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#1461

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

🇨🇦 Canada ·first flew 1947· stol utility transport

📦 cargo piston ✓ still flying
De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, photo 1 of 10
1/10 Raimond Spekking· CC BY-SA 4.0

what is it?

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been primarily operated as a bush plane and has been used for a wide variety of utility roles, such as cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application (crop dusting and aerial topdressing), and civil aviation duties. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, de Havilland Canada decided to orient itself towards civilian operators.

How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · shoulder wing · fixed tailwheel (taildragger) · 14.6 m wingspan

base stats

  • speed 255 km/htop speed
  • seats 6passengers
  • size 2,313 kgmax take-off weight
  • built 1,657made 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 79 years ago, in 1947.
  • Top speed is 2.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
  • Wingspan of 14.6 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
1947-08-16
introduced
1948
status
still flying
number built
1,657
role
stol utility transport
origin
🇨🇦 Canada
makers
de Havilland Canada
engines
1× Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr.
crew
1
passengers
6
length
9.2 m
wingspan
14.6 m
height
2.7 m
max take-off weight
2,313 kg
top speed
255 km/h
cruise speed
230 km/h
range
—
ceiling
5,486 m
wings
shoulder wing
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 Q291804, Wikipedia: De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.

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