Airco DH.9A

what is it?

The Airco DH.9A is a British single-engined light bomber that was designed and first used shortly before the end of the First World War. It was a development of the unsuccessful Airco DH.9 bomber, featuring a strengthened structure and, crucially, replacing the under-powered and unreliable inline 6-cylinder Siddeley Puma engine of the DH.9 with the American V-12 Liberty L-12 engine. Colloquially known as the "Ninak" (from the phonetic alphabet treatment of designation "nine-A"), it served on in large numbers for the Royal Air Force following the end of the war, both at home and overseas, where it was used for colonial policing in the Middle East, finally being retired in 1931.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 14 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 198 km/htop speed
• seats 2passengers
• size 2,107 kgmax take-off weight
• built 1,997made 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 108 years ago, in 1918.
• 🚗Wingspan of 14 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

1918

introduced

1918

retired

1931

status

retired

number built

1,997

role

light bomber/general purpose

makers

Airco

engines

1× Liberty 12A / Liberty L-12

crew

2

passengers

2

length

9.2 m

wingspan

14 m

height

3.5 m

max take-off weight

2,107 kg

top speed

198 km/h

range

—

ceiling

5,105 m

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