FIRST FLIGHT of DH.R.A, Airco 1919

FIRST FLIGHT of DH.R.A, Airco 1919

In the immediate aftermath of"Vorld War I, the Allied powers conducted lengthy negotiations with Germany towards the eventual peace settlement embodied in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. At the express request of Bonar Law, therefore, a number ofDH.4 bombers powered by RollsRoyce Eagle VII I engines wefe converted to accommodate a minister and his secretary for high speed travel between London and Paris.

To this end de Havilland produced the DH.4A.

The two passengers were scated face-to-face in the rear fuselage in a cabin with sliding windows on each side. To ensure sufficient headroom, the cabin was provided with a fabric-covered wooden roof unit, which hinged with the right-hand side to allow the passengers in and out; this was faired into the tail by a new upper fuselage decking. AS considerable extra weight was thus placed in the rear fuselage, the wings were re-rigged to restore the aircraft's centre of gravity, the upper wing being moved back 0.305 m (1 ft) in relation to the lower wing.

With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the Royal Air Force's requirement for such aircraft disappeared, the 12 survivors of the 13 DH.4As converted for No 2 (Communications) Squadron heing sold to Handley Page in September 1919.

The success of these military examples had already prompted civil production, four new

DH.4s being converted during July 1919 by Airco for the Aircraft Transport & Travel Company, the builder's airline subsidiary.

Of these, one ditched in the English Channel on October 29, 1919, another crashed at Caterham on December 11, 1919, and the two others were scrapped in November 1920 when their operating costs became too great.

Handley Page also produced DH.4As, three from new aircraft, and the last by refurbishing an cx-RAF machine. Two of these were operated by Handley Page Transport, and the other two by the Belgian operator SNETA until they were burned in

a hangar fire on September 27, 1921.

The last civil DH.4A was produced by the A V Roe company for Instone Air Line Ltd, receiving its certificate of airworthiness on Febroary 19, 1920 as a DH.4 and as a DH.4A in February 1921.

This was the last DH.4A to survive, being part of Imperial Airways' inventory when that company was formed in June 1924.