Nos. 55 and 57 Squadrons, inaugurated the first cross-Channel air mail service. Twenty five bags of mail for the Army of Occupation on the Rhine were flown to Valenciennes in bad weather, en route to Cologne. These squadrons made 917 sorties during the winter out of a possible 1,017. By July 1919 no D.H.9s remained on R.A.F. charge, the last examples in service being the ambulance versions operating with 'Z Force' in Somaliland. These, exemplified by D3117, carried one stretcher case in a coffin-like enclosure on top of the rear fuselage and had the upper trailing edge cut-out filled in.
Although the D.H.9 was not a success in its intended role and faded ignominiously from the R.A.F. after suffering rapid replacement by the D.H.9A, its career was by no means over. Many interesting modifications were made to it and after the experimental installation of 250 h.p. Fiat A-12 engines in D.H.9s C6052 and D5748, a batch of one hundred commencing D2776 was ordered from Short Brothers. As the engine closely resembled the Puma externally the main distinguishing feature was the exhaust manifold, fitted to the starboard side on Fiats and to the port side on Pumas, but in addition the radiator was fixed and equipped with vertical shutters because of the greater length of the Fiat installation. Some of this batch were later converted to Pumas for deck landing trials on H.M. Aircraft Carrier Eagle in 1921, and were fitted with D.H.4 type front radiators instead of the underslung type, to minimise damage if forced to ditch.
In February 1918 one of the prototype Napier Lion, broad arrow, 12 cylinder, watercooled engines was experimentally fitted at Farnborough to the D.H.9 C6078 and first flown on March 16th. The same machine was later fitted with a developed Lion engine and flown, on October 20th, to Martlesham where on January 2, 1919 Capt. Andrew Lang flew it to 30,500 ft. and established a World's altitude record. Throughout 1919 the R.A.E. experimented with an R.H.A. supercharger fitted to E630 and with alternative radiator positions on D2825.
The success of the Liberty engined D.H.4 prompted the American Expeditionary Force to install the improved 435 h.p. Liberty 12A engine in the D.H.9 and two airframes, one of which was C6058, were acquired for this purpose in July 1918.
After the war surplus D.H.9s took on a new lease of life in the service of other nations, mainly because their low initial cost was counted above military invincibility. Eighteen were supplied to Belgium, 12 to Poland, 48 to South Africa as part of the Imperial Gift, 9 to New Zealand, 28 to Australia and others to Canada, India, Afghanistan, Greece, the Irish Free State, Holland and Latvia. One of the 20 Puma engined D.H.9s supplied to Chile was flown by the Director of Civil Aviation, Capt. Aracena, 1,850 miles from Santiago to Rio de Janeiro in the autumn of 1922 and in the same year D.H.9s 16 and 77 (ex H9133) of the Estonian Air Squadron, made the long flight from Tallinn to Riga. Earlier, in January 1920, the D.H.9 30 (ex D660) crashed at Tallinn at the end of an historic flight from Helsinki with the first load of bank notes for the newly created Estonian Republic. Those of the South African Air Force gave sterling service for many years, and at least one, 159, was fitted with a 200 h.p. Wolseley Viper and unofficially named the D.H. Mantis. Six saw active service during the Boudelzvartz rebellion in 1922 and two piloted by Capts. C. J. Venter D.F.C. and H. C. Daniel M.C, D.F.C., which flew 1,000 miles from Pretoria to Cape Town in 9 hours 45 minutes on March 5, 1924, were the first aircraft to make the journey in the daylight hours of one day. Others, e.g. 101, were used in 1925 on an experimental air mail service between Cape Town and Durban, 450 lb. of payload being carried on each trip. In the following year comparative trials took place at Roberts Heights between D.H.9s fitted with the A.D.C. Nimbus, Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar and Bristol Jupiter engines. Final choice fell on the Jupiter and a number of S.A.A.F. D.H.9s, rebuilt as the D.H.9J M'pala I general purpose type with Jupiter VI or as the M'pala II for communications with Jupiter VIII and divided axle wide track oleo undercarriage, survived until 1937. The designation D.H.9J was also used for the Jaguar engine conversions made at Stag Lane (see page 136), a form of ambiguity also practised with D.H.50 variants.
The Puma D.H.9 made a most important contribution to aerodynamic research when, in 1920, Mr. (later Sir Frederick) Handley Page equipped a standard aircraft, H9140, with his newly invented leading edge slots. These were full span, auxiliary aerofoils permanently fixed along both mainplanes to give maximum lift, thereby increasing the wing area by 34 sq. ft. Later a taller undercarriage was fitted and in September 1920 comparative trials took place at Farnborough against a standard D.H.9 D5755. These showed a reduction in stalling speed from 51 to 44 1/2 m.p.h. and at a public demonstration at Cricklewood on October 21, 1921 Maj. E. L. Foot took full advantage of the ground angle imparted by the tall undercarriage by taking off in a three point attitude and going straight into a sensational angle of climb. The performance of this H.P. 17 led to an order for the H.P. 19 Hanley, similarly equipped.
Following Maj. Hereward de Havilland's tour through Spain in a Lion engined D.H.9 in 1919. a number of war surplus D.H.9 airframes were sold to the Spanish Government. These were erected by the Hispano-Suiza company and fitted with 300 h.p. Hispano-Suiza 8Fb engines. From 1925 Hispano built the type under licence and a total production in excess of 500 has been quoted. They were used in the African squadrons for reconnaissance and also at the Advanced Training School at Guadalajara. At the outbreak of the Civil War 25 were still in service in Spain, of which 21 went over to the Reds, and at least one, 34-18, was still active in 1940.
D.H.9s equipping the Netherlands Army Air Service were unique, not only because they included 10 built at Stag Lane in 1922 from unused components and others impressed after they forced landed on neutral Dutch territory during the First World War, but because many were rejuvenated as late as 1934 with Wright Whirlwind radial engines. Similar treatment was also applied to 13 modified D.H.9s which were built by the Netherlands East Indies Army workshops in 1926. These had plywood fuselages, revised ailerons, enlarged fin and rudder, large D.H.50-type nose radiators and extended exhaust pipes. Several Dutch machines were converted for the photo-reconnaissance role and others, equipped as ambulances, closely resembled those used in Somaliland in 1919.
A demand for surplus D.H.9s, reconditioned at Croydon by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. continued until 1924, but so great was their original stock that large numbers of unsold machines remained dismantled and neglected until burned in 1931. One D.H.9. in Independent Air Force colours, numbered F1258 survives in the French Musee de l'Air and is currently (1987) housed at Le Bourget. Another is displayed at the South African National War Museum near Johannesburg.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Alliance Aeroplane Co. Ltd., Cambridge Rd, Hammersmith, London, W.6.
F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.10
Cubitt Ltd., Croydon, Surrey
Mann, Egerton and Co. Ltd., Aylsham Road, Norwich, Norfolk
National Aircraft Factory No. 1, Waddon, Surrey
National Aircraft Factory No. 2, Heaton Chapel, near Stockport, Lanes.
Netherlands East Indies Army Workshops, Andir, Java.
Short Bros. (Rochesterand Bedford) Ltd., Rochester. Kent
The Vulcan Engineering and Motor Co. (1906) Ltd., Crossens, Lanes.
Waring and Gillow Ltd., Cambridge Road, Hammersmith, London, W.6
G. & J. Weir Ltd., Cathcart, Glasgow
Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, Somerset
Whitehead Aircraft Co. Ltd., Townshend Road, Richmond, Surrey
SABCA, Haren Airport, Brussels, Belgium
Hispano-Suiza S.A., Guadalajara, Spain
Power Plants:
One 230 h.p. B.H.P. (Galloway Adriatic)
One 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma
One 290 h.p. Siddeley Puma high compression
One 250 h.p. Fiat A-12
One 300 h.p. A.D.C. Nimbus
One 300 h.p. Hispano-Suiza 8Fb
One 430 h.p. Napier Lion
One 435 h.p. Liberty 12A
One 465 h.p. Wright Whirlwind R-975
(Mantis) One 200 h.p. Wolseley Viper
(M'pala I) One 450 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VI
(M'pala II) One 480 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VIII
Dimensions, Weights and Performances (without bomb load):
Puma Fiat Lion Liberty
Span 42ft. 4 5/8 in. 42ft. 4 5/8 in. 42ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in.
Length 30 ft. 5 in. 30 ft. 0 in. 30ft. 9 1/2 in. 30 ft. 0 in.
Height 11ft. 3 1/2 in. 11 ft. 2 in. 11ft. 7 3/4 in. 11ft. 2 in.
Wing area 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft.
Tare weight 2,230 lb. 2,460 lb. 2,544 lb. -
All-up weight 3,325 lb. 3,600 lb. 3,667 lb. 4,645 lb.
Maximum speed 109.5 m.p.h.* 117.5 m.p.h.* 138 m.p.h.* 114 m.p.h.**
Initial climb 625 ft./min. 725 ft./min. 1,600 ft./min. -
Service ceiling 15,500 ft. 17,500 ft. 23,000 ft. -
Endurance 4 1/2 hours - 3 1/2 hours -
* At 10,000 ft. ** At ground level.
By the summer of 1917 the need had become apparent for a fast bomber capable of carrying heavier loads over greater distances than the D.H.4. Reluctant to abandon altogether the manufacturing facilities developed for this successful and well proven type, the Air Board finally sanctioned the large scale production of a version so drastically modified that it was necessary to give it the new type number D.H.9. Structurally similar to its predecessor, the D.H.9 used identical mainplanes and tail surfaces but the pilot no longer sat in jeopardy between engine and fuel tanks, but next to, and in communication with, the gunner. The nose was of a better streamlined shape and the engine installation resembled that of the Fiat engined D.H.4, but with the added refinement of a radiator retracting into the underside of the front fuselage as a means of temperature control. The prototype was a D.H.4 numbered A7559, converted by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and fitted with a 230 h.p. Galloway-built B.H.P. engine sometimes known as the Adriatic. Flight trials commenced at Hendon in July 1917 and contracts already awarded to sub-contractors were amended so that D.H.9s rolled from the production lines instead of D.H.4s.
Production machines, ultimately turned out at the rate of one every 40 minutes, were fitted initially with the Siddeley-built B.H.P. engine but the majority had the Siddeley Puma, a lightweight version of the B.H.P. modified for mass production by the Siddeley-Deasy Car Company. Teething troubles proved so serious that the Puma, although expected to deliver 300 h.p., had to be derated to 230 h.p., with the result that the D.H.9 was underpowered and consequently inferior in performance to the aircraft it was to replace. With full military load comprising 70 gallons of fuel, 4 1/2 gallons of oil, 6 1/2 gallons of water, one pilot's forward firing Vickers gun operated by Constantinesco interruptor gear, observer's Lewis gun, two 230 lb. or four 112 lb. bombs, it was unable to climb above 13,000 ft. Deliveries commenced with a batch of five at the end of 1917 and the type was in service with squadrons in France by April 1918. Inevitably serious losses were incurred such as on July 31. 1918 when only two out of twelve D.H.9s returned from a raid on Germany. The prevalence of engine trouble put an additional and intolerable burden on aircrews, and Nos. 99 and 104 Squadrons alone suffered 123 engine failures out of 848 sorties flown before the Armistice. The D.H.4 was therefore retained in service and the D.H.9 supplemented rather than superseded it. In less hotly contested areas, the D.H.9 enjoyed greater success, notably in September 1918 against the Turks in Palestine. Long range reconnaissance flights of over 300 miles were made against the Bulgars from bases in Macedonia, and ranges of over 400 miles were achieved by D.H.9s locally modified in the Aegean Islands to carry overload fuel tanks for the bombing of Constantinople.
At home the D.H.9 joined D.H.4s on coastal defence and anti-Zeppelin work, and at the end of the war replaced some of the D.H.6s on antisubmarine patrols. Thereafter the D.H.9 was relegated to non-combatant roles and on December 17, 1918 those of No. 99 Squadron, operating with D.H.4s of Nos. 55 and 57 Squadrons, inaugurated the first cross-Channel air mail service. Twenty five bags of mail for the Army of Occupation on the Rhine were flown to Valenciennes in bad weather, en route to Cologne. These squadrons made 917 sorties during the winter out of a possible 1,017. By July 1919 no D.H.9s remained on R.A.F. charge, the last examples in service being the ambulance versions operating with 'Z Force' in Somaliland. These, exemplified by D3117, carried one stretcher case in a coffin-like enclosure on top of the rear fuselage and had the upper trailing edge cut-out filled in.
Although the D.H.9 was not a success in its intended role and faded ignominiously from the R.A.F. after suffering rapid replacement by the D.H.9A, its career was by no means over. Many interesting modifications were made to it and after the experimental installation of 250 h.p. Fiat A-12 engines in D.H.9s C6052 and D5748, a batch of one hundred commencing D2776 was ordered from Short Brothers. As the engine closely resembled the Puma externally the main distinguishing feature was the exhaust manifold, fitted to the starboard side on Fiats and to the port side on Pumas, but in addition the radiator was fixed and equipped with vertical shutters because of the greater length of the Fiat installation. Some of this batch were later converted to Pumas for deck landing trials on H.M. Aircraft Carrier Eagle in 1921, and were fitted with D.H.4 type front radiators instead of the underslung type, to minimise damage if forced to ditch.
In February 1918 one of the prototype Napier Lion, broad arrow, 12 cylinder, watercooled engines was experimentally fitted at Farnborough to the D.H.9 C6078 and first flown on March 16th. The same machine was later fitted with a developed Lion engine and flown, on October 20th, to Martlesham where on January 2, 1919 Capt. Andrew Lang flew it to 30,500 ft. and established a World's altitude record. Throughout 1919 the R.A.E. experimented with an R.H.A. supercharger fitted to E630 and with alternative radiator positions on D2825.
The success of the Liberty engined D.H.4 prompted the American Expeditionary Force to install the improved 435 h.p. Liberty 12A engine in the D.H.9 and two airframes, one of which was C6058, were acquired for this purpose in July 1918.
After the war surplus D.H.9s took on a new lease of life in the service of other nations, mainly because their low initial cost was counted above military invincibility. Eighteen were supplied to Belgium, 12 to Poland, 48 to South Africa as part of the Imperial Gift, 9 to New Zealand, 28 to Australia and others to Canada, India, Afghanistan, Greece, the Irish Free State, Holland and Latvia. One of the 20 Puma engined D.H.9s supplied to Chile was flown by the Director of Civil Aviation, Capt. Aracena, 1,850 miles from Santiago to Rio de Janeiro in the autumn of 1922 and in the same year D.H.9s 16 and 77 (ex H9133) of the Estonian Air Squadron, made the long flight from Tallinn to Riga. Earlier, in January 1920, the D.H.9 30 (ex D660) crashed at Tallinn at the end of an historic flight from Helsinki with the first load of bank notes for the newly created Estonian Republic. Those of the South African Air Force gave sterling service for many years, and at least one, 159, was fitted with a 200 h.p. Wolseley Viper and unofficially named the D.H. Mantis. Six saw active service during the Boudelzvartz rebellion in 1922 and two piloted by Capts. C. J. Venter D.F.C. and H. C. Daniel M.C, D.F.C., which flew 1,000 miles from Pretoria to Cape Town in 9 hours 45 minutes on March 5, 1924, were the first aircraft to make the journey in the daylight hours of one day. Others, e.g. 101, were used in 1925 on an experimental air mail service between Cape Town and Durban, 450 lb. of payload being carried on each trip. In the following year comparative trials took place at Roberts Heights between D.H.9s fitted with the A.D.C. Nimbus, Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar and Bristol Jupiter engines. Final choice fell on the Jupiter and a number of S.A.A.F. D.H.9s, rebuilt as the D.H.9J M'pala I general purpose type with Jupiter VI or as the M'pala II for communications with Jupiter VIII and divided axle wide track oleo undercarriage, survived until 1937. The designation D.H.9J was also used for the Jaguar engine conversions made at Stag Lane (see page 136), a form of ambiguity also practised with D.H.50 variants.
The Puma D.H.9 made a most important contribution to aerodynamic research when, in 1920, Mr. (later Sir Frederick) Handley Page equipped a standard aircraft, H9140, with his newly invented leading edge slots. These were full span, auxiliary aerofoils permanently fixed along both mainplanes to give maximum lift, thereby increasing the wing area by 34 sq. ft. Later a taller undercarriage was fitted and in September 1920 comparative trials took place at Farnborough against a standard D.H.9 D5755. These showed a reduction in stalling speed from 51 to 44 1/2 m.p.h. and at a public demonstration at Cricklewood on October 21, 1921 Maj. E. L. Foot took full advantage of the ground angle imparted by the tall undercarriage by taking off in a three point attitude and going straight into a sensational angle of climb. The performance of this H.P. 17 led to an order for the H.P. 19 Hanley, similarly equipped.
Following Maj. Hereward de Havilland's tour through Spain in a Lion engined D.H.9 in 1919. a number of war surplus D.H.9 airframes were sold to the Spanish Government. These were erected by the Hispano-Suiza company and fitted with 300 h.p. Hispano-Suiza 8Fb engines. From 1925 Hispano built the type under licence and a total production in excess of 500 has been quoted. They were used in the African squadrons for reconnaissance and also at the Advanced Training School at Guadalajara. At the outbreak of the Civil War 25 were still in service in Spain, of which 21 went over to the Reds, and at least one, 34-18, was still active in 1940.
D.H.9s equipping the Netherlands Army Air Service were unique, not only because they included 10 built at Stag Lane in 1922 from unused components and others impressed after they forced landed on neutral Dutch territory during the First World War, but because many were rejuvenated as late as 1934 with Wright Whirlwind radial engines. Similar treatment was also applied to 13 modified D.H.9s which were built by the Netherlands East Indies Army workshops in 1926. These had plywood fuselages, revised ailerons, enlarged fin and rudder, large D.H.50-type nose radiators and extended exhaust pipes. Several Dutch machines were converted for the photo-reconnaissance role and others, equipped as ambulances, closely resembled those used in Somaliland in 1919.
A demand for surplus D.H.9s, reconditioned at Croydon by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. continued until 1924, but so great was their original stock that large numbers of unsold machines remained dismantled and neglected until burned in 1931. One D.H.9. in Independent Air Force colours, numbered F1258 survives in the French Musee de l'Air and is currently (1987) housed at Le Bourget. Another is displayed at the South African National War Museum near Johannesburg.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Alliance Aeroplane Co. Ltd., Cambridge Rd, Hammersmith, London, W.6.
F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.10
Cubitt Ltd., Croydon, Surrey
Mann, Egerton and Co. Ltd., Aylsham Road, Norwich, Norfolk
National Aircraft Factory No. 1, Waddon, Surrey
National Aircraft Factory No. 2, Heaton Chapel, near Stockport, Lanes.
Netherlands East Indies Army Workshops, Andir, Java.
Short Bros. (Rochesterand Bedford) Ltd., Rochester. Kent
The Vulcan Engineering and Motor Co. (1906) Ltd., Crossens, Lanes.
Waring and Gillow Ltd., Cambridge Road, Hammersmith, London, W.6
G. & J. Weir Ltd., Cathcart, Glasgow
Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, Somerset
Whitehead Aircraft Co. Ltd., Townshend Road, Richmond, Surrey
SABCA, Haren Airport, Brussels, Belgium
Hispano-Suiza S.A., Guadalajara, Spain
Power Plants:
One 230 h.p. B.H.P. (Galloway Adriatic)
One 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma
One 290 h.p. Siddeley Puma high compression
One 250 h.p. Fiat A-12
One 300 h.p. A.D.C. Nimbus
One 300 h.p. Hispano-Suiza 8Fb
One 430 h.p. Napier Lion
One 435 h.p. Liberty 12A
One 465 h.p. Wright Whirlwind R-975
(Mantis) One 200 h.p. Wolseley Viper
(M'pala I) One 450 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VI
(M'pala II) One 480 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VIII
Dimensions, Weights and Performances (without bomb load):
Puma Fiat Lion Liberty
Span 42ft. 4 5/8 in. 42ft. 4 5/8 in. 42ft. 4 5/8 in. 42 ft. 4 5/8 in.
Length 30 ft. 5 in. 30 ft. 0 in. 30ft. 9 1/2 in. 30 ft. 0 in.
Height 11ft. 3 1/2 in. 11 ft. 2 in. 11ft. 7 3/4 in. 11ft. 2 in.
Wing area 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft. 434 sq. ft.
Tare weight 2,230 lb. 2,460 lb. 2,544 lb. -
All-up weight 3,325 lb. 3,600 lb. 3,667 lb. 4,645 lb.
Maximum speed 109.5 m.p.h.* 117.5 m.p.h.* 138 m.p.h.* 114 m.p.h.**
Initial climb 625 ft./min. 725 ft./min. 1,600 ft./min. -
Service ceiling 15,500 ft. 17,500 ft. 23,000 ft. -
Endurance 4 1/2 hours - 3 1/2 hours -
* At 10,000 ft. ** At ground level.
D.H.9 serial C6078 at Farnborough in 1918 equipped as the flying testbed for the prototype Napier Lion engine with heated carburettor.
A Short-built D.H.9 D2825 with Siddeley Puma engine, modified with D.H.4-type nose radiator for deck flying trials on H.M.S. Eagle in 1921.
Modified to carry one stretcher case on top of the rear fuselage, D3117 was one of the D.H.9 ambulances used in Somali land in 1919.
