92 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017IN SERVICE DE HAVILLAND DRAGON
been restored and fl own
again 20 years ago.
Other Dragons were used in
the tough environment of New
Guinea, one each being
operated by Territory Airlines,
Madang Air Services and
Mandated Airlines. Wooden
airframes did not survive long
in the hot, humid and
challenging fl ying conditions
there.CANADA
Dragon CF-APJ was delivered
in May 1933 to Canadian
Airways Ltd of Montréal,
where it was profi tably used
for summer joyriding from
Cartierville airport. It then
joined the airline’s Maritimes
division, carrying the mail
between Moncton, New
Brunswick and Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, but was
eventually cannibalised in
October 1942, enabling
Dragon CF-AVD to be
reconditioned.A later-production Dragon II,
CF-AVD had been sold to
Canada as late as February- It was fi tted with fl oats
designed by the Canadian
Fairchild company and the
DH84M-style extended fi n to
counter the larger keel area
forward of the nose. It was
much publicised for its utility,
but substantial orders for
MAINLAND EUROPE
In October 1933 the Hærens
Flyvertropper (Danish army air
force) ordered two DH84s.
Capt C. C. Larsen fl ew both of
them from Hatfi eld to
Copenhagen. Serialled S-21
and S-22, they were based at
Værløse and intended for
observer training, with a pilot,
instructor and four pupils in
each aircraft. S-21 was
destroyed with the loss of
three crew members at
Ringsted on 24 February 1936,
while attempting to search for
a phantom ‘lost’ aircraft. S-22
crashed on 9 August 1939, the
six aboard surviving.
Interestingly, the Danes
decided to replace the DH84s
with the DH90 Dragonfl y for
the same tasks, as well as pilot
blind fl ying training.
Several Dragons were
registered in France,
comprising F-AMTN to ’TR,
’MUZ and ’NES. Two of them
equipped Lignes AériennesNord Africaines (LANA) in
North Africa. Single Dragons
ended up in some remarkable
locations; the former G-ACIE,
for instance, was re-registered
OK-ATO to the Bata shoe
company of Czechoslovakia.
The Portuguese military
received three Dragon IIs for
use as trainers and transports
in 1937. Confi gured without
armament but with the
extended fi n, they were the
fi rst enclosed-cabin aircraft in
service with the Aeronáutica
Militar, while the last two of
the trio delivered were the
fi nal British-built DH84s. They
were given serials 504 to 506
and allocated to the Escola
Militar de Aeronáutica, where
one was destroyed. The others
soldiered on until 1952 when
they were transferred to the
Força Aérea Portuguesa. 504
was still fl ying in 1953.ABOVE:
DH84 Dragon CF-AVD
Canadian Airways
CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEYABOVE: The fi nal two DH84Ms in service were fl own by the
Portuguese Air Force. The last of them remained operational until at
least 1953. AEROPLANEABOVE: Dragon VH-AOR of Qantas Empire Airways at Lae, New Guinea
in 1948, in front of grounded Avro Ansons of Guinea Air Traders and
sunken wartime Japanese ship Tenyo Maru. AL BOVELT COLLEC TION VIA GEOFF GOODALLSubstantial orders
for fl oat-equipped
Dragons did not follow:
there were just twofl oat-equipped Dragons did
not follow. There was only one
more sale direct from
production, that of CF-AVI.
CF-AVD survived until May
1944 when it stalled on
take-off at Baie-Comeau,
Québec. CF-AVI was swept
over a dam at Godbout during
a storm in January 1941.81-94_AM_DATABASE-Sept17_cc C.indd 92 31/07/2017 11:15