De Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover
The de Havilland Australia DHA -3 Drover ( " drover " ) was a small three -engined transport aircraft manufactured in Australia by de Havilland Australia ( DHA) from the 1940s and 1950s. The Drover was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove.
History
After the Second World War there was a need for a successor to the obsolete biplane Dragon. Developed by de Havilland Dove did not meet the Australian requirements. Therefore, the Australian subsidiary in 1946 with its further development.
The DHA -3 had three four-cylinder engines Gipsy Major instead of two six-cylinder Gipsy Queen engines. The retractable landing gear was replaced by a spur wheel truck. In the shortened fuselage, a pilot and eight to nine passengers could be accommodated. The span remained unchanged. The name " Drover " was selected by the staff. The DHA -3 Mk 1 made its first flight on 23 January 1948.
After the launch of the weaknesses of the model became apparent. The engine output was too low, particularly at high temperatures. After 1951/52, the prototype and another machine had crashed due to the failure of the propellers, these were replaced by Fairey Reed fixed pitch propeller. The planes were deleted the name DHA -3 Mk.1F. After installing modified flap was renamed the DHA -3 Mk.2. Seven of these machines were in 1960 converted to Lycoming O -360 engines with Hartzell propellers and returned as DHA 3.Mk.3 to their owners.
After sixteen aircraft were built until the end of 1952, led the problems encountered in the collapse of demand. The last four of a total of twenty Drover were built in 1953, but could only be 1955/56, sold.
Use
The first two DHA -3 went in 1949 to the Department of Civil Aviation ( DCA). 1950 Qantas received five models, six of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia ( RFDS ). The aircraft delivered to Qantas proved for the transport to Papua New Guinea as inappropriate. A Drover went in 1951 due to the failure of a propeller lost. Of the four surviving three machines were already retired in 1954/55, the last one was sold in 1960. The DCA sold his last machine in 1959.
Trans Australia Airlines received two 1952 and 1956, a third DHA - third These machines were used on scheduled flights and the Flying Doctor Service. A plane already crashed in January 1952, the rest were 1963/65 sold to the RFDS. Of the two delivered to the Ministry of Health was a 1957 machine lost. Two other models that were originally ordered by Qantas, took over Fiji Airways. The last built DHA -3 Mk.2 was sold in 1956 to a private individual.
The RFDS had rebuilt in the early 1960s his six Drover to Mk.3 versions, but they replaced the end of the decade by the more modern Beechcraft Queen Air The structure was still part of a seventh machine that you acquired from the Ministry of Health and also had rebuilt. The aircraft could accommodate a pilot, two patients and two man medical personnel.
Used Drover later came into the possession of airlines that operated in the western Pacific. Partly aircraft have been sold to New Zealand and Great Britain. The last series engine was rebuilt in the late 1960s to an agricultural aircraft and is now in airworthy condition in the possession of Hawker de Havilland Aerospace, the successor to the de Havilland Australia.
User
- Australia Australia Department of Civil Aviation
- Department of Health
- Qantas
- Royal Flying Doctor Service
- Trans Australia Airlines
- Fiji Airways
- New Hebrides Airways
- Air Melanesiae
- Great Barrier Airlines
Versions
- Drover Mk.1: original version with controllable pitch propellers
- Drover Mk.1F: Rebuilt version with fixed pitch propellers
- Drover Mk.2: Rebuilt version with new flaps
- Drover Mk.3: Rebuilt version with three Lycoming O -360 - A1A engines Mk.3a: Rebuilt version with a modified tail and greater span
- Mk.3b: Rebuilt version with increased takeoff weight