| DH.89 Dragon Rapide/Dominie | |
|---|---|
| Role | Short-haul airliner |
| Manufacturer | de Havilland |
| First flight | 17 April 1934 |
| Primary user | Royal Air Force |
| Number built | 731 |
The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide was a British short-haul passenger airliner of the 1930s.
Contents |
Designed by the de Havilland company in late 1933 as a faster and more comfortable successor to the DH.84 Dragon, it was in effect a twin-engined, scaled-down version of the four-engined DH.86 Express. It shared many common features with the larger aircraft including its tapered wings, streamlined fairings and the Gipsy Six engine, but it demonstrated none of the operational vices of the larger aircraft and went on to become perhaps the most successful British-built short-haul commercial passenger aircraft of the 1930s.
The prototype aircraft first flew at Hatfield on 17 April 1934 and 205 were built for airlines and other owners all around the world before the outbreak of World War II. Originally designated the "Dragon Six" it was first marketed as "Dragon Rapide" although later it was popularly referred to as the "Rapide". With the fitting of improved trailing edge flaps from 1936, they were redesignated DH.89As.
The type entered service with UK-based airlines in the summer of 1934 with Hillman Airways Ltd being first to take delivery in July. Railway Air Services (RAS) operated a fleet of Rapides from August 1934 on routes linking London, the north of England and on to Northern Ireland and Scotland. The RAS DH.89s were named after places on the network and (eg) "Star of Lancashire".[1]
Isle of Man Air Services operated a fleet of Rapides on scheduled services from Ronaldsway Airport near Castletown to airports in north-west England including Blackpool, Liverpool and Manchester. Some of their aircraft had been transferred to them after operation by Railway Air Services.
One famous incident involving the use of a DH.89 was in July 1936 when two British MI6 intelligence agents, Cecil Bebb and Major Hugh Pollard, flew Francisco Franco in one from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco, at the start of the military rebellion which began the Spanish Civil War.[2] It is on display in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Museum of Spain.
At the start of World War II many (Dragon) Rapides were impressed by the British armed forces and served under the name de Havilland Dominie. They were used for passenger and communications. Over 500 further examples were built specifically for military purposes, powered by improved Gipsy Queen engines, to bring total production to 731. The Dominies were mainly used by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy for radio and navigation training.
Other civilian Rapides continue to fly for UK airlines as part of the Associated Airways Joint Committee (AAJC). The AAJC co-ordinated the UKs wartime scheduled services which were entirely operated on over-water routes.
Many ex RAF survivors entered commercial service after the war, and 81 were still flying on the British register in 1958. Dominie production was by both de Havilland and Brush Coachworks Ltd, the latter making the greater proportion.
The DH.89 proved an economical and very durable aircraft despite its relatively primitive plywood construction and many were still flying in the early 2000s. Several Rapides are still operational in the UK and several suppliers still offer pleasure flights in them. A Rapide can be seen in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Two Rapides are still airworthy in New Zealand. There is a Dragon Rapide flying with the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and another one based in Yolo County, California. Two are operated by Classic Wings for pleasure flights in UK.
General characteristics
Performance
A de Havilland Dragon Rapide, the Sky Gypsy, appears in Out of Time, an episode of the BBC science fiction television series Torchwood, in which one is accidentally flown through a "transcendental portal" and travels from 1953 over 50 years into its passengers' future. Aircraft registered as G-ACZE appears in the 1990 BBC production Agatha Christie's Poirot, "Peril at End House". Dragon Rapides appear in several films including The Maggie, The Captain's Paradise, Fathom, and the 1995 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III.
A 1986 Spanish film, Dragon rapide[11], covers its historical use by Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
British Airways shows Dragon Rapide in their 2011' advert To Fly. To Serve. [12]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||