D5748, a D.H.9 built by Waring and Gillow. The engine was a 250 h.p. Fiat A-12, recognised by the starboard mounted exhaust manifold.
Maj. E. L. Foot in the H.P.17 slotted research biplane at Cricklewood during the demonstrations of October 21, 1921. Formerly a standard D.H.9 H9140, it was flown against the unmodified sister aircraft G-EAUN seen in the background.
A standard G. & J. Weir-built D.H.9 with 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma engine, at Renfrew in 1918 named "Georgetown" and inscribed 'Presented by the Munition Workers of the Scottish Filling Factory".
The so-called D.H. Mantis, a South African Air Force D.H.9 fitted at Roberts Heights with the 200 h.p. Wolseley Viper engine taken from an S.E.5A.
A D.H.9 of the Netherlands Army Air Service, fitted in 1934 with a 465 h.p. Wright Whirlwind R-975 radial.
De Havilland D.H. 10 Amiens
German bombing successes in 1917 over London, the Home Counties and along the East Coast, using twin engined aircraft, forced the Air Board to take retaliatory action and to renew its interest in the D.H.3. A contract was therefore placed with the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for prototypes of a somewhat larger version designated the D.H. 10. The aircraft was structurally similar to its predecessor, the airframe being of spruce and ash construction, with fabric covered mainplanes. The fuselage consisted of a plywood covered, box-like front portion to which was bolted the usual Warren girder tail section. Rudder and elevator trailing edges were of steel tubing to simplify the creation of artistic outline and to reduce the risk of accidental damage on the ground. Steel tubing was also used for the wide track, divided undercarriage and for engine nacelle struts, the latter being faired to streamline shape with fabric doped over wooden formers. Two 230 h.p. B.H.P. watercooled engines were mounted as pushers and to give adequate airscrew clearance cut outs were made in the trailing edges of upper and lower mainplanes as on the D.H.3A. The crew of three comprised front and rear gunners and pilot, but full dual control was fitted in the rear gunner's cockpit, the rudder bar being covered by hinged floorboards when not in use.
The prototype D.H. 10 C4283, flew for the first time on March 4, 1918, but its performance was 6% down on estimate and it could carry only a small military load. The third and fourth prototypes were therefore fitted with more powerful engines arranged to drive tractor instead of pusher airscrews, the third, C8659, flying for the first time on April 20, 1918, with 360 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIIIs. The first two prototypes were therefore the only D.H. 10s to have the cut out trailing edges. Engines of even greater power - 400 h.p. Liberty 12s - were fitted to the fourth prototype C8660, which was the true pre-production version without nose wheels. It was built with 2 1/2 instead of 4 degrees of mainplane sweepback, elongated nacelles, Scarff rings for front and rear gunners and horn balanced ailerons. Fuel was carried in the front fuselage in two 98 gallon tanks, between which was a bay accommodating some 900 lb. of bombs. Additional bomb loads were carried on external racks under the lower mainplane.
When the prototypes were ordered, the Air Board gave the D.H.10 the type name Amiens, so that the first two prototypes were Amiens Mk. I, the third Mk. II, while the fourth and all production aircraft were Amiens Mk. III. Due no doubt to the rapid winding up of production at the end of the war, this type name was little used and its very existence lay forgotten in official files for close on 40 years. Although orders were placed with the parent company and six sub-contractors for 1,295 D.H. 10s, only eight were on R.A.F. charge at the end of hostilities. Thus a most promising and worthy successor to the immortal D.H.4 arrived too late to see active war service, and the subsequent history of the type was one of technical refinement and mail carrying. Improvement in performance by mounting the engines directly on the lower mainplane in order to eliminate the enormous parasitic drag of the original strutted arrangement, gave rise to the Mann, Egerton-built D.H.10A Amiens Mk. IIIA with Liberty engines. These were given an appreciable degree of upthrust and the aircraft was also equipped with heavy duty wheels. When Liberty deliveries ceased at the end of 1918 an up-rated Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII of 375 h.p. became the standard engine of a final version known as the D.H.10C Amiens Mk. IIIC.
The first major experimental modification to the D.H.10 was the installation of a 1 1/2 pounder Coventry Ordnance Works quick firing gun in D.H. 10 E5458 and D.H. 10C E5550 for trials at Orfordness. Each had an enlarged bow cockpit and the old familiar nose wheels but trials were discontinued when air firing tests resulted in the crash of E5458.
The third investigation was devoted to improving asymmetrical flying in the event of engine failure and a production D.H. 10 E6042 was modified by Airco and tested at Farnborough in 1921 with twin fins and rudders of typical D.H. outline. A rectangular central fin was next added for comparison and in 1922 the entire assembly was replaced by an experimental tail unit with an immense horn balanced single rudder 39 sq. ft. in area as compared with the usual 25 sq. ft. In 1923 the aircraft was flown with twin rectangular rudders and between April 29, 1924 and May 22, 1926, fifteen or twenty test flights were made with the standard D.H. 10 rudder equipped with a small servo rudder on outriggers.
In the peacetime R.A.F. the D.H. 10 was used by No. 120 Squadron for the air mail service to the British Army of Occupation on the Rhine, daily flights being made between Hawkinge and Cologne. A D.H. 10 piloted by Capt. Barratt which left Hawkinge at 10.15 p.m. on May 14, 1919 and arrived at Cologne 3 1/4 hours later, was the first aircraft ever to carry mails at night. Most of the D.H. 10s in India were sold as scrap at Ambala in February 1922 but a few were retained to police the North West Frontier with No. 97 Squadron and to carry the desert air mail between Cairo and Baghdad until superseded by Vickers Vimys in 1923. For this purpose they were fitted with an additional cockpit behind the pilot, e.g. E5507. One of the last recorded appearances of a D.H. 10 was at the No. 7 Group Display, Andover on June 23, 1923 when F/O. J. S. Chick performed a dog fight with two S.E.5As.
The designation D.H.10B is generally supposed to have been reserved for a purely civil mail carrying version but only two aircraft were used for this purpose in England. Both were operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. but neither was actually known as a D.H.10B because the first was the D.H. 10C prototype E5557 and the other a demilitarized D.H. 10 E5488, civil registered as G-EAJO. The latter was granted a full civil C. of A. before demonstration at the ELTA Exhibition at Amsterdam in August 1919 by Capt. Gerald Gathergood and on September 30th joined E5557 on regular mail flights between Hendon, Newcastle and Renfrew in an attempt to break the railway strike. A scheme was also considered for a conversion to carry pilot and four passengers, two side by side in the nose and two in the rear, the starboard passengers facing aft and the port forward.
At least one D.H. 10 supplemented the DH-4s on United States air mail routes. Powered by two Liberty VI engines and numbered 111, it had completed 31 hours 27 minutes flying on the New York-Cleveland-Omaha route by June 1920, average flying time for the initial stage of 200 miles being 3 hours.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Alliance Aeroplane Co. Ltd., Cambridge Road, London, W.14
The Birmingham Carriage Co., Birmingham
The Daimler Co. Ltd., Coventry
Mann, Egerton and Co. Ltd., Aylsham Road, Norwich, Norfolk
National Aircraft Factory No.2, Heaton Chapel, Stockport
The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Co. Ltd., Parkside, Coventry
Power Plants:
(D.H.10 Amiens Mk. I) Two 230 h.p. B.H.P.
(D.H.10 Amiens Mk. II) Two 360h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
(D.H.10 Amiens Mk. III) Two 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(D.H.10A Amiens Mk. IIIA) Two 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(D.H.10C Amiens Mk. IIIC) Two 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
Mk. I Mk. II Mk. III Mk. IIIA
Span 62 ft. 9 in. 62 ft. 9 in. 65 ft. 6,in. 65 ft. 6 in.
Length 38 ft. 10 in. 38 ft. 10 in. 39 ft. 7 1/2in. 39 ft. 7 1/2 in.
Height 14 ft. 6 in. 14 ft. 6 in. 14 ft. 6 in. 14 ft. 6 in.
Wing area 789 3/4 sq. ft. 834 3/4 sq. ft. 837 1/2 sq. ft. 837 1/2 sq. ft.
Tare weight 5,004 lb. 5,585 lb. 5,750 lb.
All-up weight 6.950 lb. 8,500 lb. 9.000 lb. 9,000 lb.
Maximum speed 109 m.p.h. 117 1/2 m.p.h. 129 m.p.h.
Climb
to 6,500 ft. 11 min. 25 sec. 9 min. 7 min.
Service ceiling 15,000 ft. 16,500 ft. 17,500 ft.
Endurance 3 1/2 hours 5 3/4 hours 5 3/4 hours
Production: The following serial numbers were allotted to D.H. 10s but many were not completed.
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
C8658 to C8660 Airco *F351 to F550 N.A.F. 2
E5437 to E5636 Airco F1867 to F1882 Airco
E6037 to E6136 Birmingham Carriage Co. F7147 to F7346 Alliance
E7837 to E7986 Siddeley-Deasy F8421 to F8495 Mann. Egerton
E9057 to E9206 Daimler H2746 to H2945 Airco
* Believed F351 to F355 only. F352 crashed 2.19.
Service Use:
(a) In the United Kingdom Nos. 104 and 120 Squadrons.
(b) On the N.W. Frontier of India No. 60 (formerly No. 97) Squadron,
(c) In Egypt No. 216 Squadron.
Civil Conversions: G-EAJO, formerly E5488, C. of A. issued 18.8.19, crashed 4.20; at least No. 111 in America.
German bombing successes in 1917 over London, the Home Counties and along the East Coast, using twin engined aircraft, forced the Air Board to take retaliatory action and to renew its interest in the D.H.3. A contract was therefore placed with the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for prototypes of a somewhat larger version designated the D.H. 10. The aircraft was structurally similar to its predecessor, the airframe being of spruce and ash construction, with fabric covered mainplanes. The fuselage consisted of a plywood covered, box-like front portion to which was bolted the usual Warren girder tail section. Rudder and elevator trailing edges were of steel tubing to simplify the creation of artistic outline and to reduce the risk of accidental damage on the ground. Steel tubing was also used for the wide track, divided undercarriage and for engine nacelle struts, the latter being faired to streamline shape with fabric doped over wooden formers. Two 230 h.p. B.H.P. watercooled engines were mounted as pushers and to give adequate airscrew clearance cut outs were made in the trailing edges of upper and lower mainplanes as on the D.H.3A. The crew of three comprised front and rear gunners and pilot, but full dual control was fitted in the rear gunner's cockpit, the rudder bar being covered by hinged floorboards when not in use.
The prototype D.H. 10 C4283, flew for the first time on March 4, 1918, but its performance was 6% down on estimate and it could carry only a small military load. The third and fourth prototypes were therefore fitted with more powerful engines arranged to drive tractor instead of pusher airscrews, the third, C8659, flying for the first time on April 20, 1918, with 360 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIIIs. The first two prototypes were therefore the only D.H. 10s to have the cut out trailing edges. Engines of even greater power - 400 h.p. Liberty 12s - were fitted to the fourth prototype C8660, which was the true pre-production version without nose wheels. It was built with 2 1/2 instead of 4 degrees of mainplane sweepback, elongated nacelles, Scarff rings for front and rear gunners and horn balanced ailerons. Fuel was carried in the front fuselage in two 98 gallon tanks, between which was a bay accommodating some 900 lb. of bombs. Additional bomb loads were carried on external racks under the lower mainplane.
When the prototypes were ordered, the Air Board gave the D.H.10 the type name Amiens, so that the first two prototypes were Amiens Mk. I, the third Mk. II, while the fourth and all production aircraft were Amiens Mk. III. Due no doubt to the rapid winding up of production at the end of the war, this type name was little used and its very existence lay forgotten in official files for close on 40 years. Although orders were placed with the parent company and six sub-contractors for 1,295 D.H. 10s, only eight were on R.A.F. charge at the end of hostilities. Thus a most promising and worthy successor to the immortal D.H.4 arrived too late to see active war service, and the subsequent history of the type was one of technical refinement and mail carrying. Improvement in performance by mounting the engines directly on the lower mainplane in order to eliminate the enormous parasitic drag of the original strutted arrangement, gave rise to the Mann, Egerton-built D.H.10A Amiens Mk. IIIA with Liberty engines. These were given an appreciable degree of upthrust and the aircraft was also equipped with heavy duty wheels. When Liberty deliveries ceased at the end of 1918 an up-rated Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII of 375 h.p. became the standard engine of a final version known as the D.H.10C Amiens Mk. IIIC.
The first major experimental modification to the D.H.10 was the installation of a 1 1/2 pounder Coventry Ordnance Works quick firing gun in D.H. 10 E5458 and D.H. 10C E5550 for trials at Orfordness. Each had an enlarged bow cockpit and the old familiar nose wheels but trials were discontinued when air firing tests resulted in the crash of E5458.
The third investigation was devoted to improving asymmetrical flying in the event of engine failure and a production D.H. 10 E6042 was modified by Airco and tested at Farnborough in 1921 with twin fins and rudders of typical D.H. outline. A rectangular central fin was next added for comparison and in 1922 the entire assembly was replaced by an experimental tail unit with an immense horn balanced single rudder 39 sq. ft. in area as compared with the usual 25 sq. ft. In 1923 the aircraft was flown with twin rectangular rudders and between April 29, 1924 and May 22, 1926, fifteen or twenty test flights were made with the standard D.H. 10 rudder equipped with a small servo rudder on outriggers.
In the peacetime R.A.F. the D.H. 10 was used by No. 120 Squadron for the air mail service to the British Army of Occupation on the Rhine, daily flights being made between Hawkinge and Cologne. A D.H. 10 piloted by Capt. Barratt which left Hawkinge at 10.15 p.m. on May 14, 1919 and arrived at Cologne 3 1/4 hours later, was the first aircraft ever to carry mails at night. Most of the D.H. 10s in India were sold as scrap at Ambala in February 1922 but a few were retained to police the North West Frontier with No. 97 Squadron and to carry the desert air mail between Cairo and Baghdad until superseded by Vickers Vimys in 1923. For this purpose they were fitted with an additional cockpit behind the pilot, e.g. E5507. One of the last recorded appearances of a D.H. 10 was at the No. 7 Group Display, Andover on June 23, 1923 when F/O. J. S. Chick performed a dog fight with two S.E.5As.
The designation D.H.10B is generally supposed to have been reserved for a purely civil mail carrying version but only two aircraft were used for this purpose in England. Both were operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. but neither was actually known as a D.H.10B because the first was the D.H. 10C prototype E5557 and the other a demilitarized D.H. 10 E5488, civil registered as G-EAJO. The latter was granted a full civil C. of A. before demonstration at the ELTA Exhibition at Amsterdam in August 1919 by Capt. Gerald Gathergood and on September 30th joined E5557 on regular mail flights between Hendon, Newcastle and Renfrew in an attempt to break the railway strike. A scheme was also considered for a conversion to carry pilot and four passengers, two side by side in the nose and two in the rear, the starboard passengers facing aft and the port forward.
At least one D.H. 10 supplemented the DH-4s on United States air mail routes. Powered by two Liberty VI engines and numbered 111, it had completed 31 hours 27 minutes flying on the New York-Cleveland-Omaha route by June 1920, average flying time for the initial stage of 200 miles being 3 hours.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The Alliance Aeroplane Co. Ltd., Cambridge Road, London, W.14
The Birmingham Carriage Co., Birmingham
The Daimler Co. Ltd., Coventry
Mann, Egerton and Co. Ltd., Aylsham Road, Norwich, Norfolk
National Aircraft Factory No.2, Heaton Chapel, Stockport
The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Co. Ltd., Parkside, Coventry
Power Plants:
(D.H.10 Amiens Mk. I) Two 230 h.p. B.H.P.
(D.H.10 Amiens Mk. II) Two 360h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
(D.H.10 Amiens Mk. III) Two 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(D.H.10A Amiens Mk. IIIA) Two 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(D.H.10C Amiens Mk. IIIC) Two 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
Dimensions, Weights and Performances:
Mk. I Mk. II Mk. III Mk. IIIA
Span 62 ft. 9 in. 62 ft. 9 in. 65 ft. 6,in. 65 ft. 6 in.
Length 38 ft. 10 in. 38 ft. 10 in. 39 ft. 7 1/2in. 39 ft. 7 1/2 in.
Height 14 ft. 6 in. 14 ft. 6 in. 14 ft. 6 in. 14 ft. 6 in.
Wing area 789 3/4 sq. ft. 834 3/4 sq. ft. 837 1/2 sq. ft. 837 1/2 sq. ft.
Tare weight 5,004 lb. 5,585 lb. 5,750 lb.
All-up weight 6.950 lb. 8,500 lb. 9.000 lb. 9,000 lb.
Maximum speed 109 m.p.h. 117 1/2 m.p.h. 129 m.p.h.
Climb
to 6,500 ft. 11 min. 25 sec. 9 min. 7 min.
Service ceiling 15,000 ft. 16,500 ft. 17,500 ft.
Endurance 3 1/2 hours 5 3/4 hours 5 3/4 hours
Production: The following serial numbers were allotted to D.H. 10s but many were not completed.
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
C8658 to C8660 Airco *F351 to F550 N.A.F. 2
E5437 to E5636 Airco F1867 to F1882 Airco
E6037 to E6136 Birmingham Carriage Co. F7147 to F7346 Alliance
E7837 to E7986 Siddeley-Deasy F8421 to F8495 Mann. Egerton
E9057 to E9206 Daimler H2746 to H2945 Airco
* Believed F351 to F355 only. F352 crashed 2.19.
Service Use:
(a) In the United Kingdom Nos. 104 and 120 Squadrons.
(b) On the N.W. Frontier of India No. 60 (formerly No. 97) Squadron,
(c) In Egypt No. 216 Squadron.
Civil Conversions: G-EAJO, formerly E5488, C. of A. issued 18.8.19, crashed 4.20; at least No. 111 in America.
The D.H.10C prototype E5557 which took part in local races at Hendon in the summer of 1919 and later flew mails for Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd.
De Havilland D.H.9A
By the end of 1917 the demand for Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines exceeded the supply to such an extent that orders were placed in America for large numbers of 400 h.p. Liberty 12s. These were earmarked for a new day bomber based on the D.H.9 but the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., was at that time engaged on building the D.H. 10 so that the extensive re-design of the earlier type was entrusted to the Westland Aircraft Works at Yeovil, Somerset. Assisted by Mr. John Johnson, specially loaned for the purpose by Airco, the Westland design team, already experienced in building the D.H.4 and D.H.9, not only took full advantage of the extra power of the Liberty but also combined the best features of both these designs to create the outstanding strategic bombing aeroplane of the War. The fuselage was strengthened to take the heavier engine mainly by replacing the plywood partitions of the D.H.9 by wire cross bracing, while an improvement in climb and ceiling was ensured by fitting mainplanes of increased span and chord.
The new machine was designated D.H.9A, the prototype of which was a modified Westland built D.H.9, B7664, fitted with a Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII to enable flight trials to proceed while awaiting delivery of the Liberty engines. A second Eagle powered example, C6350, was also used, this being a Hendon built D.H.9 converted by Airco. Representatives of the Packard Motor Company, manufacturers of the Liberty, came to England to supervise its installation in production D.H.9As, the first of which was C6122 and by December 1918, 885 had been built by Westland and other contractors. Armament consisted of one forward firing Vickers gun on the port side of the front fuselage, single or double Lewis guns on a Scarff ring on the rear cockpit and up to 660 lb. of bombs carried on external racks under the fuselage and lower mainplanes.
Many D.H.9As were flight tested at Yeovil by Harry Hawker and the first squadron arrived in France on August 31, 1918. This was No. 110 which flew aircraft presented by the Nizam of Hyderabad, carried inscriptions to that effect and dropped some 10} tons of bombs in daylight raids on Coblenz, Frankfurt, Mannheim and other German industrial centres. The D.H.9A also formed the new equipment of several other squadrons on the Western Front and of Nos. 47 and 221 Squadrons which fought the Bolsheviks in Russia, where replicas were later built as the type R-1 powered by the M-5, an engine of local manufacture copied from the Liberty.
As in the case of the D.H.9, two Airco-built D.H.9As (one being E8449) were sent to America where it was planned to build 4,000. The Armistice terminated this project but four prototypes were built, two by the Engineering Division of the Army's Bureau of Aircraft Production and two by Dayton-Wright. Completed in August 1918, they were designated USD-9 but their dimensions alone show that they were copies of the D.H.9A and not of the D.H.9. In October 1918 Dayton-Wright delivered four examples of a modified version known as the USD-9A which had the pilot's Browning gun on the starboard side and was fitted with a more rounded rudder. In the following month five more USD-9 As were produced by the Engineering Division which in February 1919 converted one of them to USD-9B with 435 h.p. Liberty 12A and wings of increased area. Another of these aircraft, serial A.SAO 118, was a single seater experimentally fitted with a pilot's compartment of riveted steel plates and is believed to be the first machine ever to fly with a pressurized cockpit. The conversion was made at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio in 1920 by the Engineering Division and was first flown by 'Art' Smith, a civilian test pilot, on June 8, 1921. Pressurisation was effected by a propeller driven pump on the port lower mainplane and the instrument panel was positioned on the trailing edge on the top centre section. The career of the USD-9A ended in 1922 when two examples appeared as the Ordnance IL-1 infantry liaison type at an all-up weight of 5,686 lb. It was of grotesque appearance having triple instead of double interplane and undercarriage struts.
