De Havilland Dove

The de Havilland DH.104 Dove was a British monoplane short-haul airliner from de Havilland, the successor to the biplane de Havilland Dragon Rapide and one of Britain's most successful post-war civil designs. The design came about from the Brabazon Committee report which called for a British designed short-haul feeder for airlines.

Production
Production of the Dove and its variants totalled 542 including 127 military Devons and 13 Sea Devons. The first customer deliveries were made in early summer 1946 and the last example was delivered in 1967. Initial production of the Dove was at de Havilland's Hatfield factory, but from the early 1950s most were built at the company's Broughton facility near Chester.

Operational service
The Dove first flew on 25 September 1945. From summer 1946 large numbers were sold to scheduled and charter airlines around the world, replacing and supplementing the pre-war designed de Havilland Dragon Rapide and other older designs. LAN Chile took delivery of twelve examples and these were operated within that country from 1949 until sale to small United States airlines in 1954. The largest order for Doves was placed by Argentina which took delivery of 70 which were mainly used by the Argentine Air Force. An initial batch of 30 Devons was delivered to the Royal Air Force and these were used as VIP and light transports for over 30 years. 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. A Dove was used by Biafran Air Force during the Nigerian Civil War, and its wreck was found in 1970 in the court of a school in Uli; a second US-registered Riley Dove N477PM delivered in 1967 to Port Harcourt from Switzerland never reached Biafra because was stopped by Algerian authorities. A few Doves and civilianised Devons remain in use in 2011 in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and elsewhere with small commercial firms and with private pilot owners.

Preserved aircraft
ZS-BCC (CN04079) a Dove 6 of South African Airways is on display at the South African Airways Museum, Rand Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Variants

 * Dove 1 : Light transport aircraft, seating up to 11-passengers. Powered by two 340 hp (254 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Queen 70-4 piston engines.
 * Dove 1B : Dove Mk 1 aircraft, fitted with two 380 hp (283 kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
 * Dove 2 : Executive transport version, seating up to six passengers. Powered by two 340 hp (254 kW) Gipsy Queen piston engines.
 * Dove 2B : Dove Mk 2 aircraft, fitted with two 380 hp (283 kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
 * Dove 3 : Proposed high-altitude survey version. Not built.
 * Dove 4 : Military transport and communication version.
 * Devon C Mk 1 : Transport and communication version for the RAF.
 * Devon C Mk 2 : Transport and communications version for the RAF. Re-engined version of the Devon C Mk 1.
 * Sea Devon C Mk 20 : Transport and communications version for the Royal Navy.
 * Dove 5 : The Dove 5 was powered by more powerful engines. The aircraft was fitted with two 380-hp (283-kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
 * Dove 6 : Executive transport aircraft. Uprated version of the Dove 2, powered by two 380 hp (283 kW) Gipsy Queen 70-2 piston engines.
 * Dove 6B : Stressed for operations at a maximum weight of 8,500 lb (3,856 kg).
 * Dove 7 : Uprated version of the Dove 1, fitted with two 400 hp (298 kW) Gipsy Queen 70-3 piston engines.
 * Dove 8 : Uprated version of the Dove 2, fitted with two 400 hp (298 kW) Gipsy Queen 70-3 piston engines.
 * Dove 8A : Five seater version of the Dove 8 for the U.S. market. The Dove Custom 600 was an American designation of the Dove 8A.


 * Carstedt Jet Liner 600 : Conversions of the Dove, carried out by Carstedt Inc, of Long Beach, California, USA. The aircraft were fitted with two 605 ehp (451 kW) Garrett AiResearch TPE331 turboprop engines. The fuselage was lengthened by 87 inches to accommodate 18 passengers.
 * Riley Turbo Executive 400 / Riley Turbo-Exec 400 / Riley Dove 400 : Conversions of the Dove, carried out by Riley Aeronautics Corp in the USA. The aircraft were fitted with two 400 hp (298 kW) Lycoming IO-720-A1A flat-eight piston engines. Some of the Riley conversions were fitted with a taller swept vertical fin and rudder. During the late 1960s, Riley Aeronautics, located at the Executive Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, did interior refitting work on both the De Havilland Dove and the Herron.  They were also test flown out of this facility.

