The development programme was launched in 2008. Production of the prototype began in December 2011, with the first prototype being ready on 2 November 2015 and having its maiden flight on 5 May 2017. Its first commercial deliveries are expected in 2021 to China Eastern Airlines. The aircraft, primarily constructed with aluminium alloys, is to be powered by either CFM International LEAP or ACAE CJ-1000A turbofan engines, and be able to carry 156 to 168 passengers in a normal operating configuration up to 5,555 km (3000 nmi). It is intended to compete primarily with the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo. As of 31 August 2018, Comac has 1008 commitments including 305 firm orders, mostly from Chinese leasing companies or airlines.

As of 31 August 2018, FlightGlobal recenses 305 orders plus 45 options and 658 letters of intent: 1008 commitments.

As of March 2020, China Eastern Airlines subsidiary OTT Airlines is scheduled to be the launch customer for the C919.

For details of the development, design and orders for the C919, click here.

The Convair 880 is an American narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When it was first introduced, some aviation circles claimed that at 615 mph (990 km/h), it was the fastest jet transport in the world.[1] Only 65 Convair 880s were produced over the lifetime of the production run from 1959 to 1962, and General Dynamics eventually withdrew from the airliner market after considering the 880 project a failure. The Convair 990 was a stretched and faster variant of the 880.

Convair began development of a medium-range commercial jet in April 1956, to compete with announced products from Boeing and Douglas. Initially the design was called the Skylark, but the name was later changed to the Golden Arrow, then Convair 600 and then finally the 880, both numbers referring to its top speed of 600 mph (970 km/h) or 880 ft/s (268 m/s). It was powered by General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets, a civilian version of the J79 which powered the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, and Convair B-58 Hustler.

The first example of the Model 22 FAA Type Certificate, initial production version (no prototype was built) made its maiden flight on 27 January 1959. After production started, the Federal Aviation Administration mandated additional instrumentation, which Convair added by placing a "raceway" hump on the top of the fuselage, rather than ripping apart the interiors over the wing area. The final assembly of the 880 and 990 took place at the Convair facilities in San Diego, California.

The airliner never became widely used, and the production line shut down after only three years. The 880's five-abreast seating made it unattractive to airlines, while Boeing was able to outcompete it with the Boeing 720, which could be sold at a significantly lower price, as it was a minimal modification of the existing 707. In addition, the General Electric engines had a higher specific fuel consumption than the Boeing's Pratt & Whitney JT3Cs.

General Dynamics lost around $185 million over the lifetime of the project, although some sources estimate much higher losses. The aircraft were involved in 17 accidents and five hijackings.

A modified version of the basic 880 was the "-M" version, which incorporated four leading-edge slats per wing, Krueger leading-edge flaps between the fuselage and inboard engines, power-boosted rudder, added engine thrust, increased fuel capacity, stronger landing gear, greater adjustment to seating pitch, and a simpler overhead compartment arrangement.

A more major modification to the 880 became the Convair 990, produced in parallel with the 880-M between 1961 and 1963. Swissair named theirs Coronado, after an island off the San Diego coast and where the first 990 landed.

The design entered service with Delta Air Lines in May 1960, slightly modified as the 880-22M, having newer-version 805-3B engines. The 880s were flown by Cathay Pacific, Delta, Japan Airlines, Northeast Airlines, Swissair, TWA, and VIASA

As they left commercial service, many 880s were bought by American Jet Industries for various uses. One example was converted to freighter use in 1974, and flew until 1982 with various companies. Another was used to train FAA flight examiners until it was destroyed by a minor explosion in the cargo hold in 1995. Most of the remaining examples were scrapped by 2000.

The United States Navy acquired one 880-M in 1980, modifying it as an in-flight tanker. It had been purchased new from Convair by the FAA, and used for 18 years. Unofficially designated UC-880, it was assigned to the Naval Air Test Center at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, and employed in Tomahawk cruise missile testing and aircraft refueling procedures. The UC-880 was damaged in a cargo-hold explosive decompression test at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1995. The aircraft was judged to still have been controllable using backup systems had the decompression occurred in flight.

Elvis Presley's Convair 880 Lisa Marie

The 990 was lengthened by 10 ft (3.0 m), which increased the number of passengers from between 88 and 110 in the 880 to between 96 and 121 in the 990. This was still fewer passengers than the contemporary Boeing 707 (110 to 189) or Douglas DC-8 (105 to 173), although the 990 was 25–35 mph (40–56 km/h) faster than either in cruise.

American Airlines asked Convair to design an aircraft for coast-to-coast flights, able to fly nonstop from New York City to Los Angeles against the wind. They wanted a somewhat larger passenger capacity than the 880, which was the smallest of the first-generation U.S. jet airliners. The 990 began flight testing January 24, 1961.

One change from the 880 was the large anti-shock bodies on the upper trailing edge of the wings to increase the critical Mach and reduce transonic drag. Like the 880, 990s incorporated a dorsal "raceway" added to the top of the fuselage to house the two ADF antennas and one VHF antenna.