After the war the D.H.9A continued in production in the United Kingdom and several hundred were built for Regular and Auxiliary day bomber squadrons at home, for Flying Training Schools and for squadrons stationed in the Near and Middle Easts. From June 23, 1921, D.H.9As of Nos. 30 and 47 Squadrons were used on the regular Cairo-Baghdad mail service. Long term contracts were placed with Westland and de Havilland under Specification 45 22 for reconditioning D.H.9As, and the type remained standard equipment for 13 years, until struck off charge in 1931. During that time it formed the initial equipment of the newly formed Auxiliary Squadrons and under the nickname 'Ninak' became familiar to the man-in-the-street for its inspiring displays of wing drill at Hendon Pageants and its battle formations during the 'Redland' versus 'Blueland' manoeuvres staged annually by the R.A.F. in those days.
In Iraq and on the North West Frontier the tropicalised D.H.9A became a general purpose aircraft equipped with an additional radiator under the nose and an overload fuel tank under the starboard upper mainplane. It was engaged mainly on policing duties and when working over difficult terrain, far from regular lines of communication, often carried spare wheels, goatskins of water, or tents and bedding on the sides of the fuselage or between the undercarriage struts. One aircraft, placed at the disposal of the Portuguese long distance pilot Major Brito Paia to replace his wrecked Breguet, left Lahore on May 30, 1924 fitted as a three seater en route to Macao, but crashed near Hongkong on June 20th. Between October 27, 1925 and November 1 st, three others flew from Cairo to Kano, Nigeria, piloted by Sqn. Ldr. Coningham, and F/Lts. Baggs and Rowley. Some D.H.9As were converted for target towing or as dual trainers, and in 1929 J8177 became the personal aircraft of A. V.M. Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, A.O.C. Iraq.
Australia and Canada received the type in 1920 as part of the Imperial Gift, but most of the 29 sent to Australia remained crated until commissioned by the Royal Australian Air Force under the type serial A1 in 1925. After modification by the Whitehead Aviation Company, all 11 Canadian D.H.9As were handed over to the Air Board Civil Operations Branch for forestry patrol and survey work alongside the D.H.4s. Between October 11-17, 1920 three of them took part in the first trans-Canada flight, each covering one leg of the Winnipeg-Vancouver section, piloted respectively by F Lts. J. B. Home-Hay. C. W. Cudemore (G-CYAJ) and G. Thompson (G-CYBF). In 1922 six were at Camp Borden and the remainder were on photographic survey work on wheel or ski undercarriages at Rockcliffe, but the majority were destroyed in a hangar fire at Camp Borden on October 16, 1923.
Successful development of the 450 h.p. Napier Lion engine, first flown in 1918 in a D.H.9, led to a prototype, E775, and ten production installations, E746, E748-50, E752-57, being made in new Whitehead-built D.H.9A airframes by the R.A.E., at Farnborough. Although of broad arrow configuration, the Lion fitted snugly into close fitting cowlings and was cooled by an underslung retractable radiator designed and constructed at the R.A.E., which also made the airscrew. After prototype trials with E775 in April 1919, the first production aircraft, actually E748, was completed with large mail boxes under the lower mainplane and first flown on July 18th. The boxes were fitted to several others but were subsequently removed and the rear cockpits enlarged for the internal stowage of mail bags. E775 was also tested in September 1919 with a Lion II giving 465 h.p. and during the following month six of the other aircraft were stripped of military equipment and delivered by air to Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. at Hendon for use on the air mail service to the Army of Occupation on the Rhine. This service, begun by the R.A.F. with D"H.4S and D.H.9s on December 16. 1918. was handed over to civilian operation on August 15, 1919 and the Lion powered D.H.9A. with its high performance, made winter flying possible over the most difficult stage through the Ardennes. All six aircraft returned to the R.A.F. between April and June 1920 and in the following year one of them, E752, made deck landing trials on H.M. Aircraft Carrier Eagle even though not fitted with arrester hooks. E746 made full load trials at Farnborough with the Lion II in 1920 and E748, with Lion II and 14 ft. 6 in. wide-track undercarriage, was delivered to Gosport on August 10, 1921. Another Lion II D.H.9A, ?775, fitted with experimental folding wings, first flew at Farnborough on January 22, 1924 and was delivered to Gosport for carrier trials on March 29.
The D.H.9R sesquiplane racer erected from D.H.9A components by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was also Lion powered. Test pilot Gerald Gathergood made a fast trip from Hendon to Amsterdam in this machine in 2 hours 10 minutes to attend the ELTA Exhibition in July 1919 and while there won the 137 mile closed circuit race at an average speed of 145 m.p.h. During September comparative trials were made against the D.H.4R and when the aircraft flew side by side, the much cruder D. H 4R proved to be marginally faster. On November 15th, Gathergood and the D.H.9R broke several British speed records at Hendon, and raised the closed circuit speed to 149-43 m.p.h.
So vast were the stocks of D.H.9A major assemblies and so limited the Air Ministry's financial resources, that contracts were three times awarded to the Westland Aircraft Works for aircraft using the maximum number of D.H.9A components. The first, signed in 1920 was for 36 Westland Walrus fleet spotters, with Lion engines and unstaggered wings, heavily encumbered with grotesque naval excrescences. The Walrus was developed from an earlier prototype, the Tadpole J6585 built by Armstrong Whitworth from D.H.9A components, including the Liberty power plant. In 1924 a small batch of somewhat similar Lion powered general purpose D.H.9As was ordered and the third contract, awarded in 1926, was for the quantity production of the Westland Wapiti with Bristol Jupiter engine. The final D.H.9A derivative, .77026', known as the D.H.9AJ Stag, although designed for the Lion engine was also completed with a Bristol Jupiter and first flown at Stag Lane by Hubert Broad for 40 minutes on June 15, 1926. It crashed at Martlesham during trials but was rebuilt by de Havillands and flew again on December 24, returning to Martlesham in February 1927. It was unsuccessful as a D.H.9A replacement but donated its engine to the prototype Westland Wapiti and its new-style oleo undercarriage to squadron D.H.9As as they came up for modernisation.
In the purely experimental sphere, a Westland built D.H.9A numbered F1632 was denuded of its mainplanes by Handley Page Ltd. in 1921 and fitted with a thick section cantilever monoplane wing bolted to a small cabane on top of the fuselage. Designated H.P.20, it completed the practical tests begun with a modified D.H.9, H9140, on a full span, controllable slots, achieving a landing speed as low as 43 m.p.h. at a wing loading of 11 lb./sq. ft., representing a lift coefficient of IT7. Another experimental aircraft was Liberty engined E870, which with Westland-built J6957 (Lion II), was used by the R.A.E. for tests on steel airscrews in May 1924. E865 took part in similar tests on Fairey-Reed duralumin airscrews in April 1925 and E8444 was used for immersion tests at Felixstowe. In 1933 D.H.9A H3588 was used at Farnborough for flight testing the aircooled Liberty 12 engine and in the same year E9895 was fitted at Brooklands with an experimental Vickers long stroke oleo undercarriage. Another served as tanker in flight refuelling experiments with a Vickers Virginia over Farnborough in January 1931.
Because of its long R.A.F. service the D.H.9A figured less prominently on the secondhand market than did the D.H.9. A few brand new aircraft were taken over from F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd. by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd., six of which were civilianised at Croydon for racing or overseas demonstration. The first, G-EAXC, converted in 1922, made fastest time in the race for the Coupe Lamblin over the course Le Bourget-Brussels-Croydon-Le Bourget piloted by Rex Stocken. A second conversion, G-EBCG, appeared in 1922 fitted with a 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII for participation in the Croydon Whitsun Races. For the first King's Cup Race which started at Croydon on September 8, 1922 the nose radiator was removed in favour of small side radiators. This type of Eagle conversion was made originally to the military demonstrator G-EBAN, which, fitted with Lamblin radiators between the undercarriage legs, left for Madrid in February 1922 to take part in trials before Spanish Government officials, which led to an order for a batch of similar machines for the Spanish Air Force.
To enable the A.D.C. test pilot H. H. Perry to compete against Cobham's Lion engined D.H.9 in the King's Cup Race of July 12, 1923, John Kenworthy modified one of the Aircraft Disposal Company's D.H.9As G-EBGX to take the Lion. After a period of bad luck during which over zealous helpers broke the airscrew at Hendon on the morning of the race and F. T. Courtney forced landed at Brooklands during the Aerial Derby on August 6th, GX was disposed of overseas.
The D.H.9A F1010, displayed at the R.A.F. Museum, Hendon, was captured by the Germans during the First World War and exhibited at the Berlin Air Museum. Only the fuselage remained when it was recovered from Krakow, Poland, in 1980, with new wings and other components being built at the Cardington workshops. Its Liberty engine was obtained from the U.S.A.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.10
Gloucestershire Aircraft Co. Ltd., Sunningend Works, Glos.
Handley Page Ltd., Cricklewood Aerodrome, London, N.W.2
H. G. Hawker Engineering Co. Ltd., Canbury Park Road, Kingston-on-Thames and Brooklands Aerodrome, Byfteet, Surrey
Mann, Egerton and Co. Ltd., Aylsham Road, Norwich, Norfolk
George Parnall and Co. Ltd., Yate Aerodrome, Glos.
S. E. Saunders Ltd., East Cowes, Isle of Wight
Short Bros. (Rochester and Bedford) Ltd., Rochester, Kent
The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co. Ltd., Southport, Lanes.
Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, Somerset
Whitehead Aircraft Co. Ltd., Townshend Road, Richmond, Surrey
The Dayton-Wright Airplane Co., Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.
The Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Air Service, McCook Field, Ohio
Power Plants:
(D.H.9A)
One 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
One 400 h.p. aircooled Liberty 12
One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
One 465 h.p. Napier Lion II
(D.H.9AJ) One 465 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VI
(USD-9) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(USD-9A) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(USD-9B) One 420 h.p. Liberty 12A
(H.P.20) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
Dimensions:
Span 45 ft. 11 3/8 in. Length 30 ft. 3 in. (Lion) 29 ft. 2 in.
Height 11 ft. 4 in. Wing area 486 3/4 sq. ft. (D.H.9AJ) 491 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
D.H.9A Stag
Engine Liberty Eagle VIII Lion Jupiter VI
Tare weight 2,800 lb. 2,705 lb. 2,988 lb. 2.740 lb.
All-up weight 4,645 lb.* 4,223 lb. 4,814 lb. 4,324 lb.
Speed
at 10,000 ft. 114 1/2 m.p.h. 118 m.p.h. 123 m.p.h. 130m.p.h.
Initial climb 890 ft./min. 850 ft./min. 1,100 ft./min. 900 ft./min
Ceiling 16,750 ft. 16,000 ft. 19,000 ft. 19,900 ft.
Duration 5 1/4 hours 3 1/2 hours - -
* USD-9A 4.900 lb.
By the end of 1917 the demand for Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines exceeded the supply to such an extent that orders were placed in America for large numbers of 400 h.p. Liberty 12s. These were earmarked for a new day bomber based on the D.H.9 but the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., was at that time engaged on building the D.H. 10 so that the extensive re-design of the earlier type was entrusted to the Westland Aircraft Works at Yeovil, Somerset. Assisted by Mr. John Johnson, specially loaned for the purpose by Airco, the Westland design team, already experienced in building the D.H.4 and D.H.9, not only took full advantage of the extra power of the Liberty but also combined the best features of both these designs to create the outstanding strategic bombing aeroplane of the War. The fuselage was strengthened to take the heavier engine mainly by replacing the plywood partitions of the D.H.9 by wire cross bracing, while an improvement in climb and ceiling was ensured by fitting mainplanes of increased span and chord.
The new machine was designated D.H.9A, the prototype of which was a modified Westland built D.H.9, B7664, fitted with a Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII to enable flight trials to proceed while awaiting delivery of the Liberty engines. A second Eagle powered example, C6350, was also used, this being a Hendon built D.H.9 converted by Airco. Representatives of the Packard Motor Company, manufacturers of the Liberty, came to England to supervise its installation in production D.H.9As, the first of which was C6122 and by December 1918, 885 had been built by Westland and other contractors. Armament consisted of one forward firing Vickers gun on the port side of the front fuselage, single or double Lewis guns on a Scarff ring on the rear cockpit and up to 660 lb. of bombs carried on external racks under the fuselage and lower mainplanes.
Many D.H.9As were flight tested at Yeovil by Harry Hawker and the first squadron arrived in France on August 31, 1918. This was No. 110 which flew aircraft presented by the Nizam of Hyderabad, carried inscriptions to that effect and dropped some 10} tons of bombs in daylight raids on Coblenz, Frankfurt, Mannheim and other German industrial centres. The D.H.9A also formed the new equipment of several other squadrons on the Western Front and of Nos. 47 and 221 Squadrons which fought the Bolsheviks in Russia, where replicas were later built as the type R-1 powered by the M-5, an engine of local manufacture copied from the Liberty.
As in the case of the D.H.9, two Airco-built D.H.9As (one being E8449) were sent to America where it was planned to build 4,000. The Armistice terminated this project but four prototypes were built, two by the Engineering Division of the Army's Bureau of Aircraft Production and two by Dayton-Wright. Completed in August 1918, they were designated USD-9 but their dimensions alone show that they were copies of the D.H.9A and not of the D.H.9. In October 1918 Dayton-Wright delivered four examples of a modified version known as the USD-9A which had the pilot's Browning gun on the starboard side and was fitted with a more rounded rudder. In the following month five more USD-9 As were produced by the Engineering Division which in February 1919 converted one of them to USD-9B with 435 h.p. Liberty 12A and wings of increased area. Another of these aircraft, serial A.SAO 118, was a single seater experimentally fitted with a pilot's compartment of riveted steel plates and is believed to be the first machine ever to fly with a pressurized cockpit. The conversion was made at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio in 1920 by the Engineering Division and was first flown by 'Art' Smith, a civilian test pilot, on June 8, 1921. Pressurisation was effected by a propeller driven pump on the port lower mainplane and the instrument panel was positioned on the trailing edge on the top centre section. The career of the USD-9A ended in 1922 when two examples appeared as the Ordnance IL-1 infantry liaison type at an all-up weight of 5,686 lb. It was of grotesque appearance having triple instead of double interplane and undercarriage struts.
After the war the D.H.9A continued in production in the United Kingdom and several hundred were built for Regular and Auxiliary day bomber squadrons at home, for Flying Training Schools and for squadrons stationed in the Near and Middle Easts. From June 23, 1921, D.H.9As of Nos. 30 and 47 Squadrons were used on the regular Cairo-Baghdad mail service. Long term contracts were placed with Westland and de Havilland under Specification 45 22 for reconditioning D.H.9As, and the type remained standard equipment for 13 years, until struck off charge in 1931. During that time it formed the initial equipment of the newly formed Auxiliary Squadrons and under the nickname 'Ninak' became familiar to the man-in-the-street for its inspiring displays of wing drill at Hendon Pageants and its battle formations during the 'Redland' versus 'Blueland' manoeuvres staged annually by the R.A.F. in those days.
In Iraq and on the North West Frontier the tropicalised D.H.9A became a general purpose aircraft equipped with an additional radiator under the nose and an overload fuel tank under the starboard upper mainplane. It was engaged mainly on policing duties and when working over difficult terrain, far from regular lines of communication, often carried spare wheels, goatskins of water, or tents and bedding on the sides of the fuselage or between the undercarriage struts. One aircraft, placed at the disposal of the Portuguese long distance pilot Major Brito Paia to replace his wrecked Breguet, left Lahore on May 30, 1924 fitted as a three seater en route to Macao, but crashed near Hongkong on June 20th. Between October 27, 1925 and November 1 st, three others flew from Cairo to Kano, Nigeria, piloted by Sqn. Ldr. Coningham, and F/Lts. Baggs and Rowley. Some D.H.9As were converted for target towing or as dual trainers, and in 1929 J8177 became the personal aircraft of A. V.M. Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, A.O.C. Iraq.
Australia and Canada received the type in 1920 as part of the Imperial Gift, but most of the 29 sent to Australia remained crated until commissioned by the Royal Australian Air Force under the type serial A1 in 1925. After modification by the Whitehead Aviation Company, all 11 Canadian D.H.9As were handed over to the Air Board Civil Operations Branch for forestry patrol and survey work alongside the D.H.4s. Between October 11-17, 1920 three of them took part in the first trans-Canada flight, each covering one leg of the Winnipeg-Vancouver section, piloted respectively by F Lts. J. B. Home-Hay. C. W. Cudemore (G-CYAJ) and G. Thompson (G-CYBF). In 1922 six were at Camp Borden and the remainder were on photographic survey work on wheel or ski undercarriages at Rockcliffe, but the majority were destroyed in a hangar fire at Camp Borden on October 16, 1923.
Successful development of the 450 h.p. Napier Lion engine, first flown in 1918 in a D.H.9, led to a prototype, E775, and ten production installations, E746, E748-50, E752-57, being made in new Whitehead-built D.H.9A airframes by the R.A.E., at Farnborough. Although of broad arrow configuration, the Lion fitted snugly into close fitting cowlings and was cooled by an underslung retractable radiator designed and constructed at the R.A.E., which also made the airscrew. After prototype trials with E775 in April 1919, the first production aircraft, actually E748, was completed with large mail boxes under the lower mainplane and first flown on July 18th. The boxes were fitted to several others but were subsequently removed and the rear cockpits enlarged for the internal stowage of mail bags. E775 was also tested in September 1919 with a Lion II giving 465 h.p. and during the following month six of the other aircraft were stripped of military equipment and delivered by air to Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. at Hendon for use on the air mail service to the Army of Occupation on the Rhine. This service, begun by the R.A.F. with D"H.4S and D.H.9s on December 16. 1918. was handed over to civilian operation on August 15, 1919 and the Lion powered D.H.9A. with its high performance, made winter flying possible over the most difficult stage through the Ardennes. All six aircraft returned to the R.A.F. between April and June 1920 and in the following year one of them, E752, made deck landing trials on H.M. Aircraft Carrier Eagle even though not fitted with arrester hooks. E746 made full load trials at Farnborough with the Lion II in 1920 and E748, with Lion II and 14 ft. 6 in. wide-track undercarriage, was delivered to Gosport on August 10, 1921. Another Lion II D.H.9A, ?775, fitted with experimental folding wings, first flew at Farnborough on January 22, 1924 and was delivered to Gosport for carrier trials on March 29.
The D.H.9R sesquiplane racer erected from D.H.9A components by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was also Lion powered. Test pilot Gerald Gathergood made a fast trip from Hendon to Amsterdam in this machine in 2 hours 10 minutes to attend the ELTA Exhibition in July 1919 and while there won the 137 mile closed circuit race at an average speed of 145 m.p.h. During September comparative trials were made against the D.H.4R and when the aircraft flew side by side, the much cruder D. H 4R proved to be marginally faster. On November 15th, Gathergood and the D.H.9R broke several British speed records at Hendon, and raised the closed circuit speed to 149-43 m.p.h.
So vast were the stocks of D.H.9A major assemblies and so limited the Air Ministry's financial resources, that contracts were three times awarded to the Westland Aircraft Works for aircraft using the maximum number of D.H.9A components. The first, signed in 1920 was for 36 Westland Walrus fleet spotters, with Lion engines and unstaggered wings, heavily encumbered with grotesque naval excrescences. The Walrus was developed from an earlier prototype, the Tadpole J6585 built by Armstrong Whitworth from D.H.9A components, including the Liberty power plant. In 1924 a small batch of somewhat similar Lion powered general purpose D.H.9As was ordered and the third contract, awarded in 1926, was for the quantity production of the Westland Wapiti with Bristol Jupiter engine. The final D.H.9A derivative, .77026', known as the D.H.9AJ Stag, although designed for the Lion engine was also completed with a Bristol Jupiter and first flown at Stag Lane by Hubert Broad for 40 minutes on June 15, 1926. It crashed at Martlesham during trials but was rebuilt by de Havillands and flew again on December 24, returning to Martlesham in February 1927. It was unsuccessful as a D.H.9A replacement but donated its engine to the prototype Westland Wapiti and its new-style oleo undercarriage to squadron D.H.9As as they came up for modernisation.
In the purely experimental sphere, a Westland built D.H.9A numbered F1632 was denuded of its mainplanes by Handley Page Ltd. in 1921 and fitted with a thick section cantilever monoplane wing bolted to a small cabane on top of the fuselage. Designated H.P.20, it completed the practical tests begun with a modified D.H.9, H9140, on a full span, controllable slots, achieving a landing speed as low as 43 m.p.h. at a wing loading of 11 lb./sq. ft., representing a lift coefficient of IT7. Another experimental aircraft was Liberty engined E870, which with Westland-built J6957 (Lion II), was used by the R.A.E. for tests on steel airscrews in May 1924. E865 took part in similar tests on Fairey-Reed duralumin airscrews in April 1925 and E8444 was used for immersion tests at Felixstowe. In 1933 D.H.9A H3588 was used at Farnborough for flight testing the aircooled Liberty 12 engine and in the same year E9895 was fitted at Brooklands with an experimental Vickers long stroke oleo undercarriage. Another served as tanker in flight refuelling experiments with a Vickers Virginia over Farnborough in January 1931.
