May 2018 FLYPAST 121as DH’s chief test pilot and flew the
third and much modified DH.108,
VW120, in July 1947.
Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland OBE
was buried alongside his younger
brother, John, at Tewin, near
Hertford. John had followed in
his footsteps and by 1943 was
involved in testing Mosquitos at
Hatfield.
On August 23, 1943 he was
flying FB.VI HJ734 with John
Scorpe alongside him as flight
test observer. Up at the same
time was George Gibbins in Mk.VI
HX897, accompanied by flight test
foreman ‘Nick’ Carter. The two
aircraft collided at about 500ft,
the shattered wreckage falling to
the ground near St Albans; all four
were killed.
The headstone of the de
Havilland brothers bears the
following: “They gave their lives
in advancing the science of flight.
To strive, to seek, to find and not
to yield.”
Their mother, Lady Louie de
Havilland, was buried in July 1949;
she took the deaths of her sons
badly and never recovered her
health. Sir Geoffrey de HavillandOM CBE AFC died on May 21, 1965
aged 83. His ashes were scattered
at Seven Barrows, near Newbury,
where he succeeded in a flying in
an aeroplane of his own design on
September 10, 1910.Piston
diversifi cation
With the war over, no time was lost
in creating a new commercial type:
the prototype Dove, a monoplane
with retractable undercarriage
intended to replace the Dragon
Rapide, flew for the first time on
September 25, 1945 – 23 daysafter the Japanese surrender.
Along with its military version,
the Devon, it was a phenomenal
success, the last of 542 being
delivered in 1968.
A four-engined stretched version
of the Dove, the Heron, made its
debut on May 10, 1950. Initially
fitted with fixed undercarriage, the
type adopted retractable gear in- When production ended in
1964 a total of 149 had been built,
some of which had operated with
the Queen’s Flight.
At Downsview, Ontario, de
Havilland Aircraft Canada
“The headstone of the de Havilland brothers bears the following: ‘They gave
their lives in advancing the science of fl ight. To strive,
to seek, to fi nd and not to yield.’”Devon C.2 VP975 attends an event at Little Rissington in August 1954. Serving for most of its long career with the Royal Aircraft Establishment, it was built in 1949 and retired in 1986, and is now part
of the Science Museum’s reserve collection at Wroughton. ROY BONSER
One of 15 Venom FB.50s produced at
Hawarden, Chester, for the Iraq Air Force,- DE HAVILLAND
The prototype Heron, G-ALZL, took its
maiden fl ight on May 10, 1950. Today it’s
preserved in Australia. DE HAVILLANDThe fi rst DH.108, TG283, was test fl own by
Geoffrey de Havilland Junior at Woodbridge
on May 15, 1946. BRITISH AEROSPACE