When the major airlines retired their Convair 990s, they found a second life on charter airlines. Spantax of Spain had a large fleet until the mid-1980s and so did Denver Ports of Call. In 1967, Alaska Airlines purchased Convair 990 PP-VJE from Varig, and operated it as N987AS in scheduled airline service until 1975. A total of 37 aircraft were produced.

For more information, click here.

Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroads as a commercial airliner, and had a long development cycle that produced various civil and military variants. Though reduced in numbers by attrition, various forms of the "Convairliners" continue to fly in the 21st century.

To meet the requirements of airlines for a pressurized airliner, Convair produced a revised design—the Model 240. This had a longer but thinner fuselage than the Model 110, accommodating 40 passengers in the first pressurized, twin-engined airliner. The 240 first flew on March 16, 1947.

The Model 240 was followed by the Model 340, which had a longer fuselage, longer-span wings, and more powerful engines. The 340 first flew on October 5, 1951. In 1954, in an attempt to compete with turboprop-powered airliners like the Vickers Viscount, Convair produced the Model 440 Metropolitan, with more streamlined cowlings, new engine exhausts, and better cabin soundproofing. As the "Super 240" evolved into the CV-340 and CV-440, the design reached the limit of piston-engine performance, and future development centered on conversion to turboprop power.

In Australia, the Convairs were operated by TAA - CV-240, Ansett ANA CV-340 and CV-440, Airlines of NSW CV-440, Airlines of SA CV-440 and RAAF 2 x CV-440.

For more details of these and other variants, plus the very long list of civil and military operators, click here.

The specifications below are for the CV-440.

The Cunliffe-Owen Concordia was a 1940s British twin-engined small airliner built by Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft.

The Concordia was 12-seat medium range transport aircraft. A separate luggage compartment could accommodate 45 lbs of luggage per passenger. Designed by W. Garrow-Fisher and built at Eastleigh, Hampshire in 1947. The prototype aircraft Y-0222 was first flown at Eastleigh on 19 May 1947. A second aircraft G-AKBE was displayed at the 1947 SBAC Show at Radlett and made an extensive European sales tour.

Work was suspended on 18 November 1947 on a production batch of six aircraft. These included one aircraft for the Nawab of Bhopal and two for British European Airways. Air Malta placed an order for one example in early 1947. It was concluded there was not a market for the aircraft. Shortly afterward the company ceased to work in the aircraft industry.

The Belgian COGEA company styled themselves exclusive agents for the Concordia for Belgium and its then colony Congo; no results are documented.

Early press reports used the name 'Condor III' but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company publicity. It was used as a military transport during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces and also the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps, which used the designation R5C. The C-46 served in a similar role to its Douglas-built counterpart, the C-47 Skytrain, but it was not as extensively produced as the latter.

After World War II, a few surplus C-46 aircraft were briefly used in their originally designated role as passenger airliners, but the glut of surplus C-47s dominated the marketplace and the C-46 was soon relegated to primarily cargo duty. The type continued in U.S. Air Force service in a secondary role until 1968. The C-46 continues in operation as a rugged cargo transport for Arctic and remote locations with its service life extended into the 21st century. Two C-46 Commandos are used by Joe McBryan's Buffalo Airways hauling freight out of Yellowknife Alaska.

The prototype for what would become the C-46, the Curtiss CW-20, was designed in 1937 by George A. Page Jr., the chief aircraft designer at Curtiss-Wright. The CW-20 was a private venture intended to compete with the four-engined Douglas DC-4 and Boeing 307 Stratoliner by the introduction of a new standard in pressurized airliners. The CW-20 had a patented fuselage conventionally referred to as a "figure-eight" (or "double-bubble") which enabled it to better withstand the pressure differential at high altitudes. This was done by having the sides of the fuselage creased at the level of the floor that not only separated the two portions but shared in the stress of each, rather than just supporting itself. The main spar of the wing could pass through the bottom section which was mainly intended for cargo without intruding on the passenger upper compartment. A decision to utilize a twin-engine design instead of a four-engine configuration was considered viable if sufficiently powerful engines were available, allowing for lower operating costs and a less complex structure.

For more details on the development, design, opertional history and many variants, click here.

The Curtiss Model 55 Kingbird was an airliner built in small numbers in the United States in the early 1930s. It was a twin-engine aircraft with a fuselage derived from the single-engine Curtiss Thrush. The Kingbird had two engine nacelles mounted on the struts on either side of the fuselage that braced the wing and the outrigger undercarriage. A distinctive design feature was the aircraft's blunt nose, located behind the propeller arcs. This allowed the engines to be mounted closer to each other and to the aircraft's centerline, therefore minimising asymmetrical thrust in case of an engine failure. For the same reason, the Thrush's single tailfin was replaced by twin tails on the Kingbird, and the main production model, the D-2 fitted a second horizontal stabilizer and elevator between these fins.

Eastern Air Transport was to be the Kingbird's main operator, flying 14 of them for a few years. The United States Marine Corps also purchased an example, first designating it JC-1, then RC-1 and using it as an air ambulance.