Because of its long R.A.F. service the D.H.9A figured less prominently on the secondhand market than did the D.H.9. A few brand new aircraft were taken over from F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd. by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd., six of which were civilianised at Croydon for racing or overseas demonstration. The first, G-EAXC, converted in 1922, made fastest time in the race for the Coupe Lamblin over the course Le Bourget-Brussels-Croydon-Le Bourget piloted by Rex Stocken. A second conversion, G-EBCG, appeared in 1922 fitted with a 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII for participation in the Croydon Whitsun Races. For the first King's Cup Race which started at Croydon on September 8, 1922 the nose radiator was removed in favour of small side radiators. This type of Eagle conversion was made originally to the military demonstrator G-EBAN, which, fitted with Lamblin radiators between the undercarriage legs, left for Madrid in February 1922 to take part in trials before Spanish Government officials, which led to an order for a batch of similar machines for the Spanish Air Force.
To enable the A.D.C. test pilot H. H. Perry to compete against Cobham's Lion engined D.H.9 in the King's Cup Race of July 12, 1923, John Kenworthy modified one of the Aircraft Disposal Company's D.H.9As G-EBGX to take the Lion. After a period of bad luck during which over zealous helpers broke the airscrew at Hendon on the morning of the race and F. T. Courtney forced landed at Brooklands during the Aerial Derby on August 6th, GX was disposed of overseas.
The D.H.9A F1010, displayed at the R.A.F. Museum, Hendon, was captured by the Germans during the First World War and exhibited at the Berlin Air Museum. Only the fuselage remained when it was recovered from Krakow, Poland, in 1980, with new wings and other components being built at the Cardington workshops. Its Liberty engine was obtained from the U.S.A.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
F. W. Berwick and Co. Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.10
Gloucestershire Aircraft Co. Ltd., Sunningend Works, Glos.
Handley Page Ltd., Cricklewood Aerodrome, London, N.W.2
H. G. Hawker Engineering Co. Ltd., Canbury Park Road, Kingston-on-Thames and Brooklands Aerodrome, Byfteet, Surrey
Mann, Egerton and Co. Ltd., Aylsham Road, Norwich, Norfolk
George Parnall and Co. Ltd., Yate Aerodrome, Glos.
S. E. Saunders Ltd., East Cowes, Isle of Wight
Short Bros. (Rochester and Bedford) Ltd., Rochester, Kent
The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co. Ltd., Southport, Lanes.
Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, Somerset
Whitehead Aircraft Co. Ltd., Townshend Road, Richmond, Surrey
The Dayton-Wright Airplane Co., Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.
The Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Air Service, McCook Field, Ohio
Power Plants:
(D.H.9A)
One 375 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
One 400 h.p. aircooled Liberty 12
One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
One 465 h.p. Napier Lion II
(D.H.9AJ) One 465 h.p. Bristol Jupiter VI
(USD-9) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(USD-9A) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
(USD-9B) One 420 h.p. Liberty 12A
(H.P.20) One 400 h.p. Liberty 12
Dimensions:
Span 45 ft. 11 3/8 in. Length 30 ft. 3 in. (Lion) 29 ft. 2 in.
Height 11 ft. 4 in. Wing area 486 3/4 sq. ft. (D.H.9AJ) 491 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances:
D.H.9A Stag
Engine Liberty Eagle VIII Lion Jupiter VI
Tare weight 2,800 lb. 2,705 lb. 2,988 lb. 2.740 lb.
All-up weight 4,645 lb.* 4,223 lb. 4,814 lb. 4,324 lb.
Speed
at 10,000 ft. 114 1/2 m.p.h. 118 m.p.h. 123 m.p.h. 130m.p.h.
Initial climb 890 ft./min. 850 ft./min. 1,100 ft./min. 900 ft./min
Ceiling 16,750 ft. 16,000 ft. 19,000 ft. 19,900 ft.
Duration 5 1/4 hours 3 1/2 hours - -
* USD-9A 4.900 lb.
The second prototype D.H.9A, C6350, was a D.H.9 rebuilt at Hendon by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
J6957, first of the much modified Lion engined D.H.9A general purpose aircraft built by the Westland Aircraft Works in 1926-27.
A tropicalised D.H.9A target tug J7307, c/n 124, with extra radiator, Handley Page slots, spare wheel and other "refinements", flying over Iraq in 1927.
J7787, c/n 202, first wholly new, non-Airco, D.H.9A built by de Havillands, ready for delivery from Stag Lane on January 12, 1926.
G-CYAJ, the Canadian Air Board D.H.9A in which F/Lt. C. W. Cudemore flew the Regina-Medicine Hat section of the first trans-Canada air mail on October 11, 1920.
D.H.9A AI-28, with rear cockpit faired over, was winner of the 1928 Sydney Aerial Derby piloted by F/O Mulrooney R.A.A.F.
One of a squadron of twelve R-1 aircraft (Russian-built D.H.9As) presented to Afghanistan in 1925 and delivered over 15,000 ft. mountains from Tashkent to Kabul.
De Havilland D.H.11 Oxford
Although the D.H.11 long distance day bomber was intended as a D.H.10 replacement and retained the twin engined, three bay layout of the earlier type, it would be difficult to visualise two more dissimilar aeroplanes. They were structurally identical having fabric covered, wooden airframes incorporating steel tubing for highly stressed or vulnerable members such as engine mountings, undercarriage and the empennage trailing edges. Both types also had horn balanced ailerons and the characteristic de Havilland rudder, but there the similarity ended. Four degrees of dihedral on the upper mainplane compared with two degrees on the lower, gave the wings of the D.H.11 a diverging appearance and the fuselage filled the whole mainplane gap, making it possible to put the rear gunner on a raised floor in the mid upper position with a commanding field of fire in all upward directions.
A fuselage 6 ft. 0 in. deep and 4 ft. 0 in. wide enabled main fuel tanks of 170 gallons capacity to be slung from the top longerons of the centre fuselage with a walk way beneath. This gave the rear gunner access to the cockpit, in which the pilot sat on the starboard side, and thence to the front gunner. Entry to the aircraft was gained through a trap door between the spars of the lower wing which opened on to this catwalk. Armament consisted of a Scarff-ring-mounted Lewis gun fore and aft and approximately 1,000 lb. of bombs carried internally. Two 320 h.p. A.B.C. Dragonfly radial engines were housed in nacelles fixed directly to the lower mainplane but the eminently business-like and efficient divided undercarriage of the D.H.10 gave place to a narrow track, cross-axle unit resembling that of a scaled up D.H.9A.
Designs began early in 1918 when a Contract was placed for three aircraft and by August the fuselage of the prototype, H5891, was well advanced in the Hendon factory. In September all work ceased because the Dragonfly engines were beset by problems and in November Siddeley Puma in-line, high compression engines were considered and the necessary engine bearer modifications were put in hand.
By March 1919 the machine was ready and the mainplanes were being covered yet despite recurring magneto trouble it was decided to fit the Dragonflies after all. After the first few flights H5891 went back into the works for the engines to be repositioned but was short lived. Its last flight came when a connecting rod broke in one of the engines, which seized up just as the aircraft became airborne, but the pilot, F. T. Courtney, made a masterly forced landing without damage.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Hendon, London, N.W.9.
Power Plants:
(Mk. I) Two 320 h.p. A.B.C. Dragonfly
(Mk. II) Two 290 h.p. Siddeley Puma h.c.
Dimensions:
Span 60 ft. 2 in.
Length 45 ft. 2 3/4 in.
Height 13 ft. 6 in.
Wing area 719 sq. ft.
Weights:
Tare weight 3,795 lb.
All-up weight 7,027 lb
Estimated Performance:
Maximum speed at 6,500 ft. 117 m.p.h.
Climb to 10,000 ft. 13 1/2 min. Endurance 3J hours
Production: Prototype only, H5891, to Contract 35a/2150/C.2485. Projected Mk. IIs, H5892 and H5893, with Puma high compression engines, were not built. Serials later allotted to Sopwith Buffaloes.
Although the D.H.11 long distance day bomber was intended as a D.H.10 replacement and retained the twin engined, three bay layout of the earlier type, it would be difficult to visualise two more dissimilar aeroplanes. They were structurally identical having fabric covered, wooden airframes incorporating steel tubing for highly stressed or vulnerable members such as engine mountings, undercarriage and the empennage trailing edges. Both types also had horn balanced ailerons and the characteristic de Havilland rudder, but there the similarity ended. Four degrees of dihedral on the upper mainplane compared with two degrees on the lower, gave the wings of the D.H.11 a diverging appearance and the fuselage filled the whole mainplane gap, making it possible to put the rear gunner on a raised floor in the mid upper position with a commanding field of fire in all upward directions.
A fuselage 6 ft. 0 in. deep and 4 ft. 0 in. wide enabled main fuel tanks of 170 gallons capacity to be slung from the top longerons of the centre fuselage with a walk way beneath. This gave the rear gunner access to the cockpit, in which the pilot sat on the starboard side, and thence to the front gunner. Entry to the aircraft was gained through a trap door between the spars of the lower wing which opened on to this catwalk. Armament consisted of a Scarff-ring-mounted Lewis gun fore and aft and approximately 1,000 lb. of bombs carried internally. Two 320 h.p. A.B.C. Dragonfly radial engines were housed in nacelles fixed directly to the lower mainplane but the eminently business-like and efficient divided undercarriage of the D.H.10 gave place to a narrow track, cross-axle unit resembling that of a scaled up D.H.9A.
Designs began early in 1918 when a Contract was placed for three aircraft and by August the fuselage of the prototype, H5891, was well advanced in the Hendon factory. In September all work ceased because the Dragonfly engines were beset by problems and in November Siddeley Puma in-line, high compression engines were considered and the necessary engine bearer modifications were put in hand.
By March 1919 the machine was ready and the mainplanes were being covered yet despite recurring magneto trouble it was decided to fit the Dragonflies after all. After the first few flights H5891 went back into the works for the engines to be repositioned but was short lived. Its last flight came when a connecting rod broke in one of the engines, which seized up just as the aircraft became airborne, but the pilot, F. T. Courtney, made a masterly forced landing without damage.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Hendon, London, N.W.9.
Power Plants:
(Mk. I) Two 320 h.p. A.B.C. Dragonfly
(Mk. II) Two 290 h.p. Siddeley Puma h.c.
Dimensions:
Span 60 ft. 2 in.
Length 45 ft. 2 3/4 in.
Height 13 ft. 6 in.
Wing area 719 sq. ft.
Weights:
Tare weight 3,795 lb.
All-up weight 7,027 lb
Estimated Performance:
Maximum speed at 6,500 ft. 117 m.p.h.
Climb to 10,000 ft. 13 1/2 min. Endurance 3J hours
Production: Prototype only, H5891, to Contract 35a/2150/C.2485. Projected Mk. IIs, H5892 and H5893, with Puma high compression engines, were not built. Serials later allotted to Sopwith Buffaloes.
De Havilland D.H.14 Okapi
The D.H.14 was an extremely large single engined, two seat biplane of conventional appearance designed in 1918 as a replacement for the D.H.4, D.H.9 and D.H.9A. Its performance and military potential were such that had the war lasted, Berlin would have suffered considerable damage at the hands of D.H.14 crews. Although too late for the war, the D.H.14 contract was not cancelled but construction was considerably delayed and in accordance with the system of aircraft nomenclature laid down in Technical Department Instruction No. 538, it was given the type name Okapi.
Since 1917 the Rolls-Royce company had been developing a 12 cylinder Vee-type watercooled engine similar to, but larger than, the Eagle. Fitted with four instead of two valves per cylinder, it gave 525 h.p. and was named the Condor. The D.H.14 was one of the first aircraft fitted with this engine which was cooled by a large nose radiator with controllable shutters.
Although externally similar to a D.H.9A and structurally orthodox, the design included several novel features and many detail differences. Fuel tanks of 178 gallons capacity were housed in the fuselage aft of a fireproof engine bulkhead and fuel starvation experienced at low air speeds when using wind driven pumps was eliminated by using gravity feed. The unusual depth of the fuselage made it possible to blank off the upper portion of the main tank as a gravity tank and to rely on wind driven pumps only in cruising flight. The pilot’s synchronised Vickers gun was sited in a deep groove in the top decking, heavy gauge steel tubing was used for the engine mounting, strengthening blocks of aluminium were inserted in the lower longerons at undercarriage attachment points and the bomb load was stowed internally. Six 112 lb. bombs were carried inside the lower wing between the spars and two in the fuselage under the pilot's seat, draughts being prevented by covering the bomb openings with brown paper. Bombs were released manually by the gunner whose cockpit was fitted with twin Lewis guns on a Scarff mounting. Risk of shooting away his own tailplane bracing was eliminated by suppressing the top wires in favour of four faired tubular struts underneath, the rear pair of which were hinged to the bottom of the tail trimming tube and controlled tailplane incidence. This somewhat vulnerable gear, first fitted to the D.H.11, was protected by an additional curved member aft of the main tail skid. The undercarriage consisted of the usual wooden Vee struts and was sprung by rubber cord wound round the axle.
Three airframes were laid down but rigid postwar economies sounded the death knell of the D.H.14 and resulted in longevity for the D.H.9A. The first two aircraft, J1938 and J1939, were well advanced by July 1919 but the third airframe was finished first - completed by Airco as the private venture D.H.14A for the Daily Mail transatlantic flight competition with Napier Lion and fuel capacity increased to 586 gallons. When the arrival in Ireland of Alcock and Brown ended the project, the D.H.14A stood in the Hendon works until first flown in the autumn of 1919 as F. S. Cotton’s entry for the Australian Government England-Australia flight competition.
Ross and Keith Smith reached Darwin in their Vickers Vimy, G-EAOU, before Cotton was ready but Maj. Gen. Sefton Brancker, a director of Airco, then loaned him the aircraft for a flight to Cape Town. Registered G-EAPY and crewed by Cotton and Napier engineer W. A. Townsend, it left Hendon on February 4, 1920, immediately forced landed at Cricklewood with oil trouble but eventually reached Rome on February 21. Despite two additional wheels fitted forward of the main undercarriage, it turned over while landing on a beach 18 miles north east of Messina, Italy, on February 23 after failing to find the aerodrome.
G-EAPY was shipped back from Naples, rebuilt by Airco with three cockpits and sold to Cotton for the Aerial Derby of July 24, 1920. On the last leg of the race a petrol leak started a fire and the aircraft was badly damaged when it struck telephone cables in a forced landing near Hertford. The engine was salvaged and fitted to the Westland Limousine III. G-EARV, which Cotton took to Newfoundland later that year.
When Airco closed down, the unfinished military D.H.14s were completed at Stag Lane by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. J1938, flown in September 1920, went to Farnborough where, on December 22 Sqn. Ldr. Roderic Hill flew it on Condor engine trials. Except for brief visits to Martlesham on March 3 and 17, it spent the whole of 1921 at Farnborough, making occasional test flights which culminated in an endurance test on September 8 and rate of climb trials on November 24. It crashed at Burnham Beeches, Bucks. on February 10, 1922 while returning from Chingford, F/O Robinson and observer Mitchell being killed.
After Cotton’s aircraft was repaired at Stag Lane it emerged as J1940 and records show that test pilot H. ‘Jerry’ Shaw, with W. K. Mackenzie as observer, made unsticking trials there on March 13, 1921 at all-up weights between 6,400 lb. and 6,820 lb., the shortest take-off in a 12 knot wind being a mere 215 yards.
The second military machine, J1939, was delivered to Martlesham on April 14,1921 but the D. H. 14 remained on the Secret List and was not seen in public until one, probably J1939, was flown from Martlesham to Croydon by A. H. Orlebar for the Imperial Air Conference display of February 3-6, 1922.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Completed by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd., Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex
Power Plants:
(D.H.14) One 525 h.p. Rolls-Royce Condor I
(D.H.14A) One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions:
Span 50 ft. 5 in.
Length
(D.H.14) 33 ft. 111 in.
(D.H.14A) 37 ft. 7 in.
Height 14 ft. 0 in.
Wing area 617 sq. ft.
Weights:
(D.H.14) Tare weight 4,484 lb. All-up weight 7,074 lb.
(D.H.14A) Tare weight 4,006 lb.
Performance:
(D.H.14)
Maximum speed at 10,000 ft. 122 m.p.h.
Rate of climb at 10,000 ft. 400 ft./min.
(D.H.14A)
Maximum speed 117 m.p.h.
Production:
(D.H.14)
J1938 c/n E.44, crashed at Burnham Beeches 10.2.22
J1939 c/n E.45, delivered to Martlesham 14.4.21
(D.H.14A)
J1940/G-EAPY c/n E.46, registered to Airco 4.12.19, re-registered to F. S. Cotton 20.5.20, damaged at Hertford 24.7.20; repaired and flown as J1940; delivered to Air Ministry 16.4.21
The D.H.14 was an extremely large single engined, two seat biplane of conventional appearance designed in 1918 as a replacement for the D.H.4, D.H.9 and D.H.9A. Its performance and military potential were such that had the war lasted, Berlin would have suffered considerable damage at the hands of D.H.14 crews. Although too late for the war, the D.H.14 contract was not cancelled but construction was considerably delayed and in accordance with the system of aircraft nomenclature laid down in Technical Department Instruction No. 538, it was given the type name Okapi.
Since 1917 the Rolls-Royce company had been developing a 12 cylinder Vee-type watercooled engine similar to, but larger than, the Eagle. Fitted with four instead of two valves per cylinder, it gave 525 h.p. and was named the Condor. The D.H.14 was one of the first aircraft fitted with this engine which was cooled by a large nose radiator with controllable shutters.
Although externally similar to a D.H.9A and structurally orthodox, the design included several novel features and many detail differences. Fuel tanks of 178 gallons capacity were housed in the fuselage aft of a fireproof engine bulkhead and fuel starvation experienced at low air speeds when using wind driven pumps was eliminated by using gravity feed. The unusual depth of the fuselage made it possible to blank off the upper portion of the main tank as a gravity tank and to rely on wind driven pumps only in cruising flight. The pilot’s synchronised Vickers gun was sited in a deep groove in the top decking, heavy gauge steel tubing was used for the engine mounting, strengthening blocks of aluminium were inserted in the lower longerons at undercarriage attachment points and the bomb load was stowed internally. Six 112 lb. bombs were carried inside the lower wing between the spars and two in the fuselage under the pilot's seat, draughts being prevented by covering the bomb openings with brown paper. Bombs were released manually by the gunner whose cockpit was fitted with twin Lewis guns on a Scarff mounting. Risk of shooting away his own tailplane bracing was eliminated by suppressing the top wires in favour of four faired tubular struts underneath, the rear pair of which were hinged to the bottom of the tail trimming tube and controlled tailplane incidence. This somewhat vulnerable gear, first fitted to the D.H.11, was protected by an additional curved member aft of the main tail skid. The undercarriage consisted of the usual wooden Vee struts and was sprung by rubber cord wound round the axle.
Three airframes were laid down but rigid postwar economies sounded the death knell of the D.H.14 and resulted in longevity for the D.H.9A. The first two aircraft, J1938 and J1939, were well advanced by July 1919 but the third airframe was finished first - completed by Airco as the private venture D.H.14A for the Daily Mail transatlantic flight competition with Napier Lion and fuel capacity increased to 586 gallons. When the arrival in Ireland of Alcock and Brown ended the project, the D.H.14A stood in the Hendon works until first flown in the autumn of 1919 as F. S. Cotton’s entry for the Australian Government England-Australia flight competition.
Ross and Keith Smith reached Darwin in their Vickers Vimy, G-EAOU, before Cotton was ready but Maj. Gen. Sefton Brancker, a director of Airco, then loaned him the aircraft for a flight to Cape Town. Registered G-EAPY and crewed by Cotton and Napier engineer W. A. Townsend, it left Hendon on February 4, 1920, immediately forced landed at Cricklewood with oil trouble but eventually reached Rome on February 21. Despite two additional wheels fitted forward of the main undercarriage, it turned over while landing on a beach 18 miles north east of Messina, Italy, on February 23 after failing to find the aerodrome.
G-EAPY was shipped back from Naples, rebuilt by Airco with three cockpits and sold to Cotton for the Aerial Derby of July 24, 1920. On the last leg of the race a petrol leak started a fire and the aircraft was badly damaged when it struck telephone cables in a forced landing near Hertford. The engine was salvaged and fitted to the Westland Limousine III. G-EARV, which Cotton took to Newfoundland later that year.
When Airco closed down, the unfinished military D.H.14s were completed at Stag Lane by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. J1938, flown in September 1920, went to Farnborough where, on December 22 Sqn. Ldr. Roderic Hill flew it on Condor engine trials. Except for brief visits to Martlesham on March 3 and 17, it spent the whole of 1921 at Farnborough, making occasional test flights which culminated in an endurance test on September 8 and rate of climb trials on November 24. It crashed at Burnham Beeches, Bucks. on February 10, 1922 while returning from Chingford, F/O Robinson and observer Mitchell being killed.
After Cotton’s aircraft was repaired at Stag Lane it emerged as J1940 and records show that test pilot H. ‘Jerry’ Shaw, with W. K. Mackenzie as observer, made unsticking trials there on March 13, 1921 at all-up weights between 6,400 lb. and 6,820 lb., the shortest take-off in a 12 knot wind being a mere 215 yards.
The second military machine, J1939, was delivered to Martlesham on April 14,1921 but the D. H. 14 remained on the Secret List and was not seen in public until one, probably J1939, was flown from Martlesham to Croydon by A. H. Orlebar for the Imperial Air Conference display of February 3-6, 1922.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Completed by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd., Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex
Power Plants:
(D.H.14) One 525 h.p. Rolls-Royce Condor I
(D.H.14A) One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions:
Span 50 ft. 5 in.
