Scramble 350 - Page 1
De Havilland DH.
89 Dragon Rapide
With the experience he had gained in both his previous DH.
84
and DH.
86 designs, A.
E.
Hagg of De Havilland decided to produce a design in which he combined the best of both worlds.
His new DH.
89...
More
Scramble 350 - Page 1
De Havilland DH.
89 Dragon Rapide
With the experience he had gained in both his previous DH.
84
and DH.
86 designs, A.
E.
Hagg of De Havilland decided to produce a design in which he combined the best of both worlds.
His new DH.
89 grossly had the dimensions of the DH.
84 but
with tapered wings, faired-in undercarriage and more powerful,
Gipsy Six engines.
Because of the new engines Hagg initially
called his design Dragon Six, but this was soon dropped in favour of Dragon Rapide, or, as it was soon to be called, Rapide.
The prototype of the new DH.
89 (6250), with B-class registration E.
4, made its first flight from Hatfield on 17 April 1934.
After
the maiden flight, De Havilland’s test pilot H.
S.
Broad was very
satisfied with the characteristics of the new plane.
Thanks to its
more powerful engines the Rapide could accommodate up to
eight passengers and was slightly faster than the Dragon (132
mph against 109mph.
) The new design was what you could
call
Less
