Aeroplane September 2017

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AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 91

IN SERVICE DE HAVILLAND DRAGON


Development


Technical Details


In Service


Insights


G-ACPY, leased from
Blackpool and West Coast Air
Services — part of the Olley
group — and registered as
EI-ABI. It was christened Iolar
(Eagle). The DH84 flew
between the Irish Air Corps
airfield at Baldonnel, Dublin
and Bristol, until replaced in
1938 by Dragon Rapide Iolar
II. The company had just 12
staff and it was claimed that all
the spares were kept in a
biscuit tin. Restored to the UK
register as G-ACPY, the former
Iolar was lost during World
War Two, flying with Great
Western and Southern Airlines
between the Scilly Isles and
Land’s End when it was shot
down by a Luftwaffe aircraft on
3 June 1941. All six on board
were killed.
Aer Lingus decided in 1967
to obtain a Dragon to restore
as Iolar, ready to be put on
show next to its first Boeing
747 during 1971. The derelict
former G-AECZ/EI-AFK was
returned to taxiing condition,
then hung in the departures
hall at Dublin Airport. In
1985-86 it was fully restored,
registered as EI-ABI and flown
again, in an inspiring project
by volunteer staff. Currently
active under the ownership of
the Aer Lingus Charitable
Foundation and flying with the
Irish Historic Flight
Foundation, this second Iolar
has had periods of grounding
but remains a popular aircraft
on the European scene.

Prospector (later Golden
Prospector) and Golden West
in October 1933 by Mrs W. S.
Robinson, the wife of the
company founder, they went
on to survey tens of thousands
of square miles of potential
goldfields. Based out of
Kalgoorie, they were fitted
with Williamson Eagle IV
cameras, toilets, thicker
windows to improve
soundproofing, strengthened
undercarriages with oversize
tyres for rough airfields, extra
tanks enabling flights of up to
eight hours’ duration, and a
wing root-mounted wind-
driven generator to power the
Marconi radio and associated
direction-finding kit.
Scheduled to complete the
survey of 80,000 square miles
in two years, the DH84s did so

in September 1934. They went
on to be used as transports for
Western Mining Corporation
staff and equipment.
As well as Hollyman Airways’
Tasmania run, MacRobertson-
Miller Aviation operated three
Dragons on the 2,252-mile
Perth-Dailey Waters route in
Western Australia, while Butler
Aviation flew a single example
between Charleville and
Cootamundra as a leg of the
England-Australia air mail
service. During 1949, one
Trans Australia Airlines Dragon
was used in Queensland to
drop bait as a means of
eliminating dingoes, certainly
one of the type’s more unusual
jobs.
Schutt Airfarmers employed
two Dragons for crop-
spraying, certainly a punishing
task for the aircraft, while
others were flown in less
demanding conditions with
Marshall Airways and the Royal
Aero Club of New South
Wales. What was Australia’s
last active Dragon, VH-UXG,
crashed with six fatalities in
2012, but A34-92 is on static
display at the RAAF Museum
at Point Cook, and a third is in
private hands for a long-term
restoration.
Dragons were the first
twin-engine transports to
become operational in New
Zealand, with East Coast
Airways’ ZK-ADS and ’ADR
flying from Napier to Gisborne
four times a day starting in
April 1935. Today an
Australian-built Dragon, Stan
Smith’s ZK-AXI Taniwha
(named after a Maori water
monster, or ‘dragon’) is
available for pleasure flying
from North Shore Airfield
north of Auckland, having

IRELAND’S
MILITARY DH84
After serving with several
British airlines, one
Dragon, G-ACNI (c/n
6071), was delivered to
the Irish Air Corps as
serial 18 in March 1937
after conversion to
DH84M standard by
Airwork at Heston. It
served at Baldonnel with
No 1 Reconnaissance and
Medium Bombing
Squadron, and later as a
target tug, but was lost in
a take-off crash on 16
February 1941 due to
ground locking devices
having been left in place.
Mike Hooks

TURKEY AND THE DRAGON
The Turkish Air Force received four Dragons. Following
extensive six-week demonstrations in Turkey during
November 1934, G-ACXI (c/n 6087) was sold to the
country’s armed forces the following month and three more
ordered. Originally registered G-AEIS, ’EIT and ’EIU (c/n
6107-6109), they were converted to military standard and
delivered in December 1936. Turkey had given no official
requirements for the aircraft but de Havilland had
demonstrated that it could be a transport or a navigation
and photographic trainer. No details of their service use
have been reported, though they were extant at least as
late as 1943. Mike Hooks

IRAQ


One of the initial clients for the
Dragon was the Iraqi Air
Force, a new air arm founded
in 1931, effectively under
British control. The
requirement was for an aircraft
to quell local disturbances and
carry out patrols and
communication flying. The aim
was continuation of the RAF’s
‘air policing’ role, but by
British-trained Iraqi air and
groundcrews.
Eight Dragons were built as
DH84M military variants and
flown away to great media
fanfare by their Iraqi crews, the
first leaving on 13 May 1933.
The air force used them
against revolts by tribes in
Diwaniya and Rumaytha,
southern Iraq, in 1934.
As far as civil operations
were concerned, G-ACKC and
’KD were used for oil pipeline
patrols by the Iraqi Petroleum
Transport Company.

AUSTRALIA AND
NEW ZEALAND

Two of the first Dragons in
Australia, VH-URF and ’URG,
were operated as survey
aircraft for the Western Mining
Corporation in Western
Australia’s vast deserts.
Respectively christened Gay

ABOVE: Iraq’s eight DH84Ms awaiting delivery from a rather wet
Hatfield aerodrome in May 1933. AEROPLANE

Its equipment for the training role was felt to
be satisfactory, and the layout of the crew and
training stations deemed excellent

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