De Havilland Dove

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The correct title of this article is de Havilland Dove. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

de Havilland DH.104 Dove

de Havilland Dove
Type	short-haul airliner
Manufacturer	de Havilland
Maiden flight	25 September 1945
Number built	528

The de Havilland DH.104 Dove was a British monoplane short-haul airliner from de Havilland, the successor to the bi-plane de Havilland Dragon Rapide and was one of Britain's most successful post-war civil designs. The design came about from the Brabazon Committee report which called for a British designed short-haul feeder for airlines.

1 Production
2 Service
3 Variants
4 Operators
- 4.1 Civil operators
- 4.2 Military operators
5 Specifications (Dove 5)
6 External links
7 Related content

[edit] Production

Production of the Dove and its variants consisted of 388 civilian Doves, 127 military Devon C.2s and 13 Sea Devon.

[edit] Service

The Dove first flew on 25 September 1945.

[edit] Variants

de Havilland Dove

Dove 1 : Light transport aircraft, seating up to 11-passengers. Powered by two 340-hp (254-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-4 piston engines.
- Dove 1B : Dove Mk 1 aircraft, fitted with two 380-hp (283-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
Dove 2 : Executive transport version, seating up to six passengers. Powered by two 340-hp (254-kW) Gipsy Queen piston engines.
- Dove 2B : Dove Mk 2 aircraft, fitted with two 380-hp (283-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
Dove 3 : Proposed high-altitude survey version. Not built.
Dove 4 : Military transport and communication version.
- Devon C Mk 1 : Transport and communication version for the RAF.
- Devon C Mk 2 : Transport and communications version for the RAF. Re-engined version of the Devon C Mk 1.
- Sea Devon C Mk 20 : Transport and communications version for the Royal Navy.
Dove 5 : The Dove 5 was powered by more powerful engines. The aircraft was fitted with two 380-hp (283-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
Dove 6 : Executive transport aircraft. Uprated version of the Dove 2, powered by two 380-hp (283-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
- Dove 6B : Stressed for operations at a maximum weight of 8,500lb (3856kg).
Dove 7 : Uprated version of the Dove 1, fitted with two 400-hp (298-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-3 piston engines.
Dove 8 : Uprated version of the Dove 2, fitted with two 400-hp (298-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-3 piston engines.
- Dove 8A : Five seater version of the Dove 8 for the American market. The Dove Custom 600 was the American designation of the Dove 8A.
Carstedt Jet Liner 600 : Conversions of the Dove, carried out by Carstedt Inc, of Long Beach, California, USA. The aircraft were fitted with two 605-ehp (451-kW) Garrett AirResearch TPE 331 turboprop engines. The fuselage was lengthened to accommodate 18 passengers.
Riley Turbo Executive 400 : Conversions of the Dove, carried out by Riley Aircraft in the USA. The aircraft were fitted with two 400-hp (298-kW) Lycoming IO-720-A1A flat-eight piston engines.

[edit] Operators

[edit] Civil operators

Airlines of Western Australia
Airways (India)
Apache Airlines
BOAC
British Midlands
Cambrian
Central African Airways
Channel Airways
Hunting Clan Air Transport
Olley Air Services
Morton Air Services
SABENA
Skyways
South African Airways
Sudan Airways
Union of Burma Airways
West African Airways

[edit] Military operators

Argentina
Belgian Congo
Brazil
Ceylon
Egypt
Ireland: Irish Air Corps
Ethiopia
India: Indian Air Force
Iraq
Jordan
Lebanon
Malaysia
New Zealand: Royal New Zealand Air Force
Pakistan
South Africa: South African Air Force
Sweden
United Kingdom: Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm

[edit] Specifications (Dove 5)

Data from Jane's

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Capacity: 8 passengers
Length: 39 ft 3 in (11.96 m)
Wingspan: 57 ft (17.37 m)
Height: 13 ft 4 in (4.06 m)
Wing area: 335 sq ft (31.1 m²)
Empty weight: 5,725 lb (2,600 kg)
Loaded weight: 8,800 lb (4,000 kg)
Powerplant: 2× de Havilland Gipsy Queen 70 Mk.2 geared, supercharged 6-cylinder in-line inverted air-cooled engine, 380 bhp (283 kW) each