DE HAVILLAND DH.89 RAPIDE
and DE HAVILLAND DH.89 DOMINIE
- The DH.89 was developed in 1933/34 as a light general purpose transport,
the proto-type flying on April 17, 1934. Total of 728 built, including
206 as DH.89A Dragon Rapide up to 1939 and remainder as RAF Dominies,
noted below, all with 200 hp Gipsy Queen III engines. Deliveries includ-ed
two to RAF in 1938 for communications to Specification 21/38, three as
R/T trainers to Specification T.29/38 and two as VIP transports, plus
two to RAAF for communi-cations. In 1939, 44 DH.89As assigned to NAC in
UK, of which 14 operated in civil guise for internal communications through-out
war; 43 ex-civil examples impressed for RAF use, including ambulance duties,
ATA ferry service and Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Units. About eight DH.89As
impressed in India, plus four ex-RAF Dominies civil-registered for use
by Air India and then also impressed. Seven civil DH.89As impressed in
Australia for RAAF as radio/navigation trainers until 1944; six impressed
for RNZAF, several for SAAF. A number of Dragon Rapides was operated during
the war by the Luftwaffe. They included two ex-Latvian and two ex-Lithuanian
aircraft originally captured by the Soviet forces, and then by the Luftwaffe.
DH.89B Dominie: Production
of DH.89s from 1939 onwards for military purposes; name Dominie adopted
1941, with Mk I for navigation and W/T training and Mk II for communications
with six passengers and two crew. Production totals, 186 by DH at Hatfield
and 336 by Brush Coachworks at Loughborough, to 1945. Some transferred
to USAAF in Europe; nine to RNZAF, 18 to SAAF and others to Allied air
forces for communications duties.
