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- 1. Airco DH.1A01: Wikimedia Commons· Public domain
what is it?
The Airco DH.1 was an early military biplane of typical "Farman" pattern flown by Britain's Royal Flying Corps during World War I. By the time the powerplant for which it was designed was sufficiently plentiful it was obsolete as an operational aircraft, and apart from a few examples sent to the Middle East it served as a trainer and Home Defence fighter.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · fixed tailwheel (taildragger) · 12.5 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 111 years ago, in 1915.
- Wingspan of 12.5 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1915
- introduced
- 1915
- retired
- 1918
- status
- retired
- number built
- 73
- role
- two-seat fighter / general-purpose aircraft
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- makers
- Airco
- engines
- 1× Renault Type W
- length
- 8.8 m
- wingspan
- 12.5 m
- height
- 3.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 927 kg
- top speed
- 129 km/h
- range
- —
- landing gear
- fixed conventional landing gear
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q408435, Wikipedia: Airco DH.1 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.