Variants

Kingbird C
Prototype powered by 185 hp (138 kW) six-cylinder Curtiss R-600 Challenger engines. One built, but found to be underpowered. Later converted to Kingbird J-1.
Kingbird D-1
Second and third prototypes (previously Kingbird J-3 and J-2) powered by 225 hp nine-cylinder Wright Whirlwind J-6-7 radial engines. Later converted to D-2 standard.
Kingbird D-2   (Specifications below)
Production aircraft with two 300 hp (224 kW) Whirlwind J-6-9 engines. 14 built plus two converted from D-1s.
Kingbird D-3
One-off Curtiss executive transport. Two 330 hp (246 kW) Whirlwind J-6-9 engines. Seats for five passengers.
Kingbird J-1
First prototype after re-engining with Whirlwind engines.
Kingbird J-2
Third prototype, J-6-7 engines.
Kingbird J-3
Second prototype, J-6-9 engines.
RC-1
Single Kingbird D-2 for US Navy, originally ordered as JC-1 (J for utility), but delivered as RC-1 (R for transport).

The Curtiss/Curtiss-Robertson Model 56 Thrush was a 1929 six passenger high-wing fixed undercarriage single-engine cabin monoplane airliner and utility transport powered by either a Curtiss Challenger or a Wright Whirlwind radial engine and built as an enlargement of the earlier Curtiss Robin. Several were used for record breaking endurance flights by female pilots during the early 1930s including one in which the aircraft stayed aloft for almost ten days.

Three 170 hp (130 kW) Curtiss Challenger-engined Curtiss Thrush prototypes (serialled G-1 to G-3) were built at Curtiss' Garden City factory, but these were underpowered and production examples, redesignated Thrush J (serialled 1001 to 1010) with 225 hp (168 kW) Wright Whirlwind engines, were built at the Curtiss-Robertson St Louis factory. All three prototypes were later re-engined with Whirlwinds to make them Thrush Js. The fuselage of the Thrush formed the basis for the twin-engine Curtiss Kingbird which was developed roughly in parallel.

The fuselage was built up as a Pratt truss frame formed mainly from Duraluminum tubing and fittings with welded Chrome-moly tubing reinforcing highly stressed areas and covered in fabric. The wing was a fabric covered semi-cantilever braced with steel tube struts, and had solid spruce spars and stamped Alclad ribs with Alclad sheet wrapped over leading edge. A fuel tank is mounted within each wing near the root. Rudder and elevators were welded chrome-moly steel tubing. 116" track undercarriage is fitted with oleo-pneumatic shock obsorbers and Bendix brakes, and is braced to the front struts and lower longerons. Noumber built: 13.

Variants

Thrush (ATC 159 & 160) - prototypes powered by 170 hp Curtiss Challenger, three built, all converted to Thrush J (ATC 236).
Thrush J (ATC 261) - main production variant with 225 hp Wright J-6-7 Whirlwind, 10 built.
Thrush Special - one converted from a Thrush J with 240 hp Wright J-6-7 Whirlwind. and a second converted with Wright J-5.

The Curtiss T-32 Condor II was a 1930s American biplane airliner and bomber aircraft built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. It was used by the United States Army Air Corps as an executive transport.

The Condor II was a 1933 two-bay biplane of mixed construction with a single vertical stabilizer and rudder, and retractable landing gear. It was powered by two Wright Cyclone radial engines. The first aircraft was flown on 30 January 1933 and a production batch of 21 aircraft was then built. The production aircraft were fitted out as 12-passenger luxury night sleeper transports. They entered service with Eastern Air Transport and American Airways, forerunners of Eastern Air Lines and American Airlines on regular night services for the next three years. The June 15, 1934 American Airlines system timetable marketed its Condors as being "The World's First Complete Sleeper-Planes" with these 12-passenger aircraft being equipped with sleeper berths and also being capable of cruising at 190 miles per hour. An example of the Condor services operated by American were daily overnight flights between Dallas and Los Angeles during the mid 1930s with a routing of Dallas–Ft. Worth–Abilene–Big Spring, TX–El Paso–Douglas, AZ–Tucson–Phoenix–Los Angeles.

The Colombian Air Force operated three BT-32 equipped with floats in the Colombia-Peru War in 1933.

Two modified T-32s were bought by the United States Army Air Corps (designated YC-30) for use as executive transports. One Condor was converted with extra fuel tanks and used by the 1939–1941 United States Antarctic Service Expedition, and, unique for a Condor, had a fixed undercarriage to allow use on floats or skis. Some aircraft were later modified to AT-32 standard with variable-pitch propellers and improved engine nacelles. The AT-32D variant could be converted from sleeper configuration to daytime use with 15 seats. Four T-32s operating in the United Kingdom were pressed into service with the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of World War II.

Eight bomber variants (BT-32) were built with manually operated machine gun turrets in the nose and above the rear fuselage. All these aircraft were exported. A military cargo version (CT-32) was also built for Argentina. It had a large loading door on the starboard side of the fuselage.

For information on variants, civil and military operators, click here.

The Dassault Mercure is a twin-engined narrow-body jet-powered airliner developed and manufactured by French aircraft firm Dassault Aviation. According to Dassault, it was the first large-scale European cooperative civil aeronautics programme. 

During 1967, the Mercure was proposed as a French counterpart to the American Boeing 737. It was Dassault's first venture into the commercial jet airliner market, the company having traditionally built fighters and executive jets. On 28 May 1971, the prototype conducted its maiden flight, while the type entered service on 4 June 1974 with French airline Air Inter.

Attempts were made to market the type in the US, including partnerships with American manufacturers Douglas, Lockheed and General Dynamics, with the vision of producing it in the United States. However, the Mercure had very little success on the market, which has been attributed to several factors, including a lack of range in comparison to rival aircraft. As a consequence, there were only 12 aircraft constructed, all of which were built between 1971 and 1975. The Mercure performed its final flight in 1995.

The Dassault Mercure was a jet-powered narrow-body jet airliner, optimised for short-haul routes. It intentionally exchanged fuel for passenger capacity in order to carry a greater passenger load; as such, the Mercure had up to 17 per cent more seats than the competing Boeing 737 while having a shorter range. It was designed to be outfitted with a two-crew flight deck, although operator Air Inter had its aircraft flown by three-man crews. According to Flight International, the basic model of the Mercure featured a degree of built-in stretch potential; elements of the design were reportedly capable of supporting the envisioned expanded model with little or no change, including much of the wing, cabin, and the undercarriage, the latter being spaced in order to accommodate the fitting of longer legs to in turn enable larger engines and an elongated fuselage to be later adopted.

For more information on the Mercure, click here.

The de Havilland DH.91 Albatross was a four-engined British transport aircraft of the 1930s. A total of seven aircraft were built between 1938–39.

The DH.91 was designed in 1936 by A. E. Hagg to Air Ministry specification 36/35 for a transatlantic mail plane.

The aircraft was notable for the ply-balsa-ply sandwich construction of its fuselage, later used in the de Havilland Mosquito bomber. Another unique feature was a cooling system for the air-cooled engines that allowed nearly ideal streamlining of the engine mounting. The first Albatross flew on 20 May 1937. The second prototype broke in two during overload tests but was repaired with minor reinforcement. The first and second prototypes were operated by Imperial Airways.

Although designed as a mailplane, a version to carry 22 passengers was developed; the main differences being extra windows and the replacement of split flaps with slotted flaps. Five examples formed the production order delivered in 1938/1939. When war was declared all seven aircraft were operating from Bristol/Whitchurch to Lisbon and Shannon.

For details of operational history and the story of each of the seven aircraft built, click here.

The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, de Havilland Canada, was purchased by Boeing in 1986 and was later sold to Bombardier. Bombardier sold the type certificate for the aircraft design to Victoria-based manufacturer Viking Air in 2006.

In the 1960s, de Havilland Canada was already well known worldwide for their series of high-performance STOL aircraft, notably the very popular DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-6 Twin Otter. However, these aircraft were generally fairly small and served outlying routes, as opposed to the busier regional airliner routes which were already well served by larger, higher-performance turboprop aircraft such as the Fokker F27, Fairchild F-27, Convair 580, Convair 600, and Hawker Siddeley 748.

The de Havilland Canada company personnel felt they could compete with these designs in a roundabout way. With their excellent STOL performance, their designs could fly into smaller airports located in city centres and smaller, outlying, more austere airports having runways that the other aircraft could not easily use (unpaved, unimproved). The original specification called for a 40-passenger aircraft with a fairly short range of 200 statute miles, operating from runways only 2,000 ft long (610 m).

With new noise restrictions coming into effect throughout the 1970s, an aircraft tailored for this role would also have to be very quiet. Propeller noise is a factor of blade length and chord and the speed at which it rotates. To meet these new regulations, the new design used much larger (oversized) propellers geared to rotate at a slower speed than is normally designed. Much of the problem sound from a typical propeller is generated at the tips of the blades which are rotating at or just beneath the speed of sound. By using oversize propeller blades, no need exists to have the blade tip reach near the speed of sound, and the rotating speed can therefore be reduced without sacrificing thrust. In reducing the speed, this noise is reduced substantially. The Dash 7 often landed at only 900 rpm, and took off at only 1,210 rpm. The propellers on the Dash-7 are constant-speed propellers which change the blade angle to push more or less air as needed. This can be used to change power while maintaining a constant (and lower) speed.

In other respects, the new DHC-7 was essentially a larger, four-engine version of the Twin Otter: the general layout remained similar, with a high aspect ratio, high-mounted wing, and similar details of the cockpit and nose profile. Changes included the addition of cabin pressurization (requiring a switch to a fuselage with a circular cross-section), landing gear that folded forward into the inner engine nacelles, and a large T-tail intended to keep the elevator clear of the propwash during take-off (the Twin Otter's empennage was a cruciform arrangement).

The Twin Otter incorporated "flaperons" that drooped the ailerons as part of the flaps, but these were not included in the Dash 7 due to weight and complexity. Instead, the ailerons were reduced in size to allow more flap area, and were augmented with two sets of roll spoilers, or "spoilerons". The inboard roll spoilers operate at all speeds. while the outboard roll spoilers only operate at speeds less than 130 KIAS to allow for more roll control at slower speeds. Upon touchdown, both the inboard and outboard roll spoilers extend in unison to aid in destroying lift created by the wing. Each wing also includes two ground spoilers which only extend on touchdown. Most of the trailing edge is spanned by a complex, double Fowler flap arrangement for high lift at low speed. During a typical STOL landing, flaps are selected to the 45° position, generating more lift and drag, thus allowing for steeper descents and slower approach speeds. Depending on weight, the VREF speed with flaps at 45° is between 70 and 85 knots. On touchdown, through "squat switches" in the main gear, the flaps automatically retract to the 25° position, thus reducing lift once on the runway and producing better braking performance. The flaps also retract to 25° when engine power is increased during a go-around procedure. The four-engine layout aids lift at low speeds due to the wide span of the propellers blowing air over the wing ("propwash"). When reverse thrust is selected on landing, the props reverse pitch, push air forward, and slow the aircraft very effectively along with the antiskid main wheel brakes. More importantly, if an engine fails, the asymmetric thrust is much less than on a twin-engine layout, thereby increasing safety and allowing for a lower minimum control speed with an engine inoperative .

For details of the operational history and 14 variants, click here.

In 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by Longview Aviation Capital in 2019, reviving the de Havilland Canada brand. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100s, it was developed from the Dash 7 with improved cruise performance and lower operational costs, but without STOL performance. Three sizes were offered: initially the 37–40 seat -100 until 2005 and the more powerful -200 from 1995, the stretched 50–56 seats -300 from 1989, both until 2009, and the 68–90 seats -400 from 1999, still in production. The Q Series are post-1997 variants fitted with active noise control systems.

The Dash 8 first flight was on June 20, 1983. Certification of the PW120 followed on December 16, 1983.

The Dash 8 was introduced at a particularly advantageous time; most airlines were in the process of adding new aircraft to their fleets as the airline industry expanded greatly in the 1980s. The older generation of regional airliners from the 1950s and 1960s was nearing retirement, leading to high sales figures. De Havilland Canada was unable to meet the demand with sufficient production.

All Dash 8s delivered from the second quarter of 1996 (including all Series 400s) include the Active Noise and Vibration System designed to reduce cabin noise and vibration levels to nearly those of jet airliners. To emphasize their quietness, Bombardier renamed the Dash 8 models as the Q-Series turboprops (Q200, Q300, and Q400).

For more details on the Dash 8, incluing the more than 20 variants, click here.

Specifications below are for the Q400 as operated by Qantaslink.

However, within a year of entering airline service, problems started to emerge, with three Comets lost within twelve months in highly publicised accidents, after suffering catastrophic in-flight break-ups. Two of these were found to be caused by structural failure resulting from metal fatigue in the airframe, a phenomenon not fully understood at the time; the other was due to overstressing of the airframe during flight through severe weather. The Comet was withdrawn from service and extensively tested. Design and construction flaws, including improper riveting and dangerous concentrations of stress around some of the square windows, were ultimately identified. As a result, the Comet was extensively redesigned, with oval windows, structural reinforcements and other changes. Rival manufacturers meanwhile heeded the lessons learned from the Comet while developing their own aircraft.

Although sales never fully recovered, the improved Comet 2 and the prototype Comet 3 culminated in the redesigned Comet 4 series which debuted in 1958 and remained in commercial service until 1981. The Comet was also adapted for a variety of military roles such as VIP, medical and passenger transport, as well as surveillance; the last Comet 4, used as a research platform, made its final flight in 1997. The most extensive modification resulted in a specialised maritime patrol derivative, the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, which remained in service with the Royal Air Force until 2011, over 60 years after the Comet's first flight.

To read more of the originas, development and operational history of the Comet, click here.

Specifications below are for the Comet 4. Details of the other models are in the above link.

The de Havilland DH.34 was a single engined British biplane airliner built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company in the 1920s. 12 were built, with the DH.34 serving with Imperial Airways and its predecessors for several years.

By 1921, enough experience had been gained with operation of the de Havilland DH.18 to realise that aircraft needed to be more efficient to improve the economics of air travel. de Havilland therefore built the ten-passenger DH.29 monoplane, while starting work on the design of the DH.32, a biplane of similar size and capacity to the eight-passenger DH.18, but with a less powerful but more economical Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. Consultation with potential users resulted in work on the DH.29 and DH.32 being stopped and a new airliner, the DH.34 biplane designed, with a similar fuselage to the DH.29, accommodating nine passengers.

The DH.34 had a wooden, plywood-clad fuselage, with the cockpit (for two pilots) being positioned ahead of the wings and the passenger cabin. It had two-bay wooden wings and was powered by a Napier Lion engine, which was fitted for inertia starting, avoiding the necessity for hand swinging of the propeller to start the engine. Unusually, the design of the aircraft allowed an entire spare engine to be carried on board across the rear of the passenger cabin. The cabin door's unusual shape was to allow the engine to be loaded and unloaded, and a specially-fitted 'porthole' on the other side of the cabin would be removed to allow the propeller boss to protrude out the side of the aircraft. Spare engines were not carried routinely (the DH.34's payload was too low to carry both passengers and a spare engine) but this facility was used by operators to quickly fly spare engines out to aircraft that had suffered breakdown.

Two DH.34s were ordered by the Daimler Airway, as part of an initial batch of nine aircraft, with the first prototype (registered G-EBBQ) flying on 26 March 1922. The stalling speed of 63 mph (101 km/h) was too high and was blamed for a fatal crash in 1923, so extensions were fitted to the upper wings, increasing the wingspan from 51 ft 4 in (15.65 m) to 54 ft 4 in (16.56 m), with the revised aircraft designated the DH.34B.

The first DH.34 was delivered to Daimler on 31 March 1922 and entered service with Daimler on the Croydon-Paris service on 2 April 1922. Daimler operated a total of six D.H.34s, four of which were leased from the Air Council, with Instone Air Line operating a further four, all leased. One aircraft was built to the order of the Soviet airline Dobrolyot.

When Imperial Airways was formed on 1 April 1924, by the merger of Daimler Airway, Instone Air Line, Handley Page Transport and the British Marine Air Navigation Company, it inherited six D.H.34s, retaining the type in service until March 1926, when it retired the DH.34, abandoning single-engined aircraft in favour of multi-engined aircraft. The Lion engines of the DH.34s were removed and used by Imperial's fleet of Handley Page W.10s.

The DH.34s were used heavily on the cross channel air services, with the fleet flying 8,000 hours in the first nine months of operation,[7] and the second aircraft flying over 100,000 mi (160,000 km) without overhaul. Six D.H.34s were lost in accidents during the four years of their operation, of which several were fatal.

In November 1923 an excellent air safety record for the "English Air Service" was broken by "a disaster in the London-Birmingham air route" when a DH.34 carrying only 3 passengers crashed near the Ivenhoe Beacon near Leighton Buzzard where it was seen to be in difficulties before suddenly nose-diving at high speed into the ground killing all on board.

Variants

DH.34
Initial production version. 11 completed.
DH.34B
Modication of DH.34 with extended upper wing to improve stalling characteristics.

The de Havilland DH.95 Flamingo was a British twin-engined high-wing monoplane airliner first flown on 22 December 1938. During the Second World War some were used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a transport and general communications duties.

The Flamingo was a twin-engined civil airliner developed by de Havilland, led by their newly appointed chief designer R. E. Bishop, and was the first all-metal stressed-skin aircraft built by the company; only the control surfaces were fabric covered. It was powered by two 890 hp Bristol Perseus air-cooled sleeve-valve radial engines driving three-bladed de Havilland Propellers 'Hydromatic' variable-pitch propellers. Two pilots were seated side by side with a radio operator behind them in the cockpit, with the cabin accommodating 12–17 passengers depending on the flight distance. It had a retractable undercarriage, slotted flaps, and was considered a highly promising sales prospect for the company, capable of competing with the American Douglas DC-3 and Lockheed Model 10 Electra. The first prototype flew on 22 December 1938. It had a third central fin fitted as a temporary measure; this was removed when larger fins with larger rudder area were fitted to the twin tail.

Powered by 890 hp (660 kW) Bristol Perseus XIIIC engines, it had a maximum weight takeoff in 750 ft (230 m) and the ability to maintain height or climb at 120 mph (190 km/h) on a single engine.

Testing was successful, with the Flamingo being granted a certificate of airworthiness on 30 June 1939, with an initial production run of twenty aircraft being laid down. The Air Ministry were interested in the Flamingo as a military transport and issued a serial T5357 for official evaluation.

A single military transport variant was built to Specification 19/39 as the DH.95 Hertfordshire. It had small circular cabin windows instead of the rectangular ones, and seating for 22 soldiers. A proposed order for 30 was cancelled to leave de Havilland free to produce Tiger Moth trainers. The sole Hertfordshire (R2510) crashed on 23 October 1940 at Mill Hill killing five crew and six passengers, including Air Vice-marshal Charles Blount, the Air Officer Commanding No. 22 Group RAF travelling from Hendon to Northern Ireland, apparently due to jamming of the elevator.

Following the success of the first test flights Jersey Airways ordered three 17-seat aircraft, and this was followed by orders from the Egyptian government and the Air Ministry. The Air Ministry aircraft were to be used by the Air Council and the King's Flight.

The prototype, fitted with 12 passenger seats, was delivered to Jersey Airways in May 1939 for two months evaluation and became the first revenue-earning Flamingo. The first services carried mail only but in July a regular weekend passenger service was operated.

In October 1939 the prototype was bought by the Air Council, being delivered to No. 24 Squadron RAF where it operated until it was lost in an accident in October 1940. The second aircraft was to be the first for Guernsey and Jersey Airlines but it was impressed into military service and delivered to 24 Squadron, the other two on order were never built due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The Flamingo was Winston Churchill's favourite short/medium range transport and he flew it to visit Reynaud and the French leadership as the Western front collapsed on May 16, 1940.

The BOAC Flamingoes were not popular, and following three accidents[ – one of which was fatal – and with a lack of spares, the airline decided to withdraw the type. In 1943 the four airworthy aircraft were shipped back to the United Kingdom and stored at Croydon. They did not return to service and were scrapped at Redhill in the early 1950s.

As a more modern replacement for the Airco DH.10 Amiens used on the RAF's airmail service, Imperial Airways used the Hercules effectively to provide long-distance service to far-flung regions. Although the giant airliners were slow and cumbersome, they pointed the way for future airliners.

The Hercules was designed for Imperial Airways when it took over the Cairo–Baghdad air route from the Royal Air Force. The Hercules was a three-engined two-bay biplane with room for seven passengers and the ability to carry mail. In order to minimise the risk of forced landings over remote desert areas, the Hercules had three radial engines. De Havilland moved away from the traditional plywood covered fuselage to remove the risk of deterioration in tropical areas and the fuselage was constructed using tubular steel. The cabin and rear baggage compartment were made of plywood suspended inside the steel structure. The two pilots were in an open cockpit above the nose. The cabin had room for a wireless operator and seven passengers.

With a contract for five years to run the Cairo to Baghdad air mail service, and a requirement to start a service between Cairo and Karachi, Imperial Airways ordered five aircraft. In June 1926, while the prototype was still being built, the type name Hercules was chosen in a competition in the Meccano Magazine. The prototype, registered G-EBMW, first flew on 30 September 1926 at Stag Lane Aerodrome.

Four aircraft were built in 1929 for West Australian Airways. They had modifications to suit Australian requirements including an enclosed cockpit and seating for 14-passengers as well as room for the mail.

Two additional aircraft were built for Imperial Airways in 1929 and they had the enclosed cockpit modification used on the Australian aircraft. These were also retro-fitted to the earlier aircraft.

For more information on the design and development, and operational history of the Hercules, click here.

The Dewoitine D.338 was a 1930s French 22-passenger airliner built by Dewoitine.

The D.338 was a development of the D.333 with retractable undercarriage. First flown in 1936 it had a slightly increased wingspan, and the fuselage was lengthened by 3.18 m (10 ft 5¼ in). For short routes, the aircraft could carry 22 passengers, aircraft used in the Far East were fitted with 12 luxury seats, including six that could be converted into sleeping berths.

In the late 1930s Air France used the D.338 on its transcontinental route to French Indo-China, connecting Paris and Saigon. In 1939 the service was extended to Hong Kong.

The D.338 had a reputation for reliability and was used during World War II in the French overseas possessions. Nine aircraft that survived the war were operated on the Paris-Nice service for several months.

Variants

D.338
Main production version, 30 built.
D.342
One aircraft built in 1939 with improved lines and room for 24-passengers, powered by three 682 kW (915 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14N radial engines. Delivered to Air France in 1942.
D.620
Development of the D.338 with three supercharged 656 kW (880 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14Krsd radial engines and room for 30 passengers, one built but not delivered.

The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. 245 were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) bought a production licence and manufactured another 125 aircraft in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. In July 2017, 63 aircraft were still in airline service.

In 2009, RUAG started building a Dornier 228 New Generation in Germany. The fuselage, wings and tail unit are manufactured by HAL in Kanpur, India, and transported to Oberpfaffenhofen, where RUAG Aviation carries out aircraft final assembly. The Dornier 228NG uses the same airframe with improved technologies and performances, such as a new five-blade propeller, glass cockpit and longer range. The first delivery was made in September 2010 to a Japanese operator. In 2020, RUAG sold the Dornier 228 program to General Atomics subsidiary General Atomics AeroTec Systems. Subsequently production was resumed and the newest version called Do228 NXT is currently being developed and manufactured.

For details of development, design and more, click here.

The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, conducted sales from San Antonio, Texas, United States, and supported the product line from both locations.

The Dornier 328 is a twin-turboprop engined, regional aircraft, principally designed for short-haul passenger operators; Deutsche Aerospace often promoted the type as being a "third-generation airliner". The fuselage of the 328 employs an unusual streamlined shape, having been optimised for high cruising speeds; the aircraft is capable of higher cruise and approach speeds than most turboprop-powered aircraft, which allows it to be more readily slotted around jetliners during landing approaches. According to Deutsche Aerospace, the 328 offered the "lowest noise level, widest cabin, highest standing room, widest cabin floor, and widest seats in the three-abreast class". The 328 is capable of operations from semiprepared airstrips and rough runways, incorporating features such as its retractable landing gear being equipped with high-floatation tyres and steerable nose gear and a gravel guard.

It is equipped with a pair of Pratt and Whitney PW119C turboprop engines, which drive fully reversible Hartzell HD-E6C-3B propellers. The propeller blades generate notably less noise in comparison to their contemporary counterparts due to features such as their lower rotation speed, propeller synchrophasing, and the use of a six-blade configuration. The propeller system is variable-pitch to maintain a constant engine speed. During the early 1990s, the manufacturer claimed that the use of various noise-reduction measures across the aircraft kept the internal cabin noise "below that of even some modern jet aircraft".

The fuselage of 328 allows for a comfortable three-abreast, airline-style seating arrangement to be used, as well as a dense, four-abreast configuration to accommodate greater passenger numbers, of which it is able to carry a maximum of 27. A total of six cabin configurations is available for passenger and cargo operations; these include a flexible combi aircraft layout with a movable wall separating passengers and cargo, and a medical evacuation arrangement equipped with biofloors and positions for four litters and medical attendees. The 328 is pressurized, a first for Dornier-built aircraft, which was implemented to achieve a higher level of passenger comfort; the passenger cabin is designed to be more akin to those of much larger passenger aircraft. A full-sized galley, toilet, and washbasin can also be installed.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority operate 6 328's for search and recue.