Length
(D.H.14) 33 ft. 111 in.
(D.H.14A) 37 ft. 7 in.
Height 14 ft. 0 in.
Wing area 617 sq. ft.
Weights:
(D.H.14) Tare weight 4,484 lb. All-up weight 7,074 lb.
(D.H.14A) Tare weight 4,006 lb.
Performance:
(D.H.14)
Maximum speed at 10,000 ft. 122 m.p.h.
Rate of climb at 10,000 ft. 400 ft./min.
(D.H.14A)
Maximum speed 117 m.p.h.
Production:
(D.H.14)
J1938 c/n E.44, crashed at Burnham Beeches 10.2.22
J1939 c/n E.45, delivered to Martlesham 14.4.21
(D.H.14A)
J1940/G-EAPY c/n E.46, registered to Airco 4.12.19, re-registered to F. S. Cotton 20.5.20, damaged at Hertford 24.7.20; repaired and flown as J1940; delivered to Air Ministry 16.4.21
F. S. Cotton and W. A. Townsend taking off on their attempted London - Cape Town flight on February 2, 1920 and showing the special four-wheeled undercarriage.
De Havilland D.H.15 Gazelle
Although built purely for experimental purposes, the D.H.15 was allotted the type name Gazelle, a name which, like those of its predecessors, was little used. The aircraft was basically a D.H.9A, modified as a flying test bed for the 500 h.p. B.H.P. Atlantic twelve cylinder Vee watercooled engine, built by the Galloway Engineering Co. Ltd., and consisting of two 230 h.p. B.H.P. engines united on a common crankcase. Its installation in the D.H.15 called for a large frontal radiator similar to that used with the Liberty 12 engine, long exhaust pipes and vertical instead of raked front centre section struts as on the D.H.14. Standard D.H.9A armament was retained and comprised a synchronised forward firing Vickers gun on the port side and a Lewis gun on a Scarff ring on the rear cockpit. Two D.H.15s were ordered, only one of which was completed. This was actually J1937, the second aircraft, which in 1919-20 completed extensive flight testing of the Atlantic engine, piloted by Gerald Gathergood.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturer: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Power Plant: One 500 h.p. B.H.P. (Galloway Atlantic)
Dimensions:
Span 45 ft. 11 3/8 in.
Length 29 ft. 11 in.
Wing area 486 3/4 sq. ft.
Weights: Tare weight 2,312 lb. All-up weight 4,773 lb.
Performance:
Maximum speed 139 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,500 ft./min.
Ceiling 20,000 ft.
Production: J1936 and J1937
Although built purely for experimental purposes, the D.H.15 was allotted the type name Gazelle, a name which, like those of its predecessors, was little used. The aircraft was basically a D.H.9A, modified as a flying test bed for the 500 h.p. B.H.P. Atlantic twelve cylinder Vee watercooled engine, built by the Galloway Engineering Co. Ltd., and consisting of two 230 h.p. B.H.P. engines united on a common crankcase. Its installation in the D.H.15 called for a large frontal radiator similar to that used with the Liberty 12 engine, long exhaust pipes and vertical instead of raked front centre section struts as on the D.H.14. Standard D.H.9A armament was retained and comprised a synchronised forward firing Vickers gun on the port side and a Lewis gun on a Scarff ring on the rear cockpit. Two D.H.15s were ordered, only one of which was completed. This was actually J1937, the second aircraft, which in 1919-20 completed extensive flight testing of the Atlantic engine, piloted by Gerald Gathergood.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturer: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Power Plant: One 500 h.p. B.H.P. (Galloway Atlantic)
Dimensions:
Span 45 ft. 11 3/8 in.
Length 29 ft. 11 in.
Wing area 486 3/4 sq. ft.
Weights: Tare weight 2,312 lb. All-up weight 4,773 lb.
Performance:
Maximum speed 139 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,500 ft./min.
Ceiling 20,000 ft.
Production: J1936 and J1937
De Havilland D.H. 16
Early in 1919 the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. were already considering the type of aircraft best suited to the era of civil flying which lay ahead. Experience gained in converting the rear cockpit of the military D.H.4 into a cabin for two passengers and successful operation of the resultant D.H.4A by R.A.F. Communications Squadrons, undoubtedly influenced their decision to build a somewhat larger machine in the same configuration. The D.H. 16, Airco's first purely civilian type, was consequently built from D.H.9A instead of D.H.4 components and the rear fuselage was widened to seat four passengers in facing pairs in a glazed cabin. Although powered by the 320 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine of its predecessor, it was faster and carried four instead of two fare paying passengers, making it a considerably more economical and commercially attractive aircraft.
The prototype first flew at Hendon in March 1919 in contemporary khaki drab with red, white and blue rudder. In the following May it entered service with Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. bearing the temporary civil marking K-130. With 'Joy Loan' advertisements painted under the wings, it toured the provinces, visiting among other places Harrogate where pleasure flights were given on Whit Monday, June 9, 1919. Thus although the D.H. 16 was inspired by the military D.H.4A, it antedated the entry into service of the first civil D.H.4A by two and a half months. In July 1919 the D.H.16 flew to Amsterdam where it was immaculately polished and shown without mainplanes on the Airco stand at ELTA, the First Air Traffic Exhibition. Bearing the nationality mark G on the rudder, the same aircraft, piloted by Major Cyril Patteson, was, on August 25th, used to fly the inaugural scheduled London - Paris service.
Before production ceased in June 1920, nine D.H. 16s had been constructed, one of which was experimentally fitted with air brakes and flaps. One was sold to the Sociedad Rio Platense de Aviacion (River Plate Aviation Co. Ltd.) at Buenos Aires for a highly successful cross river ferry to Montevideo but the remainder were used on the Continental services of Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. The final three were fitted with the heavier and more powerful Napier Lion engine and although in the opinion of some pilots the increase in wing loading made them tricky to handle, they set up new standards in reliability. During one week in the summer of 1920 the Lion engined D.H. 16 G-EAQS made seven return trips between Croydon and Paris within six days, making fastest time of the week in each direction.
In those days K.L.M., the Royal Dutch Air Line, had no aircraft of its own, so that the honour of making the first K.L.M. scheduled service between Croydon and Amsterdam fell to Capt. H. 'Jerry' Shaw and the Eagle powered D.H.16 G-EALU "Arras". This flight took place in extremely bad weather on May 17,1920 and carried two British journalists, a bundle of English newspapers and a congratulatory letter from the Lord Mayor of London to the Burgomaster of Amsterdam, in a flight time of 135 minutes. K.L.M. schedules were thereafter all flown by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd., but when the firm closed down in December 1920, its aircraft, including seven surviving D.H.I6s were stored in a Bessoneau hangar at Croydon, where all but two were broken up in 1922.
The exceptions, G-EALM and 'FT, were taken over by the de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service in 1922 and after overhaul at Stag Lane went to Lympne for use on early morning newspaper flights to Ostend. A brisk business was also done in bringing back four casual passengers per trip at ?3 a head. The D.H.16s were later based at Stag Lane, ready to go anywhere at ?11 per hour.
On December 5, 1922 both D.H.16s took part in an early air freight experiment by flying consignments of a special Ulster edition of The Times from Sealand to Aldergrove on the day of issue, but after G-EALM crashed near Stag Lane during a test flight on January 10, 1923 with the loss of the pilot, R. E. Keyes, G-EAPT was dismantled and the type became extinct.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Power Plants:
One 320 h p . Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions:
Span 46 ft. 51 in.
Height 1 1 ft. 4 in.
Length 31 It. 9 in,
Wing area 489 3/4 sq. ft.
* Weights: Tare weight 3.155 lb. All-up weight 4.750 lb.
* Performances:
Maximum speed 136 m.p.h. Cruising speed 100 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,000 ft. min. Ceiling 21.000 ft.
Range 425 miles
* With Napier Lion engine.
Production:
Constructor's No. C. of A.
and Registration Issued Remarks
No. 1 K-130 25.5.19 Later G-EACT. crashed 3.20
No. 4 G-EALM 9.9.19 Crashed at Stanmore. Middlesex 10.1.23
P.1 G-EALU 22.9.19 "Arras" to de Havillands 8.22
P.2 G-EAPM 28.11.19 "Agincourt" to de Havillands 8.22
P.3 G-EAPT 8.12.19 Dismantled by de Havillands 7.23
P.4 G-EAQG 24.1.20 To the River Plate Aviation Company. Buenos Aires 4.20; later registered R-137
P.5E G-EAQS 29.3.20 Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd., scrapped 1922
P.59 G-EARU 21.5.20 -"-
P.6 G-EASW 30.6.20 -"-
Early in 1919 the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. were already considering the type of aircraft best suited to the era of civil flying which lay ahead. Experience gained in converting the rear cockpit of the military D.H.4 into a cabin for two passengers and successful operation of the resultant D.H.4A by R.A.F. Communications Squadrons, undoubtedly influenced their decision to build a somewhat larger machine in the same configuration. The D.H. 16, Airco's first purely civilian type, was consequently built from D.H.9A instead of D.H.4 components and the rear fuselage was widened to seat four passengers in facing pairs in a glazed cabin. Although powered by the 320 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine of its predecessor, it was faster and carried four instead of two fare paying passengers, making it a considerably more economical and commercially attractive aircraft.
The prototype first flew at Hendon in March 1919 in contemporary khaki drab with red, white and blue rudder. In the following May it entered service with Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. bearing the temporary civil marking K-130. With 'Joy Loan' advertisements painted under the wings, it toured the provinces, visiting among other places Harrogate where pleasure flights were given on Whit Monday, June 9, 1919. Thus although the D.H. 16 was inspired by the military D.H.4A, it antedated the entry into service of the first civil D.H.4A by two and a half months. In July 1919 the D.H.16 flew to Amsterdam where it was immaculately polished and shown without mainplanes on the Airco stand at ELTA, the First Air Traffic Exhibition. Bearing the nationality mark G on the rudder, the same aircraft, piloted by Major Cyril Patteson, was, on August 25th, used to fly the inaugural scheduled London - Paris service.
Before production ceased in June 1920, nine D.H. 16s had been constructed, one of which was experimentally fitted with air brakes and flaps. One was sold to the Sociedad Rio Platense de Aviacion (River Plate Aviation Co. Ltd.) at Buenos Aires for a highly successful cross river ferry to Montevideo but the remainder were used on the Continental services of Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. The final three were fitted with the heavier and more powerful Napier Lion engine and although in the opinion of some pilots the increase in wing loading made them tricky to handle, they set up new standards in reliability. During one week in the summer of 1920 the Lion engined D.H. 16 G-EAQS made seven return trips between Croydon and Paris within six days, making fastest time of the week in each direction.
In those days K.L.M., the Royal Dutch Air Line, had no aircraft of its own, so that the honour of making the first K.L.M. scheduled service between Croydon and Amsterdam fell to Capt. H. 'Jerry' Shaw and the Eagle powered D.H.16 G-EALU "Arras". This flight took place in extremely bad weather on May 17,1920 and carried two British journalists, a bundle of English newspapers and a congratulatory letter from the Lord Mayor of London to the Burgomaster of Amsterdam, in a flight time of 135 minutes. K.L.M. schedules were thereafter all flown by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd., but when the firm closed down in December 1920, its aircraft, including seven surviving D.H.I6s were stored in a Bessoneau hangar at Croydon, where all but two were broken up in 1922.
The exceptions, G-EALM and 'FT, were taken over by the de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service in 1922 and after overhaul at Stag Lane went to Lympne for use on early morning newspaper flights to Ostend. A brisk business was also done in bringing back four casual passengers per trip at ?3 a head. The D.H.16s were later based at Stag Lane, ready to go anywhere at ?11 per hour.
On December 5, 1922 both D.H.16s took part in an early air freight experiment by flying consignments of a special Ulster edition of The Times from Sealand to Aldergrove on the day of issue, but after G-EALM crashed near Stag Lane during a test flight on January 10, 1923 with the loss of the pilot, R. E. Keyes, G-EAPT was dismantled and the type became extinct.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Power Plants:
One 320 h p . Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions:
Span 46 ft. 51 in.
Height 1 1 ft. 4 in.
Length 31 It. 9 in,
Wing area 489 3/4 sq. ft.
* Weights: Tare weight 3.155 lb. All-up weight 4.750 lb.
* Performances:
Maximum speed 136 m.p.h. Cruising speed 100 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,000 ft. min. Ceiling 21.000 ft.
Range 425 miles
* With Napier Lion engine.
Production:
Constructor's No. C. of A.
and Registration Issued Remarks
No. 1 K-130 25.5.19 Later G-EACT. crashed 3.20
No. 4 G-EALM 9.9.19 Crashed at Stanmore. Middlesex 10.1.23
P.1 G-EALU 22.9.19 "Arras" to de Havillands 8.22
P.2 G-EAPM 28.11.19 "Agincourt" to de Havillands 8.22
P.3 G-EAPT 8.12.19 Dismantled by de Havillands 7.23
P.4 G-EAQG 24.1.20 To the River Plate Aviation Company. Buenos Aires 4.20; later registered R-137
P.5E G-EAQS 29.3.20 Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd., scrapped 1922
P.59 G-EARU 21.5.20 -"-
P.6 G-EASW 30.6.20 -"-
K-130, first of Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd.'s Eagle engined D.H.16s, making a 'Joy Loan' pleasure flight at Harrogate on June 9, 1919.
The D.H.16 G-EALU "Arras" with which Capt. H. 'Jerry' Shaw inaugurated the first K.L.M. Croydon-Amsterdam service on May 17, 1920.
De Havilland D.H.4A
Formed in March 1919 under the command of Major J. R. McCrindle to meet increased cross-Channel passenger traffic arising from the Armistice, No. 2 (Communication) Squadron, 86th Wing, R.A.F. operated between Kenley and Buc, near Paris with D.H.4s. During the sittings of the Peace Conference a daily courier and mail service was operated in each direction and many Cabinet Ministers availed themselves of this new means of rapid transport, including Mr. Bonar Law, Mr. Winston Churchill, Lord Milner, Major General Sykes and W. M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia. At the special request of Mr. Bonar Law, a number of Eagle VIII powered D.H.4s were modified to accommodate a Minister and his secretary face to face in a glazed cabin so that work and conversation might be continued in comfort during the flight. This cabin was a light fabric covered wooden structure fitted with sliding Triplex windows, the starboard side and roof being hinged to fold upwards for entry and exit. A curved decking then faired the cabin neatly into the tail unit. Normal D.H.4 fuel tanks were retained behind the pilot and the two familiar wind driven fuel pumps were mounted above them, but to compensate for the weight of the extra passenger so far back, the aircraft was re-rigged with the upper mainplane 12 inches aft of its usual position. Thus, unlike the D.H.4, the cabin model was unstaggered and therefore a major variant to which the designation D.H.4A was allotted.
Under the command of Wg. Cdr. W. Harold Primrose, the Communication Squadron made history on June 28, 1919 not only by flying four D.H.4As in line astern over the Palace of Versailles during the signing of the Peace Treaty but also by carrying Mr. Bonar Law from Buc to Kenley with the Prime Minister's historic letter to the King advising him that the Treaty had just been signed. When the squadron disbanded in September 1919 the D.H.4As were sold to Handley Page Ltd. among hundreds of other war surplus machines.
In July 1919 four new D.H.4s from the Glendower production line were also converted into D.H.4As for Airco's operating subsidiary Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. and flew initially with enlarged military serial numbers. Piloted by Capt. E. H. 'Bill' Lawford, one, G-EAJC, is now famous as the machine which carried G. M. Stevenson-Reece of the Evening Standard and a consignment of grouse, newspapers, leather and Devonshire cream from Hounslow to Le Bourget in 2 hours 30 minutes on August 25th.
In the same month another D.H.4A, G-EAHG, was demonstrated by H. J. Saint at the First Air Traffic Exhibition (ELTA) at Amsterdam and in the following October at Interlaken, Switzerland by Major Stewart-Wortley. On November 10th, its sister craft 'HE carried the first civilian air mail to France at a fee of 2/6 per ounce. Unfortunately both 'HE and HG were lost in serious crashes while trying to maintain their schedules without wireless during the appalling winter of 1919, and were replaced by the open cockpit D.H.4s G-EANK and 'NL mentioned on page 76. All A.T. & T. aircraft were based at Hendon, positioning flights being made to Hounslow to pick up passengers and clear Customs until the new terminal aerodrome opened at Plough Lane, Croydon on April 1, 1920. The D.H.4s then operated both to Le Bourget and Schiphol but with fares at 20 guineas a head, could not compete with subsidised foreign air lines and were scrapped when A.T. & T. Ltd. went into liquidation on December 15, 1920.
A number of nil hour D.H.4s had also been obtained by Handley Page Ltd. direct from the works of Waring and Gillow Ltd., and one of these was converted to D.H.4A standard as G-EA VL for use on the Cricklewood-Le Bourget and Schiphol services of Handley Page Transport Ltd. On December 4. 1920 piloted by Lt. Vaughan Fowler, it created a record by flying to Paris in half a gale with two passengers in an hour and 48 minutes. Two other D.H.4As. O-BARI and O-BATO. were also produced for the company's Belgian customer SNETA, which used them on the Brussels-Croydon route in 1920-21. They were joined in April 1921 by one of the Communications Squadron D.H.4As F5764, acquired by Handley Page Ltd. among the surplus stock and reconditioned for civil use as G-EA WH.
Another of the original military D.H.4As was shipped to Buenos Aires by Maj. S. G. Kingsley of the River Plate Aviation Co. Ltd., who in August 1920 made a pioneer business trip of 1,250 miles from Buenos Aires to Porto Alegre on charter to an Argentine bank. In the following year this D.H.4A was joined by a D.H.6 and a D.H. 16 which together covered a total of 40,000 miles in the Argentine, Brazil and Uruguay.
One other and better known D.H.4A also existed, in the shape of the Instone D.H.4 G-EAMU mentioned on page 73, fully converted to D.H.4A standard at Hamble by A. V. Roe and Co. Ltd. in February 1921. Renamed "City of York" it flew the Croydon-Paris route in the livery of Instone Air Line Ltd.. and made charter flights to the North and to Ireland. After reconditioning at Northolt by the Central Aircraft Company, 'MU made history on September 8-9, 1922 by flying from Croydon to Renfrew and back, piloted by Capt. F. L. Barnard, at an average speed of 123 m.p.h. to win the first of all the King's Cup Races.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Conversions by:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Handley Page Ltd., Cricklewood, London, N.W.2
Power Plant: One 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
Dimensions:
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. Length 30 ft. 6 in.
Height 11 ft. 0 in. Wing area 434 sq. ft.
Weights: Tare weight 2,600 lb. All-up weight 3,720 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed 121 m.p.h.
Production:
RAF. Serial C. of A.
and Registration Issued Remarks
F2694 G-EAHG 12.8.19 AT. & T. Ltd., forced down in the English Channel 29.10.19
F2699 G-EAHF 12.8.19 AT. & T. Ltd., crashed at Caterham 11.12.19
F2702 G-EAJC 19.8.19
F2704 G-EAJD 25.8.19 AT. & T. Ltd., scrapped 11.20
F5764 G-EAWH 18.4.21 Handley Page Ltd., scrapped 1922
H5905 G-EAVL 11.11.20 Handley Page Ltd., crashed 4.21
H5928 O-BARI SNETA, burned in hangar fire at Brussels 27.9.21
H5929 O-BATO - " -
H5939 G-EAMU 19.2.20 Instone Air Line Ltd. "City of York"; to Imperial Airways Ltd. 10.6.24
Service Use: at least F2663. F2664. F2665, F2681, F5764,115894 and H5934 by No.2 (Communication) Squadron. H5894 crashed into the English Channel 15.5.19 with the loss of Capt E. B. B. Jefferson and M r A. Aarosohn, the Zionist leader and agricultural expert.
Formed in March 1919 under the command of Major J. R. McCrindle to meet increased cross-Channel passenger traffic arising from the Armistice, No. 2 (Communication) Squadron, 86th Wing, R.A.F. operated between Kenley and Buc, near Paris with D.H.4s. During the sittings of the Peace Conference a daily courier and mail service was operated in each direction and many Cabinet Ministers availed themselves of this new means of rapid transport, including Mr. Bonar Law, Mr. Winston Churchill, Lord Milner, Major General Sykes and W. M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia. At the special request of Mr. Bonar Law, a number of Eagle VIII powered D.H.4s were modified to accommodate a Minister and his secretary face to face in a glazed cabin so that work and conversation might be continued in comfort during the flight. This cabin was a light fabric covered wooden structure fitted with sliding Triplex windows, the starboard side and roof being hinged to fold upwards for entry and exit. A curved decking then faired the cabin neatly into the tail unit. Normal D.H.4 fuel tanks were retained behind the pilot and the two familiar wind driven fuel pumps were mounted above them, but to compensate for the weight of the extra passenger so far back, the aircraft was re-rigged with the upper mainplane 12 inches aft of its usual position. Thus, unlike the D.H.4, the cabin model was unstaggered and therefore a major variant to which the designation D.H.4A was allotted.
Under the command of Wg. Cdr. W. Harold Primrose, the Communication Squadron made history on June 28, 1919 not only by flying four D.H.4As in line astern over the Palace of Versailles during the signing of the Peace Treaty but also by carrying Mr. Bonar Law from Buc to Kenley with the Prime Minister's historic letter to the King advising him that the Treaty had just been signed. When the squadron disbanded in September 1919 the D.H.4As were sold to Handley Page Ltd. among hundreds of other war surplus machines.
