Today In History:  25 September  [1945]   --  First flight of the de Havilland Dove

The de Havilland Dove (and its military variant the Devon) made its first flight on this day. The type was a short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland as a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane. It was targeted at the British-designed short-haul airline feeder market.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force acquired 30 Devons between 1948 and 1954, and these remained in service for VIP, crew-training and light transport duties into the 1970s.

PHOTO: RNZAF Devon C.1 of 42 Squadron at Wellington Airport in 1971

See the Historical Aviation Film Unit website at http://www.aviationfilm.com to get a new history tidbit every day.


Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia.