De Havilland DH 84 Dragon
Witness a 1930s passenger aircraft take to the skies once again
at the Airshow, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune on Sat 23
July 2011.
Early domestic passenger airliner
The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon was a successful small commercial
aircraft designed and built by the de Havilland company. It was
originally designated the DH.84 "Dragon Moth" but marketed as the
"Dragon". The prototype became the first production example and
entered commercial service in April 1933.
De Havilland DH 84 Dragon ©
Mike Bajcar
It could carry six passengers each with 45 lb (20 kg) of
luggage on the London-Paris route on a fuel consumption of just 13
gal (49 l) per hour. The Dragon proved very attractive as a
short-haul low capacity airliner. Following the end of the Second
World War, surviving DH.84s were released into commercial service
and a number are still flying today.
Dragon at Airshow 2011
De Havilland DH 84
Dragon © Paul
Johnson
G-ECAN in the display is
finished in the colours of Railway Air Services (RAS). It was
built in about 1943 as part of the Australian production run for
the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and initially served as a
navigational trainer. It was sold off at the end of the war, being
licenced in Australia as VH-DHX and is now part of the Torquil
Norman collection based at Rendcombe airfield in Gloucestershire.
It is flown today by Ben Cox, an experienced display
pilot.
RAS was a British airline formed
in March 1934 by four railway companies and Imperial Airways. The
airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United
Kingdom linking up with Imperial's services. The most
important RAS route flown was between London and Scotland
(London-Birmingham-Manchester/Liverpool-Belfast-Glasgow). The
trunk service commenced on 20 August 1934 operating once daily in
each direction.