The de Havilland DH.56 Hyena was a prototype
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
army cooperation aircraft of the 1920s. A single-engined
biplane, the Hyena was designed against an RAF requirement, but was unsuccessful with only two being built, the
Armstrong Whitworth Atlas
The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-desi ...
being preferred.
Development and design
The DH.56 Hyena was developed to meet the requirements of
Air Ministry Specification 30/24 for an Army Cooperation aircraft to equip Britain's
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
.
It was a development of de Havilland's earlier
DH.42B Dingo, and like the Dingo, was a single-engined two-bay
biplane carrying a crew of two. It was armed with a forward-firing
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...
and a
Lewis gun operated by the observer. A hook to pick up messages was fitted beneath the fuselage, while the aircraft was also equipped for photography, artillery spotting, supply dropping and bombing.
[Jackson 1987, p.213.]
The first Hyena flew on 17 May 1925,
powered by a 385 hp (287 kW)
Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar
The Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar was an aircraft engine developed by Armstrong Siddeley. The Jaguar was a petrol-fuelled air-cooled 14-cylinder two-row radial engine design. The Jaguar III was first used in 1923, followed in 1925 by the Jaguar ...
III
radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...
. With this engine it was underpowered, and was quickly re-engined with a 422 hp (315 kW) Jaguar IV before it was submitted for official testing (which was against the requirements of Specification 20/25, which had superseded 30/24).
The two prototype Hyenas were tested against the other competitors for the RAF's orders, the
Armstrong Whitworth Atlas
The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-desi ...
, the
Bristol Bloodhound
The Bristol Bloodhound is a British ramjet powered surface-to-air missile developed during the 1950s. It served as the UK's main air defence weapon into the 1990s and was in large-scale service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the forces of ...
and the
Vickers Vespa
The Vickers Vespa was a British army cooperation biplane designed and built by Vickers Limited in the 1920s. While not adopted by Britain's Royal Air Force, small numbers were bought by the Irish Free State and Bolivia, the latter of which used ...
, including field evaluation with
No. 4 Squadron RAF
No. 4 Squadron, normally written as IV Squadron, of the Royal Air Force operates the BAE Hawk T2 in the training role from RAF Valley.
History
Formation and First World War
IV Squadron formed at Farnborough in 1912 as part of the Royal Fly ...
.
[Jackson 1987, pp. 214–215.] Handling close to the ground was found to be difficult, with a poor view from the cockpit, and the orders went to the Atlas, with the Hyena being abandoned, being used for testing at the
Royal Aircraft Establishment,
Farnborough until 1928.
Specifications (Jaguar IV)
See also
Notes
References
*Jackson, A.J. ''De Havilland Aircraft since 1909''. London:Putnam, Third edition 1987. .
* Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1994. .
External links
De Havilland Hyena{{de Havilland aircraft
1920s British bomber aircraft
Hyena