Airco DH.2

what is it?

The Airco DH.2 was a single-seat pusher biplane fighter aircraft which operated during the First World War. It was the second pusher design by aeronautical engineer Geoffrey de Havilland for Airco, based on his earlier DH.1 two-seater. The development of pusher configuration fighters, such as the DH.2 and the F.E.2b enabled forward firing armament before the development of synchronisation gears such as that fitted to the German Fokker Eindecker monoplane fighter.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 8.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 150 km/htop speed
• size 654 kgmax take-off weight
• built 453made in total

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.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1915-07

retired

1918

status

retired

number built

453

role

fighter

makers

Airco

engines

1× Gnôme Monosoupape / Monosoupape / Le Rhône 9C

crew

1

length

7.7 m

wingspan

8.6 m

height

2.9 m

max take-off weight

654 kg

top speed

150 km/h

range

—

ceiling

4,267 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.