The de Havilland DH.18 was a single-engined British

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

transport aircraft of the 1920s built by

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to ...

Design and development

The DH.18 was designed and built in 1919 by

Airco The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Airc ...

as their first aircraft specifically for commercial work, earlier aircraft such as the DH.16 being modified military types. The DH.18 was a single-engined biplane, powered by a

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 engine, W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

with wooden two-bay, wire-braced wings, and a forward

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

clad in

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

. It accommodated eight passengers in an enclosed cabin with the pilot in an open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

behind the cabin. The first prototype flew early in 1920.Donald, David, ed. ''The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'' (London: Aerospace Publishing, 1997), p.311-312. De havilland dh-18

Operational history

The first DH.18 was delivered to

Aircraft Transport and Travel Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, also known as AT&T was a British airline formed during the First World War, a subsidiary of Airco. It was the first airline to operate a regular international flight (between London and Paris). It is the ...

for use on the

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

-Paris service, but was wrecked in a forced landing shortly after takeoff from Croydon on 16 August 1920.Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2''. London: Putnam, 1973. pp. 64–66. Two more aircraft were under construction by Airco for Aircraft Transport and Travel when the bankrupt Airco was purchased by BSA, who did not wish to continue aircraft development or production.

Geoffrey de Havilland Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. De Havilland, The aircraft company he founded produced the de Havilland Mosquit ...

, the chief designer of Airco then set up the

de Havilland Aircraft Company The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to H ...

, completing the two partly completed aircraft as DH.18As, with improved engine mountings and undercarriages. Aircraft Transport and Travel closed down in early 1921, due to competition from subsidised French airlines. In March 1921, the British government granted temporary subsidies for airline services, with the

Air Council Air Council (or Air Force Council) was the governing body of the Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed ...

purchasing a number of modern commercial aircraft for leasing to approved firms. The three ex-A.T.&T. DH.18s were purchased in this way and leased to

Instone Air Line Instone Air Line was an early British airline from 1919 to 1924. Along with other private airlines of the time, it was absorbed into Imperial Airways. This airline is not to be confused with the Instone Air Line of Stansted, which operated fro ...

. A further DH.18A was built to Air Council order, as were two modified DH.18B, which had fuselages that were entirely plywood-clad and had built-in emergency exits. The DH.18s were kept busy flying on continental air services for Instone, building up high flying hours. One aircraft, ''G-EAWO'', was transferred to

Daimler Airway Daimler Airway was an airline subsidiary of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA)'s Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), before 1910 known as the Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle ma ...

for operation on the Croydon-Paris route until the de Havilland DH.34s which it had on order could be delivered. However, on 4 April 1922, two days after Daimler commenced operations with the aircraft, it collided with a Farman Goliath over Northern France, 62 mi (100 km) north of Paris, killing seven people, the first midair collision between airliners. The DH.18 was retired from commercial service in 1923, with one aircraft, ''G-EARO'', having flown 90,000 mi (144,834 km) without accident. Two aircraft were used for test purposes, with one the subject of an

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

experiment on how long an aircraft could stay afloat after being ditched, being deliberately landed on water off

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

on 2 May 1924, floating for 25 minutes. The other remaining aircraft was used for test purposes at

RAE Farnborough The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mer ...

until 1927, when it was scrapped.

Variants

;DH.18: Prototype – registered ''G-EARI''. ;DH.18A: Initial production version – modified undercarriages and engine mountings. Three built – (''G-EARO'', ''G-EAUF'', ''G-EAWO''). ;DH.18B: Plywood-covered fuselage and increased weights. Two built – (''G-EAWW'' and ''G-EAWX'').

Operators

; *

* Daimler Hire Ltd *

Handley Page Transport Handley Page Transport Ltd was an airline company founded in 1919, soon after the end of the First World War, by Frederick Handley Page. The company's first planes were Handley Page Type O/400 bombers modified for passenger use. They flew a ...

; * KLM (Leased)

Specifications (DH.18A)

References

External links

* Contemporary technical description with drawings and photographs. {{DEFAULTSORT:De Havilland Dh.18 DH.018 Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft 1920s British airliners DH.018 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear