De Havilland - The Man and the Company

Mosquito B Mk.IV Series 2, DK338, built in September 1942 and delivered to 105 Squadron, becoming GB-O.

 

 

The British de Havilland Mosquito was a multipurpose fighter-bomber during World War II. Nicknamed the ‘Wooden Wonder’ due to its primarily wooden construction, the de Havilland Mosquito was amongst the fastest aircraft in the world following its introduction in 1941. The aircraft was capable of reaching speeds exceeding 400 mph while carrying up to 4,000 lbs of bombs.

 

Specifications:

• Crew: 2 (Pilot, Navigator);
• Length: 44 feet 6 inches;
• Wingspan: 54 feet 2 inches;
• Height: 15 feet 3 inches;
• Cruising speed: 325 mph;
• Max speed: 415 mph;
• Ceiling: 37,000 feet;
• Range: 1,300 miles;
• Armament:
  • 4x 20 mm cannon mounted in the lower nose
  • 4x 0.303 caliber machine guns mounted in the middle of the nose
  • Up to 4,000 lbs of bombs in internal bomb bay
  • Up to 1,000 lbs of bombs mounted on hardpoints under each wing

 

 

With production lines in Britain, Canada and Australia, almost 7,800 Mosquitos eventually took to the skies. The aircraft fulfilled numerous combat roles, varying from fighter-bomber, to pure bomber, to nightfighter, maritime strike and photo-reconnaissance. The FB Mk.26 was purpose-built as a strike aircraft, heavily armed for ground attack missions with four 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 Browning machine guns mounted in the belly and nose respectively.

 

 

On the 27th day of July, 1882, the right reverand Charles de Havilland and his wife Alice Jeannette Saunders de Havilland gave birth to their second son, Geoffrey de Havilland, at Magdala House, Terriors, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.  Geoffrey was the second of five children, and had an older brother Ivan, a younger brother Hereward, and two sisters Ion and Gladys.

 

 

Their father soon was moved to a parish in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where Ivan and Geoffrey grew up. His sisters Ione and Gladys and his younger brother Hereward were born in Nuneaton. His father was an eccentric, ill tempered clergyman and hard to deal with. But, Geoffrey's mother did not like living in a town, so the family moved to a parish at Crux Easton, Hampshire, where the family could return to a more rural life. Geoffrey had better luck with his mother and her father, a successful farmer, who subsidized his daughter and grandchildren.

 

 

Geoffrey and his older brother were both expected to follow in their father's profession as clergymen, but they preferred mechanical things. When Geoffrey graduated from St. Edward’s School, Oxford at the age of 17, he then moved on to begin training at the Crystal Palace Engineering School.

 

 

The Crystal Palace Engineering School provided Geoffrey with a solid foundation in engineering, and he and his brother Ivon went on to make motorcycles, engines, and Ivon even designed and began construction of their own motorcar called Iris. Sadly, it was never completed, and Ivan died of influenza in 1905. 

 

 

In 1908 Wilbur Wright toured Europe exhibiting his heavier-than-air flying machine, and when Geoffrey learned that he had demonstrated his flying machine at Le Mans, Geoffrey de Havilland decided his future lay in aviation. While Geoffrey was working at a bus factory he met another budding engineer, Frank Hearle, who worked at the bus garage at Dalston. In 1907 they rented a flat together in Kensington, hired Geoffrey's sister Ione as housekeeper, who later became Hearle's wife. In May of 1909 Geoffrey married Louie Thomas.

 

 

Geoffrey convinced Geoffrey's maternal grandfather to loan him 1,000 pounds, and soon thereafter hired Frank Hearle and they began designing and building their first aeroplane. With this money Geoffrey and Frank built several hangars at Seven Barrows, a grass download (Bronze Age burial mounds) in Hampshire near his family home. 

 

 

In December 1909 all was ready. Geoffrey knew how to build planes but not how to fly them. This ignorance nearly cost him his life: on the first – and only – flight of this plane he pulled back too hard on the control stick causing it to stall and crash. Luckily he was only slightly injured. The second aircraft was successful with a 50 hp engine, and flew it in the spring of 1910.  Geoffrey was so confident in his design that he gave flights to Hearle, Louie and his young son, Geoffrey Raoul, who was only 8 weeks old at the time.

 

 

In 1911 Geoffrey's design was sold to the British Balloon Factory at Farnborough, Hampshire, and de Havilland was taken on as an aircraft designer and pilot. A year later the factory became the Royal Aircraft Factory, and Geoffrey joined the Special Reserve of the Royal Flying Corps. In 1913 de Havilland was involved in a serious crash, and was then made Inspector of aeroplanes. He was unahappy with this assignment, and decided instead to join the Aircraft Manufacturing Company.