In July 1919 four new D.H.4s from the Glendower production line were also converted into D.H.4As for Airco's operating subsidiary Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. and flew initially with enlarged military serial numbers. Piloted by Capt. E. H. 'Bill' Lawford, one, G-EAJC, is now famous as the machine which carried G. M. Stevenson-Reece of the Evening Standard and a consignment of grouse, newspapers, leather and Devonshire cream from Hounslow to Le Bourget in 2 hours 30 minutes on August 25th.
In the same month another D.H.4A, G-EAHG, was demonstrated by H. J. Saint at the First Air Traffic Exhibition (ELTA) at Amsterdam and in the following October at Interlaken, Switzerland by Major Stewart-Wortley. On November 10th, its sister craft 'HE carried the first civilian air mail to France at a fee of 2/6 per ounce. Unfortunately both 'HE and HG were lost in serious crashes while trying to maintain their schedules without wireless during the appalling winter of 1919, and were replaced by the open cockpit D.H.4s G-EANK and 'NL mentioned on page 76. All A.T. & T. aircraft were based at Hendon, positioning flights being made to Hounslow to pick up passengers and clear Customs until the new terminal aerodrome opened at Plough Lane, Croydon on April 1, 1920. The D.H.4s then operated both to Le Bourget and Schiphol but with fares at 20 guineas a head, could not compete with subsidised foreign air lines and were scrapped when A.T. & T. Ltd. went into liquidation on December 15, 1920.
A number of nil hour D.H.4s had also been obtained by Handley Page Ltd. direct from the works of Waring and Gillow Ltd., and one of these was converted to D.H.4A standard as G-EA VL for use on the Cricklewood-Le Bourget and Schiphol services of Handley Page Transport Ltd. On December 4. 1920 piloted by Lt. Vaughan Fowler, it created a record by flying to Paris in half a gale with two passengers in an hour and 48 minutes. Two other D.H.4As. O-BARI and O-BATO. were also produced for the company's Belgian customer SNETA, which used them on the Brussels-Croydon route in 1920-21. They were joined in April 1921 by one of the Communications Squadron D.H.4As F5764, acquired by Handley Page Ltd. among the surplus stock and reconditioned for civil use as G-EA WH.
Another of the original military D.H.4As was shipped to Buenos Aires by Maj. S. G. Kingsley of the River Plate Aviation Co. Ltd., who in August 1920 made a pioneer business trip of 1,250 miles from Buenos Aires to Porto Alegre on charter to an Argentine bank. In the following year this D.H.4A was joined by a D.H.6 and a D.H. 16 which together covered a total of 40,000 miles in the Argentine, Brazil and Uruguay.
One other and better known D.H.4A also existed, in the shape of the Instone D.H.4 G-EAMU mentioned on page 73, fully converted to D.H.4A standard at Hamble by A. V. Roe and Co. Ltd. in February 1921. Renamed "City of York" it flew the Croydon-Paris route in the livery of Instone Air Line Ltd.. and made charter flights to the North and to Ireland. After reconditioning at Northolt by the Central Aircraft Company, 'MU made history on September 8-9, 1922 by flying from Croydon to Renfrew and back, piloted by Capt. F. L. Barnard, at an average speed of 123 m.p.h. to win the first of all the King's Cup Races.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Conversions by:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
Handley Page Ltd., Cricklewood, London, N.W.2
Power Plant: One 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII
Dimensions:
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. Length 30 ft. 6 in.
Height 11 ft. 0 in. Wing area 434 sq. ft.
Weights: Tare weight 2,600 lb. All-up weight 3,720 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed 121 m.p.h.
Production:
RAF. Serial C. of A.
and Registration Issued Remarks
F2694 G-EAHG 12.8.19 AT. & T. Ltd., forced down in the English Channel 29.10.19
F2699 G-EAHF 12.8.19 AT. & T. Ltd., crashed at Caterham 11.12.19
F2702 G-EAJC 19.8.19
F2704 G-EAJD 25.8.19 AT. & T. Ltd., scrapped 11.20
F5764 G-EAWH 18.4.21 Handley Page Ltd., scrapped 1922
H5905 G-EAVL 11.11.20 Handley Page Ltd., crashed 4.21
H5928 O-BARI SNETA, burned in hangar fire at Brussels 27.9.21
H5929 O-BATO - " -
H5939 G-EAMU 19.2.20 Instone Air Line Ltd. "City of York"; to Imperial Airways Ltd. 10.6.24
Service Use: at least F2663. F2664. F2665, F2681, F5764,115894 and H5934 by No.2 (Communication) Squadron. H5894 crashed into the English Channel 15.5.19 with the loss of Capt E. B. B. Jefferson and M r A. Aarosohn, the Zionist leader and agricultural expert.
F2699 refuelling at Marske-by-the-Sea, Co. Durham, early in 1919. It became G-EAHF with AT. & T. Ltd. in the following August.
Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd.'s second D.H.4A. G-EAHG, during demonstrations at Interlaken in October 1919.
G-EAJC, the D.H.4A in which E. H. Lawford flew the first British commercial service from Hounslow to Le Bourget on August 25, 1919. The former R.A.F. serial F2702 is visible on the rudder.
The Cricklewood-based D.H.4A G-EAVL used by Handley Page Transport Ltd. from November 1920 until April 1921.
De Havilland D.H.9 (Civil), D.H.9B and D.H.9C
The demilitarised D.H.9 was used extensively by air transport concerns in the years immediately following the First World War and to exploit the full load carrying capacity of this cheap and rugged aircraft, extensive modifications were devised by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. and later by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. Pioneer air services between London, Paris and Amsterdam operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. in 1919-20 employed sixteen D.H.9s, eight of which were newly erected by the infant de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex and the remainder surplus Government stock stripped of military equipment. Some were fitted with the B.H.P. engine and others with the Siddeley Puma. One of them, C6054, was the first aircraft to make a flight for other than military or experimental purposes in this country, and for this it was allotted, but did not carry, the first permanent British registration marking G-EAAA. Its commercial life was confined to the early hours of the morning of May 1, 1919 because bad weather delayed its departure from Hendon from midnight until it took off piloted by Capt. H. J. Saint at 4.30 a.m. with newspapers for Bournemouth. Thick mist was encountered and an hour later the machine was wrecked on Portsdown Hill, north of Portsmouth.
Some of the Amsterdam services were flown under contract to K.L.M., the Royal Dutch Air Line, which at that time had no aircraft of its own, but when Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. closed down, four of its D.H.9s were taken over by K.L.M. to fly in competition with ten machines of the same type flown over the same route by Handley Page Transport Ltd. At least five D.H.9s also operated between Croydon or Cricklewood and Brussels in 1920-21, often flying in groups of two or three on the services of the Belgian air line SNETA. Another of the former A.T. & T. D.H.9s, G-EAQP, went to Newfoundland in 1922 to join the Aerial Survey Company founded by F. S. Cotton for seal and fishery spotting and for taxi work during the gold rush at Stag Bay, Labrador.
The earliest civil conversions merely involved the removal of the Scarff ring, bomb racks and other armament but by the end of 1919 nearly all D.H.9s flying on Continental services had been equipped to carry a second passenger in front of the pilot. In this form it was known as the D.H.9B but late in 1921 the de Havilland company further increased the load carrying capacity by a rearward extension of the back cockpit to accommodate light freight or a third passenger. The designation D.H.9C was coined to cover this version and at least 12 were erected at Stag Lane in 1922-23, the first two of which left Croydon on September 23, 1921 piloted by A. J. (later Sir Alan) Cobham, F. J. Ortweiler and C. D. Barnard on delivery to the Cia Espanola del Trafico Aero for a subsidised air mail service started in January 1922 between Seville and Larache in Spanish Morocco. Three British pilots, F. W. Hatchett, Sidney St. Barbe and C. F. Wolley Dod were initially employed, and the 9Cs gave quite extraordinary service for nearly seven years. F. W. Hatchett remained with the company and in 1929 was still flying over the original route in the surviving 9C M-AAGA which he had personally maintained through the years and considerably modified to suit changing conditions. All the pilot's controls and instrumentation were redesigned and moved into the rear cockpit and the front fuselage was widened to accommodate two passengers and mail and covered with a low cabin roof of local manufacture.
All passengers carried in D.H.9s wore helmet, goggles and flying clothing provided by the company concerned and in winter were issued with hot water bottles. To improve the hard lot of the passenger, the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. devised a further modification converting the rear cockpit into a cabin for two passengers face to face. A light wood and fabric roof hinged about the port upper longeron for ease of entry and although at first the windows remained unglazed, hinged wind deflectors were fitted at the front end to make conversation possible. At this stage it was felt advisable to compensate for the aft movement of the centre of gravity and the wings were given 8 inches of sweep back measured at the outer interplane strut. In this form it was still known as the D.H.9C, the first completed being the khaki drab G-EAYT in which A. J. Cobham made several long distance charter flights to North Africa and the Near East. Its short life ended in the sea when fog overtook it while landing at Venice Lido in October 1922. For the carriage of light freight or for the convenience of cameramen, the cabin top was often removed altogether and many of the Hire Service D.H.9Cs flew permanently in this condition. Some 150,000 miles were flown in 1922-23, in the course of which the earliest recorded crop spraying sortie was made in Kent in June 1922. When pensioned off in 1924, D.H.9C G-EAYU was sold with several military D.H.9s to the Hedjaz Government but unfortunately the ground crew fused some bombs incorrectly and 'YU and its Russian pilot were blown to pieces before reaching the rebel tribesmen.
Eight D.H.9Cs based at Stag Lane formed the fleet of the de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service in 1922. They flew hundreds of hours to all parts of Europe and the British Isles at a charge of ?8 per hour, mainly on hire to film and newspaper companies wishing to cover distant events in time for their next editions. G-EBGU was fitted at Croydon with an illuminated sign advertising the Star newspaper which Hubert Broad flew over London in a 2 hr. 40 min. night sortie on February 12, 1924.
Two D.H.9Cs, G-AUED and 'EF. supplied to QANTAS for the 385 mile Charleville-Cloncurry route, opened on November 3. 1922, became the first successful cabin aircraft to operate scheduled services in Australia. They were joined by G-AUEU, converted by H. C. Miller, and by G-AUFM "Ion" - wholly built at Longreach with a fuselage of QANTAS design which had D.H.9C dimensions but D.H.50 layout with the pilot in an open cockpit behind a covered compartment for three passengers. It had the Puma from the crashed D.H.9C G-AUEE. D.H.50 mainplanes, and also extended axles for dual wheel operation from boggy aerodromes. It first flew on February 5,1927 but after a landing accident at Camooweal on January 13. 1928 was flown to Longreach and dismantled. The wings, engine and propeller were used in the construction of the D.H. 50 G-A UJS.
A much more elaborate cabin conversion was made in Brussels by the Belgian concern SNETA which equipped two of their D.H.9s with the cabin tops and Triplex sliding windows removed from their defunct D.H.4As. Additional luggage space was provided under the fuselage and also in special containers under the lower mainplane just outboard of the undercarriage. These aircraft were acquired by F/Os Nevill Vintcent and J,. S. Newall in 1927 and flew to Stag Lane for modernisation which included the fitting of nose radiators and centre section fuel tanks of the type then in production for D.H.50s, an undercarriage incorporating the new D.H. system of rubber-in-compression, and Dunlop car tyres to reduce puncture risk. Leaving Stag Lane on January 9,1928 they made a leisurely flight to India, arriving at Karachi on April 26th to commence a tour of the sub-continent during which 5,000 passengers were given flights and the foundations of Indian air transport were laid.
The Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. at Croydon was responsible for the civil conversion of a very considerable number of D.H.9s but worked independently of the manufacturers and produced its own series of modifications. These inevitably began with the simplest type of demilitarized two seaters, some examples of which took part in long distance flights. One of the most famous was F1287/G-EAQM in which R. J. P. Parer left Hounslow on January 8, 1920 with J. C. Mcintosh as co-pilot and succeeded in reaching Darwin in an extremely patched up condition on August 2nd to complete the first flight ever made by a single engine aircraft between England and Australia. Although considerably damaged in a crash on the last leg of the flight the aircraft was repaired and exhibited for some years at Parer's old school at Bathurst, N.S.W. before going to the Australian War Memorial at Canberra. The first flight from England to Cape Town although begun by a Vickers Vimy, was completed by Pierre van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand in a D.H.9 H5648 named "Voortrekker". Discarded Imperial Gift D.H.9s served in the Dominions for many years on scheduled services such as those run by the South African Air Force (see page 101) and QANTAS in Australia. New Zealand, having no Air Force, lent three each of its nine D.H.9s free of charge to the N.Z. Flyine School, Auckland (F1252, H5546, H5641) the Canterbury Aviation Co., Christchurch; and the N.Z. Aero Transport Co., Timaru. On April 4. 1922 Canterbury's D.H.9 D3136/G-NZAH completed the first flight ever made between Gisborne and Auckland and the New Zealand Aero Transport D.H.9 D3139/G-NZAM later became the first aircraft to make the direct flight from Invercargill to Auckland.
By 1922 nearly all the important long distance flights had been accomplished and only the round-the-world flight had not yet been attempted. An expedition for this purpose was therefore organised by Major W. T. Blake who planned to fly the overland stages between London-Calcutta and Vancouver-Montreal with D.H.9s. To avoid adverse publicity when the first machine, G-EBDE, was damaged at Istres, France, on the first day, the third aircraft, G-EBDL, was repainted as 'DE and succeeded in reaching Calcutta where the flight was abandoned. The unused second aircraft, G-EBDE, was leased to de Havillands 1923-25 and then sold to Laurentide Air Service, Lac a la Tortue, Canada, as G-CAEU.
The Disposals Company favoured neither the double rear cockpit nor the cabin top and their conversions were fitted mainly with four individual cockpits one behind the other. Entry to the rearmost pair was simplified by hinging the decking along the port side, a device incorporated in most of the aircraft overhauled at Croydon during more than ten years. Over 60 four seat D.H.9s of this type were supplied to Rumania by May 1922 and four to the Danish firm Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S whose first service with land aircraft was opened on September 15, 1920 when D.H.9 T-DOGH flew from Copenhagen to Hamburg. When the route closed on October 31st the four machines had carried 83 passengers and 1.160 kg of mail. On April 17, 1923 the route was reopened with three surviving D.H.9s. 311 scheduled services being completed before the last flight of the season on October 17, 1923. One of these aircraft was kept airworthy for pleasure flying until 1930 by the cannibalisation of the other two. In 1924 two 2 seat Puma Nines were shipped to the British and Egyptian Tea Co. Ltd., one of which was test flown at Rochester with Short wooden main and tail floats. Undercarriages of this type were fitted to D.H.9s used by the Air Survey Co. Ltd. during the Irrawaddy, Sarawak and Indian surveys in 1924-25, and for a number supplied to Bolivia. The first of these, AM-1 was erected and test flown by J. R. 'Joe' King at Riberalta on the Rio Beni in 1925.
After 1924 the A.D.C. company no longer fitted a cockpit ahead of the pilot and later conversions such as G-EBJW z.no. 'JX, supplied to Northern Air Lines for a short lived Stranraer-Belfast service, were three seaters fitted with the 300 h.p. A.D.C. Nimbus, Major Halford's re-design of the 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma. Thus after 10 years and two modifications, the designed power of the original B.H.P. engine was at last achieved. The Nimbus was also fitted to two special D.H.9s G-EBPE and PF erected at Stag Lane in 1926 for an aerial survey of Northern Rhodesia by the Aircraft Operating Co. Ltd. They were equipped as two seaters having a camera position under the tail and twin metal floats 21 ft. 9 in. long of the type built by Short Bros, for Sir Alan Cobham's D.H.50J. After transportation through the jungle on Ford trucks and erection by native labour they operated from the Zambesi River, PF alone successfully photographing 52,000 square miles of the Copper Belt.
Conversions to full swept wing D.H.9C standard by outside firms was confined to G-AUFM by QANTAS at Longreach; G-AUEU by H. C. Miller at Albert Park Aerodrome, Adelaide, S.A.; H4890/G-EBDG by the Manchester Aviation Co. Ltd. at Alexandra Park and H5886/G-EBIG by Berkshire Aviation Tours Ltd. at Monkmoor Aerodrome, Shrewsbury. Both the latter served with Northern Air Lines on the abortive Stranraer-Belfast service in 1925 and afterwards as joyriding machines at Barton until 1930.
On April 1, 1923 the de Havilland company was awarded a contract for training R.A.F. Reservists and employed Hire Service D.H.9Cs for this purpose. By the end of 1924 these had been replaced by seven Puma engined D.H.9s equipped as two seat advanced trainers, comprising six newly erected machines and the company's oldest retainer, G-EA AC, specially preserved as a practical investigation into the longevity of aeroplanes under normal flying conditions. Two similar machines were also erected for the Beardmore School at Renfrew and another, G-EBHV, supplied to the Armstrong Whitworth Reserve School at Whitley, was fitted with an additional pair of bungee shock absorber struts in the undercarriage.
In common with most open cockpit types the D.H.9 occasionally appeared as a single seat racer as in the 1922 King's Cup Race when G-EAAC. G-EBEN and EP came third, fourth and tenth respectively. In the following year the de Havilland Hire Service machine G-EBEZ was fitted temporarily with a 450 h.p. Napier Lion with which it came second at 144-7 m.p.h. piloted by Cobham, and in 1927 W. G. R. Hinchliffe reached fourth place at 123-6 m.p.h. in a special single seater G-EBKO with A.D.C. Nimbus engine. The most spectacular result was achieved by the standard two seater VH-UHT in which H. C. Miller won the ?1,000 first prize in the handicap section of the 2,200 mile Western Australia Centenary Air Race from Sydney to Perth in September 1929.
In 1936 when the type was nearly at the end of its career Aerial Sites Ltd. of Hanworth employed G-AACP for banner towing and Sir Alan Cobham used 'CR for early flight refuelling experiments at Ford, Sussex. For this purpose the hinged decking to the rear cockpits was entirely removed to provide maximum working space.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9 and subcontractors.
Conversions by:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd., Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex
Handley Page Ltd., Cricklewood Aerodrome, London, N.W.2
The Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd., Croydon Aerodrome, Surrey
Northern Air Lines, Alexandra Park, Manchester
Berkshire Aviation Tours Ltd., Monkmoor Aerodrome, Shrewsbury
Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. (QANTAS), Longreach, Queensland, Australia
Miller Aviation Ltd., Albert Park Aerodrome, Adelaide, South Australia
Syndicat National pour l'Etude des Transports Aeriens (SNETA), Brussels, Belgium
Power Plants:
One 230 h.p. B.H.P.
One 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma
One 300 h.p. A.D.C. Nimbus
One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions:
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. Length 30 ft. 6 in.
Height 11 ft. 2 in. Wing area 434 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances :
D.H.9 D.H.9B D.H.9C
B.H.P. Puma Lion Puma Puma
Tare weight 2.193 lb. 2.230 lb. 2.544 lb. 2,504 lb. 2,600 lb.
All-up weight 3,420 lb. 3,900 lb. 3.667 lb. 3,900 lb. 3,300 lb.
Maximum speed 114.0 m.p.h. 110.5 m.p.h. 144.0 m.p.h. 115.0 m.p.h.*
Initial climb 750 ft./min. 650 ft./min. 1,800 ft./min. 600 ft./min.
Ceiling 18,000 ft. 15.500 ft. 24,500 ft. 19,000 ft.
Duration/Range 4 hours 4 hours 3 1/2 hours 500 miles
* Cruising speed 95 m.p.h.
The demilitarised D.H.9 was used extensively by air transport concerns in the years immediately following the First World War and to exploit the full load carrying capacity of this cheap and rugged aircraft, extensive modifications were devised by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. and later by the Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. Pioneer air services between London, Paris and Amsterdam operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. in 1919-20 employed sixteen D.H.9s, eight of which were newly erected by the infant de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex and the remainder surplus Government stock stripped of military equipment. Some were fitted with the B.H.P. engine and others with the Siddeley Puma. One of them, C6054, was the first aircraft to make a flight for other than military or experimental purposes in this country, and for this it was allotted, but did not carry, the first permanent British registration marking G-EAAA. Its commercial life was confined to the early hours of the morning of May 1, 1919 because bad weather delayed its departure from Hendon from midnight until it took off piloted by Capt. H. J. Saint at 4.30 a.m. with newspapers for Bournemouth. Thick mist was encountered and an hour later the machine was wrecked on Portsdown Hill, north of Portsmouth.
Some of the Amsterdam services were flown under contract to K.L.M., the Royal Dutch Air Line, which at that time had no aircraft of its own, but when Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. closed down, four of its D.H.9s were taken over by K.L.M. to fly in competition with ten machines of the same type flown over the same route by Handley Page Transport Ltd. At least five D.H.9s also operated between Croydon or Cricklewood and Brussels in 1920-21, often flying in groups of two or three on the services of the Belgian air line SNETA. Another of the former A.T. & T. D.H.9s, G-EAQP, went to Newfoundland in 1922 to join the Aerial Survey Company founded by F. S. Cotton for seal and fishery spotting and for taxi work during the gold rush at Stag Bay, Labrador.
