De Havilland Albatross
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- The correct title of this article is de Havilland Albatross. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
The de Havilland DH.91 Albatross was a four-engine British transport aircraft in the 1930s. A total of seven aircraft were built in 1938-1939.
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[edit] Development
The DH.91 was designed in 1936 by A.E. Hagg to Air Ministry specificiation 36/35 for a trans-Atlantic mail plane. The aircraft was remarkable for the ply-balsa-ply sandwich construction of its fuselage which was later made famous in the de Havilland Mosquito bomber. The first Albatross flew on May 20, 1937.
Although designed as a mailplane, a version to carry 22-passengers was developed, the main difference was extra windows and slotted flaps in place of the split type.
[edit] Operational history
The first delivery to Imperial Airways was the 22-passenger DH.91 Frobisher in October 1938. The five passenger carrying aircraft were operated on routes from Croydon to Paris, Brussels and Zurich. After test flying was completed the two prototypes were delivered to Imperial Airways as long-range mail-carriers.
With the onset of World War II, the Royal Air Force considered their range and speed useful for courier flights between Great Britain and Iceland and the two mailplanes were pressed into service with the 271 Squadron in September 1940. Both aircraft were destroyed in landing accidents in Reykjavík, one (Faraday) in 1941 and one (Franklin) in 1942.
The five passenger aircraft were used by Imperial Airways (later BOAC) on Bristol-Lisbon and Bristol-Shannon routes. One aircraft Frobisher was destroyed during a Germany air raid on Bristol in 1940, and two in landing accidents, one (Fingal) in 1940 at Pucklechurch and the other (Fortuna) in 1943 at Shannon Airport. With only two aircraft surviving Falcon and Fiona were scrapped in September 1943.
[edit] Operators
[edit] Specifications (DH.91)
General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Capacity: 22 passengers
- Length: 21.8 m (71 ft 6 in)
- Wingspan: 32.0 m (105 ft 0 in)
- Height: 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)
- Wing area: 100.15 m² (1,078 ft²)
- Empty weight: 9,630 kg (21,186 lb)
- Loaded weight: 13,381 kg (29,438 lb)
- Powerplant: 4× de Havilland Gypsy Twelve piston engines, 392 kW (525 hp) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 362 km/h (225 mph)
- Cruise speed: 338 km/h (210 mph)
- Range: 1,675 km (1,040 miles)
- Service ceiling: 5,455 m (17,900 ft)
- Rate of climb: 3.5 m/s (700 ft/min)
- Wing loading: 134 kg/m² (27 lb/ft²)
- Power/mass: 0.12 kW/kg (0.07 hp/lb)
[edit] References
- Kopenhagen, W (ed.) (1987) Das groβe Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Transpress. ISBN 3-344-00162-0
- Jackson, A.J. (1987) De Havilland aircraft since 1909. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-896-4
- Jackson, A.J. (1973) British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2. (2nd Edition) Putnam. ISBN 0-370-10010-7
