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How to Tame a Dragon!
Following on from the Tiger Moth feature (see GA Buyer November) which included only a snippet of the amazing backstory of aviation pioneer Geoffrey de Haviland, the ideas for more aircraft to write about were frankly too numerous to count. Fortunately, we had another of de Havilland’s master plan(e)s available at TASC Vintage: the majestic Dragon Rapide!
By Jamie Chalkley
Designed as an updated and, most notably, faster version of de Havilland’s commercial aircraft the DH.84 'Dragon Moth’ (which following testing was simply called the ‘Dragon’) de Havilland succeeded to develop the ‘Rapide’ almost as quick as the name suggested. From the winter of 1932 when the ‘Dragon’ first flew, de Havilland kept the pressure on his production team who turned out just over 200 aircraft. But he needed more from the aircraft to suit the growing interest in shorthaul passenger carriage. And, as ever, de Havilland was all over it!
Keeping to the well-proven design, he stuck with a plywood and fabric construction but changed to tapered wings in order to reduce drag. To be fair, it needed all the help it could get given there were four large wings, large wing struts and their respective bracing wires, all competing with the designer’s aerodynamic ambitions — but literally holding it back from a drag point of view. However, nothing would slow de Havilland down! His team streamlined everything they could and incorporated concepts from the DH.86 Express, included ideas of blending the engine fairings toward the undercarriage and wheels. A pair of smart looking (aerodynamic) ‘trousers’, some said. And it worked; not only was it a truly majestic looking aircraft (and from the Tiger Moth issue, we all know he liked a thing to “look right”), but he had indeed added a good portion of ‘Rapide’ to the Dragon. For the just sub-110 mph cruise was now nicely over 130 mph! The range was also up from 460 miles to nearly 600! And the gross weight got a boost too; from the Dragon’s 4,200-lb limit to the Rapide’s 5,500-lb takeoff weight.
The prototype was called the DH.89 ‘Dragon Six’ (named so due to the engine upgrade from the 4cylinder ‘Gypsy Major’ to the 6-cylinder ‘Gypsy Six’). The test aircraft first flew on 17th April 1934 from Hatfield Aerodrome following de Havilland’s essential move from Stag Lane.
© PAUL JOHNSON. FLIGHTLINE UK
Dragon’s Den
During a period that Stag Lane was under increasing pressure from housing development (the same pressure so many airfields have fallen victim to since), Geoffrey de Havilland did what he always did; he got on with the job.
