The De Havilland DH.86 was
designed in 1933 and first flew on January 14, 1934, as a ten-passenger
four-engined airliner initially to meet Australian requirements. Production
totalled 62 in De Havilland DH.86, De Havilland DH.86A and De Havilland
DH.86B ver-sions, with 200 hp Gipsy Six Srs I engines, of which four went
to RAF - two as VIP transports for No 24 Squadron and two as wireless-operator
trainers to Specification 28/37 for Radio School at Cranwell. Twenty-two
DH.86A/Bs assigned to National Air Communications September 1939 operating
in civil guise; four remained civil for UK domestic services throughout
war, eight others impressed for RAF and FAA use in UK, plus ten impressed
in Middle East and India. Seven Australian civil De Havilland DH.86s impressed
by RAAF 1939/41, including three in Middle East equipped as ambulances.
Three De Havilland DH.86s in New Zealand impressed by RNZAF September
1939 and served to 1945 as radio/navigation trainers.