The earliest civil conversions merely involved the removal of the Scarff ring, bomb racks and other armament but by the end of 1919 nearly all D.H.9s flying on Continental services had been equipped to carry a second passenger in front of the pilot. In this form it was known as the D.H.9B but late in 1921 the de Havilland company further increased the load carrying capacity by a rearward extension of the back cockpit to accommodate light freight or a third passenger. The designation D.H.9C was coined to cover this version and at least 12 were erected at Stag Lane in 1922-23, the first two of which left Croydon on September 23, 1921 piloted by A. J. (later Sir Alan) Cobham, F. J. Ortweiler and C. D. Barnard on delivery to the Cia Espanola del Trafico Aero for a subsidised air mail service started in January 1922 between Seville and Larache in Spanish Morocco. Three British pilots, F. W. Hatchett, Sidney St. Barbe and C. F. Wolley Dod were initially employed, and the 9Cs gave quite extraordinary service for nearly seven years. F. W. Hatchett remained with the company and in 1929 was still flying over the original route in the surviving 9C M-AAGA which he had personally maintained through the years and considerably modified to suit changing conditions. All the pilot's controls and instrumentation were redesigned and moved into the rear cockpit and the front fuselage was widened to accommodate two passengers and mail and covered with a low cabin roof of local manufacture.
All passengers carried in D.H.9s wore helmet, goggles and flying clothing provided by the company concerned and in winter were issued with hot water bottles. To improve the hard lot of the passenger, the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. devised a further modification converting the rear cockpit into a cabin for two passengers face to face. A light wood and fabric roof hinged about the port upper longeron for ease of entry and although at first the windows remained unglazed, hinged wind deflectors were fitted at the front end to make conversation possible. At this stage it was felt advisable to compensate for the aft movement of the centre of gravity and the wings were given 8 inches of sweep back measured at the outer interplane strut. In this form it was still known as the D.H.9C, the first completed being the khaki drab G-EAYT in which A. J. Cobham made several long distance charter flights to North Africa and the Near East. Its short life ended in the sea when fog overtook it while landing at Venice Lido in October 1922. For the carriage of light freight or for the convenience of cameramen, the cabin top was often removed altogether and many of the Hire Service D.H.9Cs flew permanently in this condition. Some 150,000 miles were flown in 1922-23, in the course of which the earliest recorded crop spraying sortie was made in Kent in June 1922. When pensioned off in 1924, D.H.9C G-EAYU was sold with several military D.H.9s to the Hedjaz Government but unfortunately the ground crew fused some bombs incorrectly and 'YU and its Russian pilot were blown to pieces before reaching the rebel tribesmen.
Eight D.H.9Cs based at Stag Lane formed the fleet of the de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service in 1922. They flew hundreds of hours to all parts of Europe and the British Isles at a charge of ?8 per hour, mainly on hire to film and newspaper companies wishing to cover distant events in time for their next editions. G-EBGU was fitted at Croydon with an illuminated sign advertising the Star newspaper which Hubert Broad flew over London in a 2 hr. 40 min. night sortie on February 12, 1924.
Two D.H.9Cs, G-AUED and 'EF. supplied to QANTAS for the 385 mile Charleville-Cloncurry route, opened on November 3. 1922, became the first successful cabin aircraft to operate scheduled services in Australia. They were joined by G-AUEU, converted by H. C. Miller, and by G-AUFM "Ion" - wholly built at Longreach with a fuselage of QANTAS design which had D.H.9C dimensions but D.H.50 layout with the pilot in an open cockpit behind a covered compartment for three passengers. It had the Puma from the crashed D.H.9C G-AUEE. D.H.50 mainplanes, and also extended axles for dual wheel operation from boggy aerodromes. It first flew on February 5,1927 but after a landing accident at Camooweal on January 13. 1928 was flown to Longreach and dismantled. The wings, engine and propeller were used in the construction of the D.H. 50 G-A UJS.
A much more elaborate cabin conversion was made in Brussels by the Belgian concern SNETA which equipped two of their D.H.9s with the cabin tops and Triplex sliding windows removed from their defunct D.H.4As. Additional luggage space was provided under the fuselage and also in special containers under the lower mainplane just outboard of the undercarriage. These aircraft were acquired by F/Os Nevill Vintcent and J,. S. Newall in 1927 and flew to Stag Lane for modernisation which included the fitting of nose radiators and centre section fuel tanks of the type then in production for D.H.50s, an undercarriage incorporating the new D.H. system of rubber-in-compression, and Dunlop car tyres to reduce puncture risk. Leaving Stag Lane on January 9,1928 they made a leisurely flight to India, arriving at Karachi on April 26th to commence a tour of the sub-continent during which 5,000 passengers were given flights and the foundations of Indian air transport were laid.
The Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd. at Croydon was responsible for the civil conversion of a very considerable number of D.H.9s but worked independently of the manufacturers and produced its own series of modifications. These inevitably began with the simplest type of demilitarized two seaters, some examples of which took part in long distance flights. One of the most famous was F1287/G-EAQM in which R. J. P. Parer left Hounslow on January 8, 1920 with J. C. Mcintosh as co-pilot and succeeded in reaching Darwin in an extremely patched up condition on August 2nd to complete the first flight ever made by a single engine aircraft between England and Australia. Although considerably damaged in a crash on the last leg of the flight the aircraft was repaired and exhibited for some years at Parer's old school at Bathurst, N.S.W. before going to the Australian War Memorial at Canberra. The first flight from England to Cape Town although begun by a Vickers Vimy, was completed by Pierre van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand in a D.H.9 H5648 named "Voortrekker". Discarded Imperial Gift D.H.9s served in the Dominions for many years on scheduled services such as those run by the South African Air Force (see page 101) and QANTAS in Australia. New Zealand, having no Air Force, lent three each of its nine D.H.9s free of charge to the N.Z. Flyine School, Auckland (F1252, H5546, H5641) the Canterbury Aviation Co., Christchurch; and the N.Z. Aero Transport Co., Timaru. On April 4. 1922 Canterbury's D.H.9 D3136/G-NZAH completed the first flight ever made between Gisborne and Auckland and the New Zealand Aero Transport D.H.9 D3139/G-NZAM later became the first aircraft to make the direct flight from Invercargill to Auckland.
By 1922 nearly all the important long distance flights had been accomplished and only the round-the-world flight had not yet been attempted. An expedition for this purpose was therefore organised by Major W. T. Blake who planned to fly the overland stages between London-Calcutta and Vancouver-Montreal with D.H.9s. To avoid adverse publicity when the first machine, G-EBDE, was damaged at Istres, France, on the first day, the third aircraft, G-EBDL, was repainted as 'DE and succeeded in reaching Calcutta where the flight was abandoned. The unused second aircraft, G-EBDE, was leased to de Havillands 1923-25 and then sold to Laurentide Air Service, Lac a la Tortue, Canada, as G-CAEU.
The Disposals Company favoured neither the double rear cockpit nor the cabin top and their conversions were fitted mainly with four individual cockpits one behind the other. Entry to the rearmost pair was simplified by hinging the decking along the port side, a device incorporated in most of the aircraft overhauled at Croydon during more than ten years. Over 60 four seat D.H.9s of this type were supplied to Rumania by May 1922 and four to the Danish firm Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S whose first service with land aircraft was opened on September 15, 1920 when D.H.9 T-DOGH flew from Copenhagen to Hamburg. When the route closed on October 31st the four machines had carried 83 passengers and 1.160 kg of mail. On April 17, 1923 the route was reopened with three surviving D.H.9s. 311 scheduled services being completed before the last flight of the season on October 17, 1923. One of these aircraft was kept airworthy for pleasure flying until 1930 by the cannibalisation of the other two. In 1924 two 2 seat Puma Nines were shipped to the British and Egyptian Tea Co. Ltd., one of which was test flown at Rochester with Short wooden main and tail floats. Undercarriages of this type were fitted to D.H.9s used by the Air Survey Co. Ltd. during the Irrawaddy, Sarawak and Indian surveys in 1924-25, and for a number supplied to Bolivia. The first of these, AM-1 was erected and test flown by J. R. 'Joe' King at Riberalta on the Rio Beni in 1925.
After 1924 the A.D.C. company no longer fitted a cockpit ahead of the pilot and later conversions such as G-EBJW z.no. 'JX, supplied to Northern Air Lines for a short lived Stranraer-Belfast service, were three seaters fitted with the 300 h.p. A.D.C. Nimbus, Major Halford's re-design of the 230 h.p. Siddeley Puma. Thus after 10 years and two modifications, the designed power of the original B.H.P. engine was at last achieved. The Nimbus was also fitted to two special D.H.9s G-EBPE and PF erected at Stag Lane in 1926 for an aerial survey of Northern Rhodesia by the Aircraft Operating Co. Ltd. They were equipped as two seaters having a camera position under the tail and twin metal floats 21 ft. 9 in. long of the type built by Short Bros, for Sir Alan Cobham's D.H.50J. After transportation through the jungle on Ford trucks and erection by native labour they operated from the Zambesi River, PF alone successfully photographing 52,000 square miles of the Copper Belt.
Conversions to full swept wing D.H.9C standard by outside firms was confined to G-AUFM by QANTAS at Longreach; G-AUEU by H. C. Miller at Albert Park Aerodrome, Adelaide, S.A.; H4890/G-EBDG by the Manchester Aviation Co. Ltd. at Alexandra Park and H5886/G-EBIG by Berkshire Aviation Tours Ltd. at Monkmoor Aerodrome, Shrewsbury. Both the latter served with Northern Air Lines on the abortive Stranraer-Belfast service in 1925 and afterwards as joyriding machines at Barton until 1930.
On April 1, 1923 the de Havilland company was awarded a contract for training R.A.F. Reservists and employed Hire Service D.H.9Cs for this purpose. By the end of 1924 these had been replaced by seven Puma engined D.H.9s equipped as two seat advanced trainers, comprising six newly erected machines and the company's oldest retainer, G-EA AC, specially preserved as a practical investigation into the longevity of aeroplanes under normal flying conditions. Two similar machines were also erected for the Beardmore School at Renfrew and another, G-EBHV, supplied to the Armstrong Whitworth Reserve School at Whitley, was fitted with an additional pair of bungee shock absorber struts in the undercarriage.
In common with most open cockpit types the D.H.9 occasionally appeared as a single seat racer as in the 1922 King's Cup Race when G-EAAC. G-EBEN and EP came third, fourth and tenth respectively. In the following year the de Havilland Hire Service machine G-EBEZ was fitted temporarily with a 450 h.p. Napier Lion with which it came second at 144-7 m.p.h. piloted by Cobham, and in 1927 W. G. R. Hinchliffe reached fourth place at 123-6 m.p.h. in a special single seater G-EBKO with A.D.C. Nimbus engine. The most spectacular result was achieved by the standard two seater VH-UHT in which H. C. Miller won the ?1,000 first prize in the handicap section of the 2,200 mile Western Australia Centenary Air Race from Sydney to Perth in September 1929.
In 1936 when the type was nearly at the end of its career Aerial Sites Ltd. of Hanworth employed G-AACP for banner towing and Sir Alan Cobham used 'CR for early flight refuelling experiments at Ford, Sussex. For this purpose the hinged decking to the rear cockpits was entirely removed to provide maximum working space.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9 and subcontractors.
Conversions by:
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
The de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd., Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex
Handley Page Ltd., Cricklewood Aerodrome, London, N.W.2
The Aircraft Disposal Co. Ltd., Croydon Aerodrome, Surrey
Northern Air Lines, Alexandra Park, Manchester
Berkshire Aviation Tours Ltd., Monkmoor Aerodrome, Shrewsbury
Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. (QANTAS), Longreach, Queensland, Australia
Miller Aviation Ltd., Albert Park Aerodrome, Adelaide, South Australia
Syndicat National pour l'Etude des Transports Aeriens (SNETA), Brussels, Belgium
Power Plants:
One 230 h.p. B.H.P.
One 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma
One 300 h.p. A.D.C. Nimbus
One 450 h.p. Napier Lion
Dimensions:
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. Length 30 ft. 6 in.
Height 11 ft. 2 in. Wing area 434 sq. ft.
Weights and Performances :
D.H.9 D.H.9B D.H.9C
B.H.P. Puma Lion Puma Puma
Tare weight 2.193 lb. 2.230 lb. 2.544 lb. 2,504 lb. 2,600 lb.
All-up weight 3,420 lb. 3,900 lb. 3.667 lb. 3,900 lb. 3,300 lb.
Maximum speed 114.0 m.p.h. 110.5 m.p.h. 144.0 m.p.h. 115.0 m.p.h.*
Initial climb 750 ft./min. 650 ft./min. 1,800 ft./min. 600 ft./min.
Ceiling 18,000 ft. 15.500 ft. 24,500 ft. 19,000 ft.
Duration/Range 4 hours 4 hours 3 1/2 hours 500 miles
* Cruising speed 95 m.p.h.
Aerial Sites Ltd.'s three seat, banner-towing D.H.9, G-AACP, at the company's Hanworth base in 1936.
Originally intended for the Canadian section of Maj. W. T. Blake's World Flight in 1923, D.H.9 G-CAEU was fitted with the cabin of a D.H.9C and operated by the Laurentide Air Service on skis in 1924.
The prototype D.H.9C, G-EAYT, in which A. J. Cobham flew long distance charters for the de Havilland Hire Service in 1922.
The other SNETA conversion O-BATA after modernisation as G-EBUM at Stag Lane in 1927 for the Vintcent-Newall India Flight.
D.H.9 H5627/G-NZAE, locally modified in New Zealand to seat two passengers in a small cabin, was used by the Canterbury Aviation Co. on the Christchurch-Blenheim mail service in 1922.
The D.H.9 in which Capt. H.C. Miller won the 2,390 mile Sydney-Perth Race in 1929. It is shown being groomed for the 1936 Brisbane-Adelaide Race.
"Albatross" flown by the Brisbane section of the Australian Aero Club in 1929, was typical of the majority of demilitarised 'straight Puma Nines' .
Seating two in the enlarged rear cockpit, the former A.T. & T. D.H.9B G-EAOZ, flew 153 hours with K.L.M. as H-NABF and was scrapped in 1924.
D.H.9C M-AAGA, c/n 12, of Cia Espanola del Trafico Aero after the fuselage had been widened and a glazed cabin installed by F. W. Hatchett.
G-AUFM "Ion", built at Longreach by QANTAS 1926-27 with D.H.50 mainplanes and the pilot behind the cabin.
O-BELG, a D.H.9 fitted with D.H.4A cabin top and underwing luggage containers by the Belgian concern SNETA.
One of the four Puma engined D.H.9s rebuilt by A.D.C. Ltd. as four seaters for the Danish Air Transport Company in 1920.
The de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service fleet of D.H.9B and D.H.9C aircraft lined up at Stag Lane in 1922.
De Havilland D.H.9J
The de Havilland School of Flying began training R.A.F. reservists at Stag Lane on April 1, 1923 using Avro 548s and the Hire Service D.H.9s. These remained in use until 1926, the year in which primary training was transferred to Cirrus Moths. The veteran D.H.9s, including the antique G-EAAC, were then modernised for advanced instruction and given red fuselages with metallic gold flying surfaces. In this form they were known as the D.H.9J, the ultimate variant, with shortened and strengthened front fuselages to carry the heavier 385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III fourteen cylinder, two row, radial engine, behind which metal inspection doors gave access to the ancillary equipment. The old rigid V strut undercarriage, sprung like the D.H.4 of long ago, by four 6 ft. 9 in. rubber bungees, each wound nine times round the axle, gave place to new D.H. rubber-in-compression units. Aileron circuits were also modified to incorporate the patent D.H. differential gear and Handley Page slots were fitted. An age-old problem which had dogged many First World War aircraft, was at last solved by fitting a gravity tank in the centre section to be switched on during the approach when the air driven pumps were working too slowly to give an adequate fuel supply. The pupil normally occupied the front cockpit, with the instructor in the rear, making it necessary to carry an equivalent weight of ballast when flying solo. In practice it was found that the average pupil with only 10 hours on Cirrus Moths needed but 20 minutes dual before going solo in the larger and heavier D.H.9J.
As the powerful Jaguar engine imparted a somewhat lively performance to the traditionally sedate D.H.9, it was necessary to fit a throttle stop to prevent the use of full power. Many of these engines already had upwards of 4,000 flying hours to their credit, having been purchased secondhand from Imperial Airways Ltd. after their removal from A.W. Argosy 1 passenger aircraft. Three of these engines were collected from Lympne in a seized up condition but they too were successfully overhauled at Stag Lane and gave long years of trouble free service in the D.H.9Js.
The Armstrong Whitworth Reserve School at Whitley also re-equipped with D.H.9Js, two being erected at Stag Lane in 1926 and a further three in 1929, one of which G-AARS, was used temporarily as a flying testbed for the Armstrong Siddeley Serval IV nine cylinder radial engine. When Air Service Training Ltd. was formed in 1931, all three went to Hamble where their black fuselages and silver wings were a familiar sight until 1936. Two other replacement aircraft were also built at Stag Lane for the de Havilland School of Flying Ltd., one in 1927 and the other in 1929. In common with those built for Armstrong Whitworth, they had plywood covered fuselages.
G-EAAC, the veteran D.H.9J which the de Havilland company had preserved so immaculately for so long, acted as a flying workshop for the horde of Moths competing in the 1929 King's Cup Race. Loaded with tools and spares, and piloted by C. A. Pike it landed at Mousehold, Lympne, Hamble, Whitchurch, Blackpool, Renfrew, Cramlington, Sherburn, Castle Bromwich and Heston - ever in the wake of the competitors but seldom needed.
The last D.H.9J was not completed until the autumn of 1931, not long before the type went out of service. This machine, G-ABPG, built as an exercise by senior students of the Aeronautical Technical School, was fitted with an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVC and employed on normal training duties by the Flying School. This had by this time been transferred to Hatfield, and PG was almost certainly the sole D.H.9 of non-military origin.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd., Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex
The de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School, Hatfield, Herts.
Power Plant:
One 385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III
One 500 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVC
One 340 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Serval IV
Dimensions:
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. Length 28 ft. 9 in.
Height 11 ft. 2 in. Wing area 434 sq. ft.
Weights:
(G-EAAC) Tare weight 2,452 lb. All-up weight 3,725 lb.
(G-EBGT) Tare weight 2,375 lb. All-up weight 3,900 lb.
Performance:
Maximum speed 100 m.p.h. Cruising speed 80 m.p.h.
Stalling speed 48 m.p.h. Climb to 10,000 ft. 9 min.
Ceiling 25,000 ft. Range 390 miles
Individual Histories
Constructor's No. C. of A.
and Registration as 9J Remarks
H9277* G-EAAC 8.7.26 Formerly D.H.9B K-109; scrapped 1933
66 G-EBEZ 17.12.26 Fitted with Lion in 1923; scrapped 1933
76 G-EBFQ 11.12.26 Built as Puma trainer; scrapped 1933
82 G-EBGT 19.8.26 Crashed at Hatfield 16.10.32
H5844* G-EBHV 29.9.27 Built as Puma trainer; scrapped 10.28
181 G-EBLH 25.8.26 Crashed at White Waltham 12.5.27
282 G-EBOQ 17.8.26 A.W. Reserve School; scrapped 10.29
283 G-EBOR 15.9.26 A.W. Reserve School; scrapped 1.29
326 G-EBTN 14.9.27 D.H. Reserve School; scrapped 1933
397 G-AARR 4.10.29 Air Service Training Ltd.; scrapped 1936
398 G-AARS 17.10.29 Air Service Training Ltd.; crashed 10.34
399 G-AART 5.11.29 Air Service Training Ltd.; scrapped 1936
704 G-AASC 20.12.29 D.H. Reserve School; scrapped 1931
1990 G-ABPG 14.10.31 D.H. Reserve School; scrapped 1933
* R.A.F. serial of military original.
The de Havilland School of Flying began training R.A.F. reservists at Stag Lane on April 1, 1923 using Avro 548s and the Hire Service D.H.9s. These remained in use until 1926, the year in which primary training was transferred to Cirrus Moths. The veteran D.H.9s, including the antique G-EAAC, were then modernised for advanced instruction and given red fuselages with metallic gold flying surfaces. In this form they were known as the D.H.9J, the ultimate variant, with shortened and strengthened front fuselages to carry the heavier 385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III fourteen cylinder, two row, radial engine, behind which metal inspection doors gave access to the ancillary equipment. The old rigid V strut undercarriage, sprung like the D.H.4 of long ago, by four 6 ft. 9 in. rubber bungees, each wound nine times round the axle, gave place to new D.H. rubber-in-compression units. Aileron circuits were also modified to incorporate the patent D.H. differential gear and Handley Page slots were fitted. An age-old problem which had dogged many First World War aircraft, was at last solved by fitting a gravity tank in the centre section to be switched on during the approach when the air driven pumps were working too slowly to give an adequate fuel supply. The pupil normally occupied the front cockpit, with the instructor in the rear, making it necessary to carry an equivalent weight of ballast when flying solo. In practice it was found that the average pupil with only 10 hours on Cirrus Moths needed but 20 minutes dual before going solo in the larger and heavier D.H.9J.
As the powerful Jaguar engine imparted a somewhat lively performance to the traditionally sedate D.H.9, it was necessary to fit a throttle stop to prevent the use of full power. Many of these engines already had upwards of 4,000 flying hours to their credit, having been purchased secondhand from Imperial Airways Ltd. after their removal from A.W. Argosy 1 passenger aircraft. Three of these engines were collected from Lympne in a seized up condition but they too were successfully overhauled at Stag Lane and gave long years of trouble free service in the D.H.9Js.