 

 

When World War I began de Havilland was assigned to patrols off the east coast of Scotland. He was recalled from the patrols and went back to work at the Aircraft Manufacturing Company. He created a number of designs which made a valuable contribution to the war effort. Royalties were paid for each aircraft built from one of his designs and he quickly became very prosperous. 

 

 

On September 25, 1920, his former employer, George Holt Thomas, invested 10,000 pounds with de Havilland, who put up 3,000 pounds of his own, found an additional 1,000 pounds, and formed the De Havilland Aircraft Company. He then leased the former London & Provincial Flying School site at Stag Lane near Edgware, for his new factory.

 

 

They decided to concentrate on civilian aircraft for the growing airline business. Geoffrey de Havilland produced a number of designs over the next years, but the request for continuous changes and requirements for both military and civilian aircraft didn't result in many of them being built. 

 

 

Frank Bernard Halford had designed the Airdisco Cirrus engine using World War One engine components. It was fitted in a compact two-seat biplane, and the combination became the DH.60 Cirrus Moth. It was first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on February 22,  1925 and was an instant success with private aviators and the Air Ministry alike. No other civil aircraft had a production run of similar size at that time. It was also built in Australia and Finland and exported world-wide.

 

 

De Havilland DH.60 Cirrus Moth G-EBLV at Stag Lane Aerodrome. (BAE Systems)

 

Specifications:

• Crew: 1 pilot plus 1 passenger;
• Length: 23 feet 11 inches;
• Wingspan: 30 feet 0 inches;
• Height: 8 feet 9.5 inches;
• Empty weight: 920 pounds;
• Gross weight:  1,750 pounds;
• Maximum speed: 102 mph;
• Cruise speed: 80-85 mph;
• Range: 410 miles;
• Ceiling: 14,500 feet;
• Powerplant: 80 hp air cooled vertical inline engine.

 

 

The success of the Moth made the company financially successful, and started the flying club movement in Great Britain. In World War II the company's most successful product was the twin-engine Mosquito (see at the start of this post), a high-speed, all-purpose aircraft with plywood construction. 

 

 

During World War II the Mosquito downed more than 600 Luftwaffe airplanes over Germany, and as many V-1 buzz bombs over England and the English Channel. The bomber version proved capable of carrying twice the bomb load for which it was designed, and was produced in many different versions for many different missions. In 1944 Geoffrey de Havilland was knighted by King George VI.

 

 

Comet - The World's First Jet Airliner

 

 

The prototype de Havilland DH.106 Comet, G-ALVG. (BAE Systems)

 

 

After the war, de Havilland pioneered the Comet airliner and the D.H. Ghost jet engines.  The Comet was the world's first jet powered airliner, debuting in 1952 with a 50% speed adantage over piston powered aircraft at ~490 mph speed and an altitude of ~ 40,000 feet.

 

 

Specifications:

• Crew: 2 pilots;
• Length: 93 feet;
• Wingspan: 115 feet;
• Height: 28 feet 4.5 inches;
• Cruising speed: 460 mph;
• Ceiling: ~40,000 feet;
• Range: 1,500 miles;
• Powerplant: 4 each 4,450 lbs thrust DH Ghost 50 engines;
• Maxiomum gross weight: 105,000 pounds;
• Passengers: 36 to 44 passengers.

 

 

Sadly, the De Havilland suffered several high-profile, catastrophic failures due to metal fatigue in 1953 and 1954, resulting in the loss of three aircraft in quick succession. Ultmately, the Comet series had 13 fatal crashes with over 400 deaths during its time in service. 

 

 

A photograph of the G-AKYU fuselage failure - inside view.

 

 

The De Havilland Group was acquired by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 when Geoffrey's role in the company ceased. He was awarded the OBE in 1918, the Air Force Cross in 1919 and the CBE in 1934. On May 21, 1965 Geoffrey de Havilland died at the Watford Peace Memorial Hospital. After cremation his ashes were scattered over Seven Barrows in Hampshire where he had made his first flight.

 

 

A painting of Sir Geoffry de Havilland, pilot, aircraft designer, founder of the jet engine.

 

 

A photograph of the De Havilland Memorial Stone near Seven Barrows Field and Beacon Hill UK.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this trip through some of the history of aviation. If you enjoyed this trip, and if you are new to this blog, sign up to receive your own weekly blog post here: Subscribe here!

 

Until next time, keep your eyes safe and focused on what's ahead of you, Hersch!