Civil operators
Portuguese Angola Portuguese Cape Verde Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Timor 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * Airlines of Western Australia
 * Gulf Aviation
 * BIAS
 * SABENA
 * Union of Burma Airways
 * LAN-Chile
 * West African Airways Corporation
 * LTU
 * West African Airways Corporation
 * Airways (India) Limited
 * Indian National Airways
 * Government of Madras
 * Iraq Petroleum Company
 * Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane
 * Far East Airlines
 * West African Airways Corporation
 * Southern Rhodesia
 * Central African Airways
 * SATA - Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos
 * Indian National Airways
 * Government of Madras
 * Iraq Petroleum Company
 * Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane
 * Far East Airlines
 * West African Airways Corporation
 * Southern Rhodesia
 * Central African Airways
 * SATA - Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos
 * Southern Rhodesia
 * Central African Airways
 * SATA - Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos
 * SATA - Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos
 * AERANGOL - Aeronaves de Angola
 * ETASA - Empresa de Transportes Aéreos do Sul de Angola
 * SATAL - Sociedade Anónima de Transportes Aéreos
 * ACCV - Aero Clube de Cabo Verde
 * TACV - Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde
 * DETA - Divisão e Exploração de Transportes Aéreos
 * TAT - Transportes Aéreos de Timor
 * West African Airways Corporation
 * West African Airways Corporation
 * Comair (South Africa) operated 2 aircraft.
 * South African Airways
 * Sudan Airways
 * BOAC (for training and communications)
 * Bristow Helicopters
 * British Midland
 * British Westpoint Airlines
 * Channel Airways (scheduled services)
 * Dan-Air (scheduled services)
 * Hunting-Clan Air Transport
 * Morton Air Services
 * Olley Air Services
 * Silver City Airways
 * CAA Flying Unit
 * Air Wisconsin
 * Apache Airlines
 * National Test Pilot School
 * Superior Airlines
 * Apache Airlines
 * National Test Pilot School
 * Superior Airlines

Military operators

 * Argentine Air Force
 * Argentine Coast Guard
 * Argentine Federal Police
 * Belgian Congo
 * Force Publique
 * Biafra
 * Biafran Air Force
 * Ceylon
 * Royal Ceylon Air Force
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt
 * Egyptian Air Force
 * Irish Air Corps
 * Ethiopian Air Force
 * Indian Air Force
 * Indian Naval Air Arm
 * 🇮🇶 Iraq
 * Royal Jordanian Air Force
 * Royal Flight
 * Katanga
 * Force Aérienne Katangaise
 * Kuwait Air Force
 * Lebanese Air Force
 * Royal Malaysian Air Force
 * Royal New Zealand Air Force
 * No. 42 Squadron RNZAF
 * Pakistan Air Force
 * Paraguayan Air Force
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * South African Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Royal Air Force
 * No. 21 Squadron RAF
 * No. 26 Squadron RAF
 * No. 31 Squadron RAF
 * No. 32 Squadron RAF
 * No. 60 Squadron RAF
 * No. 207 Squadron RAF
 * Fleet Air Arm
 * Venezuelan Air Force
 * SFR Yugoslav Air Force
 * South African Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Royal Air Force
 * No. 21 Squadron RAF
 * No. 26 Squadron RAF
 * No. 31 Squadron RAF
 * No. 32 Squadron RAF
 * No. 60 Squadron RAF
 * No. 207 Squadron RAF
 * Fleet Air Arm
 * Venezuelan Air Force
 * SFR Yugoslav Air Force
 * Venezuelan Air Force
 * SFR Yugoslav Air Force
 * SFR Yugoslav Air Force
 * SFR Yugoslav Air Force

Accidents and incidents

 * On 13 May 1948, Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, was killed in the crash of a chartered de Havilland Dove near Privas, France.
 * On 2 December 1952, Reginald C. Adsett  of Arncliffe, Civil Aviation Department, senior examiner of airmen was fatally injured and T. H. Dalton, of Manly and R. J. Harris, of Bankstown, Civil Aviation Department examiner of airways were seriously injured in a take off incident at  at Narellan, near Camden, Australia.
 * On 15 January 1958, Dove G-AOCE of Channel Airways crashed on approach to Ferryfield Airfield, Lydd, Kent, United Kingdom due to mismanagement of the aircraft's fuel system, leading to both engines stopping due to lack of fuel. All seven people on board survived.
 * On 13 April 1966, Abdul Salam Arif was killed in the crash of Royal Iraqi Air Force de Havilland DH.104 Dove 1, RF392, in southern Iraq, and was replaced as president by his brother Abd ar-Rahman al-Bazzaz.
 * On 28 January 1970, TAG Airlines Flight 730 crashed over Lake Erie killing all 9 people aboard.
 * On 3rd February 2006, New Zealand based Devon, ZK-UDO ( ex-RNZAF Devon 21 ) suffered a hard landing at RNZAF Base Ohakea due to an asymmetric flap deployment on approach. All passengers and crew survived with only minor injuries. The aircraft was damaged beyond economical repair.