The Armstrong Whitworth Reserve School at Whitley also re-equipped with D.H.9Js, two being erected at Stag Lane in 1926 and a further three in 1929, one of which G-AARS, was used temporarily as a flying testbed for the Armstrong Siddeley Serval IV nine cylinder radial engine. When Air Service Training Ltd. was formed in 1931, all three went to Hamble where their black fuselages and silver wings were a familiar sight until 1936. Two other replacement aircraft were also built at Stag Lane for the de Havilland School of Flying Ltd., one in 1927 and the other in 1929. In common with those built for Armstrong Whitworth, they had plywood covered fuselages.
G-EAAC, the veteran D.H.9J which the de Havilland company had preserved so immaculately for so long, acted as a flying workshop for the horde of Moths competing in the 1929 King's Cup Race. Loaded with tools and spares, and piloted by C. A. Pike it landed at Mousehold, Lympne, Hamble, Whitchurch, Blackpool, Renfrew, Cramlington, Sherburn, Castle Bromwich and Heston - ever in the wake of the competitors but seldom needed.
The last D.H.9J was not completed until the autumn of 1931, not long before the type went out of service. This machine, G-ABPG, built as an exercise by senior students of the Aeronautical Technical School, was fitted with an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVC and employed on normal training duties by the Flying School. This had by this time been transferred to Hatfield, and PG was almost certainly the sole D.H.9 of non-military origin.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Manufacturers:
The de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd., Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, Middlesex
The de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School, Hatfield, Herts.
Power Plant:
One 385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III
One 500 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVC
One 340 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Serval IV
Dimensions:
Span 42 ft. 4 5/8 in. Length 28 ft. 9 in.
Height 11 ft. 2 in. Wing area 434 sq. ft.
Weights:
(G-EAAC) Tare weight 2,452 lb. All-up weight 3,725 lb.
(G-EBGT) Tare weight 2,375 lb. All-up weight 3,900 lb.
Performance:
Maximum speed 100 m.p.h. Cruising speed 80 m.p.h.
Stalling speed 48 m.p.h. Climb to 10,000 ft. 9 min.
Ceiling 25,000 ft. Range 390 miles
Individual Histories
Constructor's No. C. of A.
and Registration as 9J Remarks
H9277* G-EAAC 8.7.26 Formerly D.H.9B K-109; scrapped 1933
66 G-EBEZ 17.12.26 Fitted with Lion in 1923; scrapped 1933
76 G-EBFQ 11.12.26 Built as Puma trainer; scrapped 1933
82 G-EBGT 19.8.26 Crashed at Hatfield 16.10.32
H5844* G-EBHV 29.9.27 Built as Puma trainer; scrapped 10.28
181 G-EBLH 25.8.26 Crashed at White Waltham 12.5.27
282 G-EBOQ 17.8.26 A.W. Reserve School; scrapped 10.29
283 G-EBOR 15.9.26 A.W. Reserve School; scrapped 1.29
326 G-EBTN 14.9.27 D.H. Reserve School; scrapped 1933
397 G-AARR 4.10.29 Air Service Training Ltd.; scrapped 1936
398 G-AARS 17.10.29 Air Service Training Ltd.; crashed 10.34
399 G-AART 5.11.29 Air Service Training Ltd.; scrapped 1936
704 G-AASC 20.12.29 D.H. Reserve School; scrapped 1931
1990 G-ABPG 14.10.31 D.H. Reserve School; scrapped 1933
* R.A.F. serial of military original.
D.H.9J G-EBGT, c/n 82, of the de Havilland School of Flying showing the 385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III radial and rubber-in-compression undercarriage.
Development flying of the 340 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Serval IV radial was done with D.H9J G-AARS of the Armstrong Whitworth Reserve School, Whitley.
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.1
Like the S.E.1 before it, the construction of Geoffrey de Havilland and F. M. Green's next design, the two seat tractor B.E. 1 biplane, was disguised as repairs to an existing aeroplane. In this case it masqueraded as a Voisin biplane which had been presented to the War Office by the Duke of Westminster but only its 60 h.p. Wolseley water-cooled engine lived on in the new aircraft.
The B.E.1 was orthodox to modern eyes with slightly greater span to the upper wing but there was no fixed fin and lateral control was by wing warping. It was pushed out for first engine runs at Farnborough on December 4,1911 and first flew in the experienced hands of de Havilland on December 27. The first passenger was F. T. Hearle on January 3, 1912 but the rest of the month was spent in solving rigging problems. It eventually flew well, once at night, and carried a large number of passengers but before long the cumbersome Wolseley engine installation, with its drag-producing radiator between the front centre section struts, was scrapped in favour of an air-cooled 60 h.p. Renault. This engine was at first completely uncowled but the nose was later faired in to give protection to the occupants and the aircraft was so much quieter in the air than rotary engined machines that it was known locally as 'the silent aeroplane".
The B.E. 1, progenitor of the mass produced B.E.2s of several marks used during the First World War, had a comparatively long career and was equipped with early radio apparatus by Capt. H. P. T. Lefroy, R.E. With Geoffrey de Havilland as pilot he then used it for pioneer wireless controlled artillery shoots on Salisbury Plain. On March 11, 1912 it was handed over to Capt. J. C. Burke, C O . of the Air Battalion, accepted as airworthy next day, and later taken on charge by No. 2 Squadron, R.F.C. with serial number 201. In the hands of Capt. Burke and other pilots it took part in a number of experimental flights at Farnborough during 1913 and 1914 and eventually crashed there in January 1915.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
One 60 h.p. Wolseley
One 60 h.p. Renault
Dimensions: Span 38 ft. 7 1/2 in. Length 29 ft. 6 1/2 in.
Performance: Maximum speed 59 m.p.h. Climb t o 600 ft. 3 min. 52 sec.
Like the S.E.1 before it, the construction of Geoffrey de Havilland and F. M. Green's next design, the two seat tractor B.E. 1 biplane, was disguised as repairs to an existing aeroplane. In this case it masqueraded as a Voisin biplane which had been presented to the War Office by the Duke of Westminster but only its 60 h.p. Wolseley water-cooled engine lived on in the new aircraft.
The B.E.1 was orthodox to modern eyes with slightly greater span to the upper wing but there was no fixed fin and lateral control was by wing warping. It was pushed out for first engine runs at Farnborough on December 4,1911 and first flew in the experienced hands of de Havilland on December 27. The first passenger was F. T. Hearle on January 3, 1912 but the rest of the month was spent in solving rigging problems. It eventually flew well, once at night, and carried a large number of passengers but before long the cumbersome Wolseley engine installation, with its drag-producing radiator between the front centre section struts, was scrapped in favour of an air-cooled 60 h.p. Renault. This engine was at first completely uncowled but the nose was later faired in to give protection to the occupants and the aircraft was so much quieter in the air than rotary engined machines that it was known locally as 'the silent aeroplane".
The B.E. 1, progenitor of the mass produced B.E.2s of several marks used during the First World War, had a comparatively long career and was equipped with early radio apparatus by Capt. H. P. T. Lefroy, R.E. With Geoffrey de Havilland as pilot he then used it for pioneer wireless controlled artillery shoots on Salisbury Plain. On March 11, 1912 it was handed over to Capt. J. C. Burke, C O . of the Air Battalion, accepted as airworthy next day, and later taken on charge by No. 2 Squadron, R.F.C. with serial number 201. In the hands of Capt. Burke and other pilots it took part in a number of experimental flights at Farnborough during 1913 and 1914 and eventually crashed there in January 1915.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
One 60 h.p. Wolseley
One 60 h.p. Renault
Dimensions: Span 38 ft. 7 1/2 in. Length 29 ft. 6 1/2 in.
Performance: Maximum speed 59 m.p.h. Climb t o 600 ft. 3 min. 52 sec.
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.1
The first type designed under Geoffrey de Havilland's direction after his appointment to Farnborough was a canard pusher biplane which, at a time when little money was being spent on new aeroplanes, had to be described as the rebuild of a crashed Army Bleriot monoplane. In fact, nothing but the Bleriot's 60 h.p. E.N.V. engine was used in its construction.
Two bay biplane wings were mounted at the rear end of a long, narrow nacelle, with twin rudders on outriggers behind and a front wing, or elevator, in the extreme nose. It received Royal Aircraft Factory designation S.E.1, signifying Santos Experimental initially but later it came to mean Scouting Experimental.
Roll-out took place at 5 a.m. on June 7, 1911 but the wheels were too far aft of the CG, causing the front skids to dig into the ground when taxying and it was next day, after adjustments, before a first straight flight of about a mile was possible. Longer straight flights followed on June 10 when it was said to be fast and to climb well but it was not exactly a successful aeroplane and a flight to Laffan's Plain on June 28 showed that the hinge line of the front wing was too far ahead of the c.p. and progressive reductions in area were necessary before the S.E. 1 became stable in pitch. Turns were difficult and although side area was reduced by stripping fabric from the sides of the nacelle, real improvement was only achieved when the all-moving front wing was replaced by a fixed aerofoil with trailing edge elevator.
Geoffrey de Havilland, its only pilot up to that time, flew it for the last time on August 16, 1911 when he made two return trips to Laffan's Plain with a misfiring engine. This was put right but two days later, on August 18, Lt. T. J. Ridge, Assistant Superintendent of the Royal Aircraft Factory but a pilot of only limited experience, stalled it off a gliding turn over Farnborough, spun it and was killed.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plant: One 60 h.p. E.N.V. Type F.
Dimensions:
Span 38 ft. 6 in. Length 29 ft. 0 in.
Height 11 ft. 6 in. Wing area 400 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 1,200 lb.
The first type designed under Geoffrey de Havilland's direction after his appointment to Farnborough was a canard pusher biplane which, at a time when little money was being spent on new aeroplanes, had to be described as the rebuild of a crashed Army Bleriot monoplane. In fact, nothing but the Bleriot's 60 h.p. E.N.V. engine was used in its construction.
Two bay biplane wings were mounted at the rear end of a long, narrow nacelle, with twin rudders on outriggers behind and a front wing, or elevator, in the extreme nose. It received Royal Aircraft Factory designation S.E.1, signifying Santos Experimental initially but later it came to mean Scouting Experimental.
Roll-out took place at 5 a.m. on June 7, 1911 but the wheels were too far aft of the CG, causing the front skids to dig into the ground when taxying and it was next day, after adjustments, before a first straight flight of about a mile was possible. Longer straight flights followed on June 10 when it was said to be fast and to climb well but it was not exactly a successful aeroplane and a flight to Laffan's Plain on June 28 showed that the hinge line of the front wing was too far ahead of the c.p. and progressive reductions in area were necessary before the S.E. 1 became stable in pitch. Turns were difficult and although side area was reduced by stripping fabric from the sides of the nacelle, real improvement was only achieved when the all-moving front wing was replaced by a fixed aerofoil with trailing edge elevator.
Geoffrey de Havilland, its only pilot up to that time, flew it for the last time on August 16, 1911 when he made two return trips to Laffan's Plain with a misfiring engine. This was put right but two days later, on August 18, Lt. T. J. Ridge, Assistant Superintendent of the Royal Aircraft Factory but a pilot of only limited experience, stalled it off a gliding turn over Farnborough, spun it and was killed.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plant: One 60 h.p. E.N.V. Type F.
Dimensions:
Span 38 ft. 6 in. Length 29 ft. 0 in.
Height 11 ft. 6 in. Wing area 400 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 1,200 lb.
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
This was an improved aeroplane powered by a 50 h.p. Gnome, similar to the F.E. 1 in its final form, but fitted with a sesquiplane tail unit and a wood and canvas nacelle with two seats. On its first outing at Farnborough on August 16, 1911 it taxied only 50 yards before a piston broke up and the pieces were ejected through an exhaust port but, at 6.30 a.m. on August 18, Geoffrey de Havilland successfully flew it the short distance to Laffan's Plain and made four landings. Tail heaviness made gliding difficult but with more than 50 lb. of lead in the nose it flew well although this was later reduced when a monoplane tail unit was fitted.
On December 6, 1911 de Havilland flew the F.E.2 to Shrewton, near Larkhill, and after lunch returned to Farnborough having covered 100 miles in 2 3/4 hours flying time and, following a 'height test' to 1,900 ft. before the official observer, Capt. Burke, on December 23, qualified for the Royal Aero Club's Special Aviator's Certificate.
The aircraft was persistently right wing low but, after repeated rigging adjustments, was taken over to Fleet Pond where the wheels were removed, the skids were bolted to a single, shallow-draught float, and tail and wing tip floats fitted. First flights from the water, totalling 3/4 hr., were made by de Havilland on April 12,1912 but, with the drag of the float, 50 h.p. was not enough and the F.E.2 went back to Farnborough where the original engine was replaced by a 70 h.p. Gnome. It first flew with this engine on April 26 and was flown to the Pond next day for the float to be refitted. With extra power, water take-offs with pilot and passenger were quite good and the aircraft then went on to enjoy a comparatively long career on both wheel and float undercarriages.
It was employed later in 1912 for trials with a Maxim machine gun mounted in the nose and in 1913 was extensively reworked with 70 h.p. Renault Vee 8 engine, streamlined nacelle, new outer wing panels which increased the span to 42 ft., tailplane raised to the top longerons, and a smaller rudder. In this form it resembled the larger and later F.E. types which were built in quantity.
During a trip to the South Coast piloted by Royal Aircraft Factory test pilot Ronald Kemp on February 23,1914, it spiralled into the ground from 500 ft. at West Wittering, seven miles from Chichester, Sussex, due it was said, to the absence of fixed fin area to offset the increased keel surface of the new nacelle. Passenger E. T. Haynes, a civilian scientist at the Factory, was killed and the aircraft destroyed.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
One 50 h.p. Gnome
One 70 h.p. Gnome
One 70 h.p. Renault
Dimensions:
Span 33 ft. 0 in. (increased to 42 ft. 0 in. in 1913)
Length 28 ft. 0 in. Wing area 340 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 1,200 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed 47.5 m.p.h.
This was an improved aeroplane powered by a 50 h.p. Gnome, similar to the F.E. 1 in its final form, but fitted with a sesquiplane tail unit and a wood and canvas nacelle with two seats. On its first outing at Farnborough on August 16, 1911 it taxied only 50 yards before a piston broke up and the pieces were ejected through an exhaust port but, at 6.30 a.m. on August 18, Geoffrey de Havilland successfully flew it the short distance to Laffan's Plain and made four landings. Tail heaviness made gliding difficult but with more than 50 lb. of lead in the nose it flew well although this was later reduced when a monoplane tail unit was fitted.
On December 6, 1911 de Havilland flew the F.E.2 to Shrewton, near Larkhill, and after lunch returned to Farnborough having covered 100 miles in 2 3/4 hours flying time and, following a 'height test' to 1,900 ft. before the official observer, Capt. Burke, on December 23, qualified for the Royal Aero Club's Special Aviator's Certificate.
The aircraft was persistently right wing low but, after repeated rigging adjustments, was taken over to Fleet Pond where the wheels were removed, the skids were bolted to a single, shallow-draught float, and tail and wing tip floats fitted. First flights from the water, totalling 3/4 hr., were made by de Havilland on April 12,1912 but, with the drag of the float, 50 h.p. was not enough and the F.E.2 went back to Farnborough where the original engine was replaced by a 70 h.p. Gnome. It first flew with this engine on April 26 and was flown to the Pond next day for the float to be refitted. With extra power, water take-offs with pilot and passenger were quite good and the aircraft then went on to enjoy a comparatively long career on both wheel and float undercarriages.
It was employed later in 1912 for trials with a Maxim machine gun mounted in the nose and in 1913 was extensively reworked with 70 h.p. Renault Vee 8 engine, streamlined nacelle, new outer wing panels which increased the span to 42 ft., tailplane raised to the top longerons, and a smaller rudder. In this form it resembled the larger and later F.E. types which were built in quantity.
During a trip to the South Coast piloted by Royal Aircraft Factory test pilot Ronald Kemp on February 23,1914, it spiralled into the ground from 500 ft. at West Wittering, seven miles from Chichester, Sussex, due it was said, to the absence of fixed fin area to offset the increased keel surface of the new nacelle. Passenger E. T. Haynes, a civilian scientist at the Factory, was killed and the aircraft destroyed.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
One 50 h.p. Gnome
One 70 h.p. Gnome
One 70 h.p. Renault
Dimensions:
Span 33 ft. 0 in. (increased to 42 ft. 0 in. in 1913)
Length 28 ft. 0 in. Wing area 340 sq. ft.
Weights: All-up weight 1,200 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed 47.5 m.p.h.
Royal Aircraft Factory B.S.1
The last aircraft designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and his team before he left to join the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was the B.S.1 single seat biplane flown early in 1913. Powered by a 14 cylinder, two row Gnome rotary, it was the first aeroplane in the world specifically designed as a fast single seat scout and as Bleriot was said to have originated the tractor biplane, was known as the Bleriot Scout, or B.S.1.
Its wooden, circular section monococque fuselage, a masterpiece of the cabinet maker's art and years ahead of its time, merged smoothly into the lines of the closely cowled engine to give the B.S.1 a very good streamlined shape. Lateral control was by warping the single bay wings and the tail unit featured a diminutive rudder, without fixed fin, mounted above a one-piece tailplane and elevator.
For its day the B.S.1 was very fast and in March 1913 its designer, now Lt. de Havilland, Special Reserve, was timed over the speed course at 91.4 m.p.h. Unfortunately the rudder was far too small for the considerable keel surface of the deep front fuselage and directional control was poor. Consequently, later on the day of the speed trials, it went out of control in a turn and de Havilland was injured as it struck the ground in a flat spin.
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SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
(B.S.1) One 100 h.p. Gnome
Dimensions: Span 27 ft. 6 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
Weights: All-up weight 1,230 lb.
Performance:
(B.S.1)
Maximum speed 92 m.p.h. Landing speed 51 m.p.h.
Initial climb 900 ft. min. Endurance 3 hours
The last aircraft designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and his team before he left to join the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was the B.S.1 single seat biplane flown early in 1913. Powered by a 14 cylinder, two row Gnome rotary, it was the first aeroplane in the world specifically designed as a fast single seat scout and as Bleriot was said to have originated the tractor biplane, was known as the Bleriot Scout, or B.S.1.
Its wooden, circular section monococque fuselage, a masterpiece of the cabinet maker's art and years ahead of its time, merged smoothly into the lines of the closely cowled engine to give the B.S.1 a very good streamlined shape. Lateral control was by warping the single bay wings and the tail unit featured a diminutive rudder, without fixed fin, mounted above a one-piece tailplane and elevator.
For its day the B.S.1 was very fast and in March 1913 its designer, now Lt. de Havilland, Special Reserve, was timed over the speed course at 91.4 m.p.h. Unfortunately the rudder was far too small for the considerable keel surface of the deep front fuselage and directional control was poor. Consequently, later on the day of the speed trials, it went out of control in a turn and de Havilland was injured as it struck the ground in a flat spin.
<...>
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
(B.S.1) One 100 h.p. Gnome
Dimensions: Span 27 ft. 6 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
Weights: All-up weight 1,230 lb.
Performance:
(B.S.1)
Maximum speed 92 m.p.h. Landing speed 51 m.p.h.
Initial climb 900 ft. min. Endurance 3 hours
Royal Aircraft Factory B.S.1
<...>
During extensive repairs the aircraft was re-engined with an 80 h.p. Gnome and fitted with a divided elevator to accommodate a tall, high aspect ratio rudder with small fixed fins above and below the fuselage. It was then redesignated B.S.2, later changed to S.E.2, but within a few months the rudder was enlarged still more and the machine reappeared with a fabric covered strut-and-longeron rear fuselage.
It was taken over by No. 5 Squadron, R.F.C. in January 1914 and also served with No. 3 Squadron at Netheravon. It was sent to Moyenneville, France in October 1914 and flew offensive patrols until March 1915. Armament consisted of two rifles mounted on the sides of the fuselage to fire outside the arc of the propeller.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
(B.S.2) One 80 h.p. Gnome
Dimensions: Span 27 ft. 6 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
Weights: All-up weight 1,230 lb.
Performance:
(B.S.2)
Maximum speed 85 m.p.h. Landing speed 47 m.p.h.
Initial climb 700 ft. min.
<...>
During extensive repairs the aircraft was re-engined with an 80 h.p. Gnome and fitted with a divided elevator to accommodate a tall, high aspect ratio rudder with small fixed fins above and below the fuselage. It was then redesignated B.S.2, later changed to S.E.2, but within a few months the rudder was enlarged still more and the machine reappeared with a fabric covered strut-and-longeron rear fuselage.
It was taken over by No. 5 Squadron, R.F.C. in January 1914 and also served with No. 3 Squadron at Netheravon. It was sent to Moyenneville, France in October 1914 and flew offensive patrols until March 1915. Armament consisted of two rifles mounted on the sides of the fuselage to fire outside the arc of the propeller.
SPECIFICATION AND DATA
Construction: By the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Hants.
Power Plants:
(B.S.2) One 80 h.p. Gnome
Dimensions: Span 27 ft. 6 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
Weights: All-up weight 1,230 lb.
Performance:
(B.S.2)
Maximum speed 85 m.p.h. Landing speed 47 m.p.h.
Initial climb 700 ft. min.