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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1061.PDF
DE HAVILLAND DOVE Modernity in Miniature: All Metal Transport for Eight to Eleven Passengers: Gipsy Queen 71s with Direct Injection •ffy all the talk about the merits and international I saleability of bigger and better civil aircraft, the A commercial value of small-size transports appears to have been very largely forgotten. Yet, throughout the globe, there will always be a useful market for aircraft intended for tributary routes. Obviously, the evolution of such a miniature transport, if it is to be designed to modern standards, can be by no means the simple matter which it might at first seem to be. In the first place—and since ancillary equipment has more or less the same weight whether ihis is installed in large or small aircraft—the designer is, unless ingeni- ous, liable to be at a disadvantage when planning his payload. Secondly, a good single-engined performance is less easy to provide in any low-powered twin than it is, for instance, in a larger transport aircraft. Utilisation Compromise Further, the present-day operator will demand from his fleet the ability to maintain a high rate of utilisation, yet, when opening new routes or running charter services, he will hope for sufficiently low operating costs to make low utilisation economically reasonable. Finally, an op- erator is likely also to demand metal construction in an aircraft which is to be given intensive use over a number of years, and this feature might, without very careful de- sign, be expected to involve penalties in both weight and cost. So, in the face of these problems, the fact that the designer of the D.H. Dove has succeeded in producing an aircraft with a good performance and load-carrying capacity, a safe engine- failure performance and good main- tenance features is something of an achievement. And these have not been made possible at the expense of "modernity" which is essential in any civil aircraft intended K>f future as well as present markets. The Dove is no stop-gap. It has been developed, as the "Brabazon 5b," to fill all the requirements likely in its class during the coming few years, and to remain up - to - date unless and until very considerable changes in aircraft and power-unit ^sign can be usefully and economically incor- porated in small civil aircraft. Nor can the Dove be considered merely a 'Rapide replacement." The arrangements for the pas- sengers and crew of the Dove are, as far as possible in a compara- tively small aircraft, up to full- : scale standards. The normal crew will consist of a captain and a radio operator, but quickly removable dual control is provided. Although its uses will to some extent overlap those for which the Rapide was originally developed, it is also intended to fill a somewhat different and more " civilised " market in which a much higher degree of utilisation is to be expected. Whereas the Rapide, or any similar type will—at least until the regulations kill it— always have its value in cases where operators are working with light or varying traffic in "pioneer" condi- tions, the Dove is intended primarily for present or prospective feeder-line services on which an annual utilisa- tion figure of as much as 3,000 hours can be expected with loadings of not less than half capacity. Efficiency In fact, the minimum annual hour- age for economical use of the Dove will be about 800-1,000, while the Rapide can, of course, work with rather lower utilisation. In an earlier article Flight of October 11th last
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