Airco DH.6

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DH.6
Type	Trainer
Manufacturer	Airco
Designed by	Geoffrey de Havilland
Maiden flight	1916
Primary user	Royal Flying Corps
Number built	>2,280

The Airco DH.6 was a military trainer biplane used by Britain's Royal Flying Corps during World War I. It was of conventional configuration with unstaggered, two-bay wings and a tractor-mounted engine driving a four-bladed propeller. The pilot and instructor sat in tandem in a single open cockpit. One unusual feature of the design was its long exhaust stacks that rose vertically from the engine installation and ended above the upper wing, a characteristic that earned the type the nickname "sky hook". Other nicknames for the type included "crab", "clockwork mouse", "flying coffin" and "dung hunter" (these last two on account of the shape of the plywood cockpit - thought to resemble either a coffin or an outside toilet).

Designed as a trainer, the DH.6 had very gentle flying characteristics, almost impossible to stall or spin. Nevertheless, intended to prepare pilots for fighter aircraft, it was designed to be intentionally unstable, earning it yet another nickname, "clutching hand".

The DH.6 was soon rendered obsolete by the Avro 504 but nevertheless, over 1,000 were still in service with the RFC and RNAS at the time of the Armistice. Many of these found their way into civillian hands after the war. Some were exported as far as South Africa and Australia, where they could be found flying into the late 1930s.

[edit] Variants

• DH.6
  • DH.6A - with Curtiss OX-5 engine

Additionally, some 60 aircraft were licence-built in Spain with Hispano-Suiza 8 engines

[edit] Specifications (DH.6)

General characteristics

• Crew: two, pilot and instructor
• Length: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
• Wingspan: 35 ft 11 in (10.95 m)
• Height: 10 ft 9 in (3.29 m)
• Length: 436 ft² (40.4 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,460 lb (663 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,030 lb (920 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × RAF 1a 90 hp (70 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 66 mph (106 km/h)
• Endurance: 2¾ hours
• Rate of climb: 225 ft/min (1.1 m/s)

[edit] References

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions, 45. 
• Australian War Museum website
• avia.ru

[edit] Related content

Designation sequence

DH.3 - DH.4 - DH.5 - DH.6 - DH.9 - DH.10 - DH.11