The de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird is a British single-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane

light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a Maximum Takeoff Weight, maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are use ...

first flown in the 1920s.

Design and development

In response to the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' Light Aeroplane Competition of 1923,

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 ...

built two DH.53s which were named ''Humming Bird'' and ''Sylvia II''. The DH.53 was a low-wing single-seat

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

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 ...

. At

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Ly ...

, in October 1923, the DH.53s did not win any prizes but gave an impressive performance.Jackson 1987, p. 203. After the trial, ''Humming Bird'' was reengined with a Blackburne Tomtit two-cylinder engine, and fitted with a revised undercarriage. The

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 ...

became interested in the design and ordered eight Tomtit-powered aircraft in 1924 as communications and

training aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

for 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 towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

.Jackson 1987, p. 204. Early in 1924 twelve aircraft were built at

Stag Lane Aerodrome Stag Lane Aerodrome was a private aerodrome between 1915 and 1933 in Edgware, north London, UK. History The land for an aerodrome was purchased by the London & Provincial Aviation Company (Warren and Smiles – Michael Geoffrey Smiles of Bonni ...

and were named Humming Bird after the first prototype. Eight aircraft were for the Air Ministry order, three were for export to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and one was exported to Avia in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. One further aircraft was later built for an order from

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.Jackson 1987, pp. 204–205

Operational service

The first six aircraft for the Royal Air Force all made their public debut at the 1925 display at RAF Hendon, where they were raced against each other. The last two aircraft would later be used for "

parasite aircraft A parasite aircraft is a component of a composite aircraft which is carried aloft and air launched by a larger carrier aircraft or mother ship to support the primary mission of the carrier. The carrier craft may or may not be able to later recove ...

" trials being launched from below an

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

– the R.33. The aircraft were retired in 1927 and all eight were sold as civil aircraft.Jackson 1987, p. 206.

Operators

; *

Aircraft on display

*''G-EBHX'', the prototype, was airworthy and on display at the Shuttleworth Collection, but crashed on 1 July 2012, killing the pilot.De Havilland DH53 Humming Bird, G-EBHX, 1 July 2012

Air Accidents Investigation Branch The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident I ...

, 10 December 2014 The airframe has since been rebuilt to airworthy condition and was returned to the Shuttleworth Collection in 2020 for completion. *''J7326''

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 ...

is on display at the

de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre The de Havilland Aircraft Museum, formerly the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, is a volunteer-run aviation museum in London Colney, Hertfordshire, UK. The Museum's mission is to preserve and communicate the de Havilland Heritage to ens ...

Specifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{de Havilland aircraft DH.53 Single-engined tractor aircraft 1920s British civil utility aircraft 1920s British military trainer aircraft Parasite aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1923 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear