success largely due to handling
deficiencies.
De Havilland engineers
returned to the drawing boards
to create a new model, using
the same tapered wings that
were successful on the Express
and a smaller fuselage similar
aircraft for Europe’s expanding
airline industry.
"It’s remarkable what [the Rapide]
will do on such low power. Of course,
it doesn’t do it very fast."
– WARREN DENHOLM
to that of the Dragon, but with
two of the more powerful six-
cylinder Gipsy Six engines. The
resulting DH 89 Dragon
Rapide found the design sweet
spot of size, power, and perfor-
mance. It was an unqualified
bull’s-eye in the competition to
create the ideal passenger
his personal logo, the feathered
bloom crest of the Prince of
Wales. The exterior was painted
in the bright red and blue color
scheme of the Royal Guard. The
Rapide was the first aircraft
assigned as personal transport for
the royal family, and performed its
duty admirably, shuttling not only
A DECIDEDLY BRITISH DESIGN
The current G-ADDD was
restored for the Military Aviation
Museum by a crew at Avspecs
Ltd. in Auckland, New Zealand,
led by Warren Denholm. At EAA
AirVenture 2010 he said of the
Rapide, “The surprising thing
about this airplane is how much it
will carry—as much as a Beech 18
[but using only] two 200-hp
engines. [The Twin Beech] has
900 hp. It’s remarkable what [the
Rapide] will do on such low
power. Of course, it doesn’t do
it very fast.”
The comparison marks an
interesting insight into the dif-
ferences in aircraft design
priorities on opposite sides of
the Atlantic in the 1930s. In
Wichita, Kansas, Beechcraft had
great incentive to develop fast,
long-range aircraft for the North
American mission. Lower prior-
ity was assigned to slow-speed
handling and performance, since
suitable airfields in the United
States usually featured relatively
long, level runways and clear
approach paths. The Beech 18,
which first flew in 1937 just three
years after the Rapide, had two
450-hp Pratt & Whitney radial
engines, a high-speed cruise of
220 mph, about 1,500 statute
miles' range, and a service ceiling
greater than 21,000 feet.