For more details on development, design, operational history and variants, click here.

The Dornier Komet ("Comet"), Merkur ("Mercury"), Do C, Do D, and Do T were a family of aircraft manufactured in Germany during the 1920s, originally as small airliners, but which saw military use as well. The earliest aircraft in the series were basically landplane versions of the Delphin flying boat, and although the Delphin and Komet/Merkur series diverged from each other, design changes and refinements from one family were often incorporated into the other. All variants were braced high-winged single-engine monoplanes with conventional landing gear.

The first Komets (Do C III Komet I) utilised the same rectangular plan, 17 m (55 ft 9 in) span wing, tail, and even upper fuselage, as well as the 138 kW (185 hp) BMW IIIa engine of the Delphin I, but replaced the lower fuselage and sponsons with a simple sheet-metal bottom that incorporated fixed tailskid undercarriage. The engine installation was also relocated from its peculiar position above the Delphin's nose to a conventional location in the Komet's fuselage nose. Accommodation was provided for a single pilot and four passengers. An improved version, the Do Komet II, was first flown on 9 October 1922 and was widely exported to countries including Colombia, Spain, Switzerland, and the Soviet Union.

The Do Komet III of 1924 was a practically all-new design that shared many elements with the Delphin III. The cabin was expanded to seat another two passengers and the larger wing, with a span of 19.6 m (64 ft 4 in), was raised above the fuselage on short struts. Power was greatly increased from the Komet I, with a 340 kW (450 hp) Napier Lion engine. This version was exported to Denmark and Sweden, but was also produced under licence in Japan by Kawasaki.

In 1925, the Komet III was replaced in production by the Do B Merkur I, which featured a revised fin and longer-span wings. When fitted with the BMW VI engine, it became known as the Do B Bal Merkur II, as did indeed any Komets thus re-engined. The type was widely used by Deutsche Luft Hansa, which had some 30 Merkurs operating at one time, and was also exported to Brazil, China, Colombia, Japan, and Switzerland.

The Do C and Do D were follow-on military designs, the former a trainer exported to Chile and Colombia, the latter a floatplane torpedo-bomber built for the Yugoslav Royal Navy. The designation Do T was used for a landplane ambulance version.

Variants

Do C III Komet I

First of the Komet series

Do Komet II

Do Komet III

larger, more powerful four-six passenger version.

Do B Merkur I

Do B Bal Merkur II

Do C

Military version of the Komet III

Do D

A much revised floatplane torpedo bomber version for the Royal Yugoslav Air Force

Do T
An ambulance version

Its lasting effect on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever produced. It has a cruise speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000 lbs (2,700 kg) of cargo, and a range of 1,500 mi (2,400 km).

The DC-3 is a twin-engine metal monoplane with a tailwheel-type landing gear and was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2. It had many exceptional qualities compared to previous aircraft. It was fast, had good range, and could operate from short runways. It was reliable and easy to maintain and carried passengers in greater comfort. Before the war it pioneered many air travel routes. It could cross the continental United States and made worldwide flights possible. It is considered the first airliner that could profitably carry just passengers.

For full details of this remarkable aircraft, and its history in civil and military service, click here.

Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s. From 1945, many civil airlines operated the DC-4 worldwide.

The DC-4/C-54 proved a popular and reliable type, 1245 being built between May 1942 and August 1947, including 79 postwar DC-4s. Several remain in service as of 2014. One current operator is Buffalo Airways of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

British company Aviation Traders converted a number of DC-4's as a cargo and car ferry with a modified nose with a raised cockpit to allow cars to be loaded more easily. It was called the Carvair.

For more history of the DC-4/C-54, click here.

Aviation Traders Carvair

By the time it entered commercial service in 1940, many airlines were canceling orders for aircraft. Consequently, only five civilian DC-5s were built. With the Douglas Aircraft Company already converting to World War II military production, the DC-5 was soon overtaken by world events, although a limited number of military variants were produced.

The DC-5 was developed in 1938 as a 16-22 seat civilian airliner, designed to use either Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet or Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engines. It was the first airliner to combine shoulder wings and tricycle landing gear, a configuration that is still common in turboprop airliners and military transport aircraft, although the modern versions are actually high wing, as the structure sits atop the fuselage shell rather than intersecting a significant segment. The tricycle landing gear was innovative for transport airplanes. It provided better ground handling and better ground visibility for the pilots. The fuselage was about two feet above the ground, so loading of passengers and cargo was easier than aircraft with the then-standard conventional landing gear.

Three aircraft made their way to Australia where they were sold to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and operated for the Allied Directorate of Air Transport (ADAT). Two were destroyed by the end of 1942, the other was transferred to Australian National Airways (ANA), which operated it throughout the war on behalf of ADAT. Read more on these aircraft here.

For more details on the development of the DC5 and its variants, click here.