The Airco DH.9C was a British passenger aircraft.

Development and design

After World War I there were many surplus

Airco DH.9 The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War. The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful ...

light bombers, designed by

Geoffrey de Havilland Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built,D ...

, available for the emerging air transport business. At first stripped DH.9s were used to carry one passenger behind the pilot in the gunner's position, but later versions, designated DH.9B, added a second passenger seat ahead of the pilot. A second seat behind the pilot was added by extending the rear cockpit in the early DH.9C. Later DH.9Cs had this rear position converted to hold two passengers face to face, protected by a faired dorsal canopy or cabin. Most of these later four-seat aircraft had slight sweepback to counter the rearward shift in the

centre of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

. The DH.9, DH.9B, and DH.9C were dimensionally similar, with the same wingspan and height and only small variations in length depending on the powerplant. They were two-bay tractor biplanes, with fixed two-wheel main and tail-skid undercarriage. Their structures were of spruce and ash, wire-braced and fabric-covered. The first four-seat, swept DH.9C, ''G-EAYT'' received its certificate of airworthiness on 13 January 1922.

Operational history

Nineteen aircraft were produced for operators, 13 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, three in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and three in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The last in service was operated by Northern Air Lines in

Barton, Greater Manchester Barton upon Irwell (also known as Barton-on-Irwell or Barton) is a suburb of the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 12,462 in 2014. History Barton Old Hall, a brick-built house degraded to a farmhouse, was the sea ...

, until 1932.

Operators

''Information from'' ; *

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

(3 aircraft) * Morlae Airways (1 aircraft) ; *Sneta (precursor to

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

) (1 aircraft) ; *

Hejaz Air Force The Hejaz Air Force ( ar, links=yes, القوات الجوية الحجازية) or Hejaz Flying Corps ( ar, links=yes, فيلق الطائر الحجازي) was the aerial component of the armed forces of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz and it ...

(2 aircraft) ; *

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

(1 aircraft) ; * Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo (CETA) (3 aircraft) ; *The de Havilland Aeroplane Hire ServiceJackson pp.20-2 (7 aircraft) *Northern Air Lines (2 aircraft)

Specifications

References

Bibliography