de Havilland DH104 Dove VH-CLD
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The de Havilland DH104 Dove was designed and produced in Britain as an eight passenger short haul airline aircraft, replacement for the pre WW2 deHavilland Dragon Rapide, and was a twin engined low wing monoplane with a retractable nose wheel undercarriage.
The Dove which first flew in September 1945 and is considered to be one of Britain's most successful post war civil designs that had qualities that enhanced it's desirability from an operator's point of view such as load carrying capacity, good one engine out handling and performance, plus maintainability features such as component design to allow interchangeability and ease of removal or replacement.
A total of 544 Doves were produced, including nine civil and four military variants when production ceased in 1967 and these were sold to operators of Charter and Scheduled air service companies world wide.
The Museum's Dove VH-CLD, arrived from Britain in 1974 and was operated out of Moorabbin Airport until grounded in 1977 with severe corrosion problems. It moved between our Museum and the South Australian Air Museum where the fuselage was cut forward of the of the wings and the cockpit restored with flight controls and instrumentation, before being finally acquired by our Museum in 2007. The cockpit is currently on display the main hangar.
TECHNICAL DATA
Crew : 1 Pilot or 1 Pilot plus co-Pilot/Cabin Attendant.
Power plant : 2 x 380hp deHavilland Gipsy Queen geared and supercharged six cylinder inverted piston engines.
Length : 39'00'' (11.96m) Wingspan : 57'00'' (17.37m) Height : 13'04'' (4.06m)
Weights : typical empty - 6,320lbs (2,867kg) maximum - 8,950lbs (4.060kg)
Speeds : maximum - 200kt (230mph) (370km/hr) cruise - 162kt (187mph) (301km/hr)
Range : 880 miles (1,420km)
The Dove which first flew in September 1945 and is considered to be one of Britain's most successful post war civil designs that had qualities that enhanced it's desirability from an operator's point of view such as load carrying capacity, good one engine out handling and performance, plus maintainability features such as component design to allow interchangeability and ease of removal or replacement.
A total of 544 Doves were produced, including nine civil and four military variants when production ceased in 1967 and these were sold to operators of Charter and Scheduled air service companies world wide.
The Museum's Dove VH-CLD, arrived from Britain in 1974 and was operated out of Moorabbin Airport until grounded in 1977 with severe corrosion problems. It moved between our Museum and the South Australian Air Museum where the fuselage was cut forward of the of the wings and the cockpit restored with flight controls and instrumentation, before being finally acquired by our Museum in 2007. The cockpit is currently on display the main hangar.
TECHNICAL DATA
Crew : 1 Pilot or 1 Pilot plus co-Pilot/Cabin Attendant.
Power plant : 2 x 380hp deHavilland Gipsy Queen geared and supercharged six cylinder inverted piston engines.
Length : 39'00'' (11.96m) Wingspan : 57'00'' (17.37m) Height : 13'04'' (4.06m)
Weights : typical empty - 6,320lbs (2,867kg) maximum - 8,950lbs (4.060kg)
Speeds : maximum - 200kt (230mph) (370km/hr) cruise - 162kt (187mph) (301km/hr)
Range : 880 miles (1,420km)