Shortfinals – aviation and more!

By: shortfinals

Nov 10 2011

Tags: 'Islander' Class, 200 hp, Air Show, aircraft, Avro 504, B.E.A., British European Airways, Brush Coach, Brush Coachworks, Dakota, De Havilland, De Havilland Dragon, DH 89a, Dh 89b, Dragon Rapide, eight passengers, Europe, formed in 1946, German, Gipsy Six, Great Britain, Ju52/3m, Junkers, Labour government, Luftwaffe, Museums, navigation trainer, operating from beaches, RAF, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, Scilly Isles, Scottish Airways Ltd, Scottish Highlands, Scottish Highlands and Islands, Second World War, USA, warbird, West Coast Air Services, wireless operator, WW2

Category: aircraft, airshow, Aviation, British Isles, England, Great Britain, military, Museums, RAF, Royal Air Force, Scotland, Second World War, warbird

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Building on the commercial success of the De Havilland DH 84 Dragon, and filling the need for a faster, more capable aircraft, De Havilland came up with the DH 89 Dragon Six – sometimes called the Dragon Rapide, and later just Rapide – the prototype first flying in April 1934. With its DH Gipsy Major 6 engines of 200hp, and capable of carrying eight passengers, it was an instant success in the civil market. The De Havilland factory at Hatfield was soon occupied with orders for companies, and airlines such as Olley Air Services and Hillman Airways Ltd. In response to requests to improve landing performance, De Havilland fitted small flaps under the lower wings from 1936, these steepened the glide angle and prevented the problem of ‘floating’ which had affected the Rapide.

The Royal Air Force ordered two DH 89a aircraft as communication machines for No. 24 Squadron in 1938, but this was just the start of the flood! With the outbreak of war, orders flooded in for aircraft for navigation training, ‘wireless’ operator training, air ambulances and more communications machines. These military aircraft were called Dominie T.1, and given the designation of DH 89b; they joined no less than 205 civilian machines which had been ‘impressed’ for both RAF and Royal Navy use. With Hatfield starting to concentrate on building the impressive, new, Mosquito, De Havillands needed a sub-contractor to build the Dominie. They chose Brush Coachworks Ltd of Loughborough, Leicestershire, a company who normally built ‘bus bodies (which used a great deal of wood framework), and had built Avro 504 aircraft during WW1. The Dominie was a true work horse during WW2, with some even being supplied to USAAF units in the UK in a form of ‘reverse Lend-Lease’!

The shape of British commercial aviation following the Second World War was to have been dictated by the Brabazon Report. However, some of the recommended ‘Brabazon Types’ were slow coming into service, and the newly formed nationalized airline ‘British European Airways’, brought into being by the new Labour Government, had to launch with a diverse mix of ex-RAF Dakotas, captured ex-Luftwaffe Ju52/3m  aircraft (!), and the ever-reliable ‘demobbed’ Dominies, now converted to civilian DH 89a standard. Formed in 1946, B.E.A. started absorbing the small independent airlines like West Coast Air Services and Scottish Airways, and their fleets of Rapides; in fact, so many were acquired that B.E.A. had to start selling excess aircraft off. Finally, 19 of them were formed into the ‘Islander Class’ in 1950 and, in the fashion of the day, given names including ‘R.M.A. Cecil John Rhodes’ and ‘R.M.A. Rudyard Kipling’ (R.M.A. meaning ‘Royal Mail Aircraft’, being authorized to carry mail). The ‘Islander’ Class were used on short ‘thin’ routes such as those serving the Scottish Highlands and Islands, the Channel Islands and the Scilly Isles, sometimes operating from flat, hard stretches of beach.

Here we see the immaculately restored G-AGSH, c/n 6884, formerly ‘NR808’ in military service, on display at the Shuttleworth Trust, Old Warden, Bedfordshire. It is in B.E.A. silver and red livery, and bore the ‘Islander’ Class name of  ‘R.M.A. James Kier Hardie’ – a prominent Scottish politician and one of the founders of the Labour Party – it is now  named ‘Gemma Meeson’, a very nice family tribute. Sierra Hotel has been operated by Channel Island Airways, been on the Irish Register (as EI-AJO), and operated by the RAF Parachuting Association. Finally it has come to roost at Old Warden, in the competent hands of Phillip Meeson, and we can all enjoy this survivor of the early days of post-war European flying, particularly at the wonderful airshows that the Shuttleworth Trust produces.